The Brew SiteAdvent Beer Calendar 2020: Day 23: Deschutes Brewery Super Jubel
Today is the penultimate day for the Beer Advent Calendar, and is special day to me for another reason: it’s my birthday! Every year for my birthday the Advent beer pick is one I choose for “myself” so to speak, not necessarily a holiday-themed beer but a bit more self-indulgent. Today’s beer actually is a Christmasy beer, however, and it’s a once-a-decade (sort of) beer: Super Jubel from my hometown brewery, Deschutes Brewery.
Super Jubel is an imperial version of the brewery’s winter warmer, Jubelale, that has been aged in barrels and blended as the brewery’s recreation of the infamous “ice Jubel” that was born out of a botched theft 30 years ago. The brewery wrote about this year’s edition with some additional details as well.
I reached out to Deschutes for some notes on this year’s beer, and received personal notes about it from both founder Gary Fish and barrel master Ben Kehs:
From Gary:
Super Jubel was born as Ice Jubel, through a crime of opportunity. A keg of Jubelale was stolen and left outside at a time when Bend was in the midst of a very cold spell where temps dropped to below -30 degrees. When the keg was found the liquid was partially frozen, and when decanted, the legend of Ice Jubel was born. It was delicious, and Super Jubel is our talented brewer’s recreation of this delicious elixir without the freezing.
From Ben:
This year’s version of Super Jubel was a fun exercise in blending. We took our imperial winter warmer base and laid it to rest in a mix of wine, brandy, and port barrels. The end result marries the rich malt notes of fig and brown sugar with berry and jam flavors, supported by a complement of oak. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
It’s a fruity, complex beer with lightly boozy notes of raisin, caramel, barreled spirits, and more, and doesn’t drink like it’s 10.4% ABV. To my taste the profile has a clear link to Jubelale, and the barrel blending gives it something of a port wine quality in the finish.
It’s a terrific birthday beer, and it’s the right once-a-decade beer for a year like we’ve had. Cheers!
Find Deschutes Brewery Super Jubel on:
Image credits: Top image, Cold One Joe, coldonejoe -at- gmail.com; bottles, marketing; my own