Jolly Pumpkin Bam Noire

Brewed by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Style: Saison
Dexter, Michigan USA

Blend #2 2007. Pours a slightly diluted cherry cola color with nice frothy white head, some lacing. Very similar bretty character as their other beers, perhaps a bit more pungent on the vinegar notes. Burns the nose just a touch in a good way. Bright sour/bitter onset, flavors of leather, earthy must, and funk galor. A woodyness sucks the moisture from your mouth like sucking on a cedar chip. Somewhat thin in the mouth feel. Lingering flavors of muscat and a woody dryness finish this one off. I really enjoyed this one.

Great sour smell and flavor. Dark brown color. Solid head. Fairly thin body. Another excellent saison fro Jolly Pumpkin!

Bottle... Murky, dark, caramel-colored ale with a small, creamy, off-white head. Great retention. The aroma is a complex blend of woodsy, earthy and lactic notes with a sweet malt background and a whisper of chocolate. Light to medium-bodied with a prickly mouthfeel. Slightly sweet and moderately pungent flavor. Earthy and woodsy with notes of darker malts and gentle acidity. Finishes tangy and crisp. Bottle courtesy of CaptainCougar!

750ml bottle, Batch 250. This one pours a dark, translucent, reddish-sienna brown color. A medium sized, foamy, cream colored head settles to a thin, murky blanket, leaving random spots and flares of lacing scaterred about the glass. The aroma, in typical Jolly Pumpkin fashion, shows a pervasive, dry, funky farmhouse yeast. In this incarnation of Bam, however, the funk is subdued considerably by soft notes of leather, light caramel malts, cocoa, and vinous dark fruits. Oak is of course present, as it is in seemingly all of JP’s beers. Flavors are crisp and distinct, running the gamut from sour grape to biting, harsh, oaky yeast. Still, there is a forgiving fruity softness that really makes this one highly drinkable. The mouthfeel is medium in stature and very dry. Residual raison notes linger on the tongue, and remind you that you’re only one glass in to this sessionable beauty. This is an excellent effort, and easily one of my favorite JP beers.

750 ml bottle, dark amber color, fruity nose with a sour effervescent flavor, some coffe on the finish

Bottle (batch 258,259) from BevMo. Hazy dark brown in color upon pouring. Very tart aroma with a little hint of sweetness in the background. Some yeast as well. Bitter and tart up front. Followed by more hoppy bitterness. Finish is very bitter and roasted like coffee. Finish reminds me of a stout.

Pours deep mahogany into a tulip. Fluffy off-white head craters as it slowly subsides. Sour aromas. Crisp tangy fruit upfront with a lasting dark hop finish.

750, capped. Pours black with a thin gray head and a slim ring of foam near the top of the glass. Subtly roasty, cola-like nose with big tart buggy fruitiness. Medium body with light fizzy carb. Mild mid-palate with some buggy tartness and a big wash of toast at the end. Very little finish. It’s hard to say whether this beer tastes like much of anything specific; it’s very understated. But it has a real appeal to it.