Creature Comforts Mutualism

The southern-style farmhouse lager is the second release of brewery collaboration with Jester King Brewery, Mutualism, from the tasting room in Athens this Spring. Mutualism is dry, round, and defined with a 6-percent ABV. The base beer for Mutualism is a pilsner brewed using local wheat and grits from Georgia-based DaySpring Farms. The finished pilsner underwent a secondary fermentation with a blend of house-mixed cultures of yeast and bacteria from both their brewery as well as Jester King’s. The beer was then bottle conditioned for five months. Their two breweries first released the collaborative brew in July 2016. They bonded over a strong admiration for beers that represent a time and place, which inspired the blending of the two house cultures as well as the use of local grits, a staple in Southern homes. The brewery's resident artist, Melissa Merrill, designed the label art for Mutualism. The label depicts both breweries’ logos as one cohesive unit, representative of the symbiotic qualities of the beer. Inspired by the collaborative brew, Merrill painted the original artwork for the label with a watercolor medium derived from the two breweries’ combined house-mixed cultures.