Deschutes Jubelale

Brewed by Deschutes Brewery
Style: English Strong Ale
Bend, Oregon USA

On cask at Humpy’s Alaskan Ale House in Anchorage 7/6/05: Dark crimson with a heavy pine sap flavor. Heavy alcohol. It was way too warm in Anchorage for this one, but it is a decent winter beer.

Couleur presque rubis, mousse blanche concassée adhérant bien à la paroi du verre. Arômes plutôt complexe et d’un bel équilibre affichant malt chocolat, foin, feuille de laurier jumelé à quelques notes de raisins bleus et à une touche boisée. Corps plutôt mince, faible carbonatation semblant plutôt effacé du portrait. Un peu plus de corps serait certainement approprié.

Sweet, grapey, spicy, marzipan aroma with some earthy, woody and roasty notes. Hazy reddish-brown with decent off-white head that recedes to ring and partial cover with some lace. Chocolate and brown malt flavours with some mild bitterness and some berry-like fruits. Medium body with low carbonation. Bottle (Secret Santa, Dec. 2004) enjoyed with MartinT, Olivier_MTL and Rastacouere. Thanks, Tchrome!

The Lure:
Roasted malts and earthy chocolate combine in a mild but interesting aroma. Cherry fruitiness thrives within, there are some good ingredients in here.

The Festivities:
Roasted malt bitterness is immediately felt, accompanied by berries and grapes. An ample body of chocolate and caramel malts leeks onto a bed of ashes or burnt pie crust.

Transcendence:
Hearty cooking will always get me.

Ruby to chestnut coloured. Nice foamy cover lasts and sticks to the glass sides. Nutty and distinctive aroma of smoke, peaty and earthy. Excellent balance between the malt and hops ingredients. Spicy winter notes, minty (toothpaste), cinnamon, nutmeg and grapes… Inviting to say the least. Quite warming in mouth despite the relatively low ABV, slightly oily palate, light-medium body, very low carbonation level. Pleasant spiced dark fruits flavours work mysteriously well with the hops where I’d have thought this would bring some undesired astringence. Bready, coniferous and slightly citrusy. No Jubel 2000 deepness, but still one of the best I’ve had from Deschutes, more so than their acclaimed dark beers.

From notes taken at the Southwest Beer Festival in Scottsdale, Arizona. The conditions were hard to take notes in but these are the ratings and they stand. Draft. Rich malty and hoppy aroma. Dark and clear brown in color. Flavor is very malty with a slight alcohol warmth. Malty and lightly hopped finish. Good stuff.

Re-rate: Aroma is full of dark malt and lightly sweetened chocolate with a hint the hops to come. Flavor is caramelly rich and malty but balanced by a decent amount of hop bitterness with hints of that grapefruity hoppiness in the finish. Really nice stuff. The original rating stands.

A very good winter wamer by Deschutes. This brew pours a dark brown color with ruby highlights and presents a pretty nice head. This is a nice warming brew, very good for drinkin’ by the fire during the winter season.

(12 oz bottle: BevMo in La Jolla CA) I’m comparing an aged 2003 bottle of Jubelale with a recently-purchased 2004 bottle just to see how this beer compares and holds up. There’s not much difference. Both are fairly roasty and chocolaty, and moderately sweet and caramely throughout, with a moderately bitter hoppiness elbowing its way to the stage for the finish. The chocolate also really comes out in the finish, and is really delicious. The main difference between the two bottles is the 2003 bottle shows a bit more dominance of sweet and roasty maltiness, and less bitterness in the finish. Sweet, roasty, caramely, and lightly hoppy nose is about what I’d expect based on the flavor of the beer. Full bodied and chewy, mildly carbonated, with a fair amount of depth on the palate and a long-lasting and somewhat bitter finish. The beer is a mahogany color, fully clear and translucent with a medium sized tan head that gradually fades to a thin film, leaving a number of wide rings around the glass that persist long after I’ve finished the beer. When all is said and done, the newer 2004 bottle is just a bit less rounded on the edges, and so I like the smoother, aged 2003 bottle more. Either way, though, you can’t go wrong here. One of the best American winter beers I’ve tasted yet.