Since opening its Fitzhugh Road facility last January, Jester King Craft Brewery won part of a lawsuit against the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission and changed its brewing recipes.

In May 2011, Jester King joined Authentic Beverage Company's August 2010 lawsuit challenging the state on how beer is classified and advertised and where it can be sold, among other points.

Texas law had defined beer as 0.5 percent to 4 percent alcohol by volume and ale or malt liquor as any percent alcohol by volume greater than that.

In December 2011, a U.S. District Court judge ruled in Jester King's favor to end that distinction.

The judge also ruled that Texas breweries could advertise where their beers were sold—a boon to smaller companies.

Ron Extract, a partner in the brewery, said Jester King was pleased with the ruling.

"We are pleased with having an effect on the law and helping to remove some of the restraints on craft breweries in Texas," he said.

The judge rejected the brewers' claims to allow beer sales at the place of production and to ease licensing costs on importers.

Extract called the costs protectionist and unreasonable and said they kept Texas consumers from enjoying beers from smaller foreign companies.

Jester King also switched from using an English yeast to a farmhouse yeast, which Extract said creates a more unique signature taste.

"With every batch, we think about how to make it better and make minor adjustments with each," he said.

Jester King's offerings include Le Petit Prince, Noble King Hoppy Farmhouse Ale and Mad Meg Provisional Farmhouse Ale.

Jester King Craft Brewery, 13005 Fitzhugh Road, 537-5100, www.jesterkingbrewery.com