Jolly Pumpkin Bière de Mars

Brewed by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Style: Bière de Garde
Dexter, Michigan USA

Dark iced tea colored pour with a 2 finger, off-white head that fades to a thin lacy layer. Aroma of dark fruit, apple cider, vinegar, sour funk, spices and wet charred oak. Powerful sour flavor with lots of caramelized dark fruit notes, and a strong balance of oak. Velvety, oily medium body.

Pours a burnt amber with a rocky white head. The nose is doughy/musty. The flavor has some funk and the finish has some juicines.

Batch 256. Not a gusher like most of JP’s beers! Pours a hazy, dark mahogany color with an average, off-white, creamy, pillowy head; it settles after good retention to a small, pillowy, frothy layer and leaves minimal tight lace. Nose is certainly JP-esque with some sourish notes; certainly some sweet grain notes and rich caramel make up the malt base with some overtones of overripe cherries, sour vinous white grapes, and and almost pickled note bring the tart citric notes. Other notes include, white pepper, sage, ginger root, anise, doughy and lightly musty yeast, and faint vanilla oak notes. Flavor is similar but is rather quick to disappate from the tongue and not as complex. Flavor starts mildly tart with overripe cherries, vinous white grapes, and light sour apple, then some caramels, sweet grains, and musty yeast filter in, and towards the finish lighter notes of sage, ginger, faint buttery notes and faint white pepper find their way in to the mix. Palate is nice for the style with a perfect medium body, nearly lively carbonation, and a silky feel with a quick drying feel as it progresses. Finishes fairly quickly with the tart notes fading to just a light overripe cherry note and a dry oak and sage note finish it all. Certainly a very drinkable, somewhat refreshing, and quite complex beer. The more I had, the more I seemed to like it. Biere de Mars seemes to be one of those styles that takes the malty, aged qualities of the Biere de Garde and adds some tart, refreshing qualities making it a beer you want to drink more and more.

Bottle shared by eaglefan, thanks Brian! Poured a nice sized tan head, retention is very good as is the lace, lightly hazy amber/orange color. Nose is pleasently spicey and malty, lightly doughy and a touch bretty. Body is med/light with a good carbonation level. Lively on the palate, lightly sour and acidic. Light fruit flavors, spices, bready malt notes, lightly sweet with a more palatable tartness, my level. Fairly dry finish is lightly tart but clean and lasting. Thanks again Brian!

Man I love this brewery! Big spicy caramelly aroma with some noticable funk. Pours a dark reddish amber with a thick tan head, looks delicious. I taste sour cherries right away with some apple skins, the body is sweet, caramelly, with a creamy oaky finish. Wow, this is a really great beer! This may be one of my favorites from Jolly Pumpkin, this a Lucieranaga.

Bottle from CaptainCougar. Pour was hazy golden-straw, high carbonation and head presence, solid Belgian ring-like lacing. The aroma was funky bret over top of some light fruitiness. The flavor followed, this came across as a typical Belgian Ale (minus spicing) that has been very nicely crafted: sourness, bread, light fruits, oak, barnyard. Mouthfeel is acidic, well carbonated, clean, crisp, a tad thin but probably heavy for the style. Thanks, Tom!

750 ml bottle: Pours amber with a very large frothy head. Heavy aroma of tarts. Sour and tart flavor. Very good.

We start with the standard tart aroma of a Jolly Pumpkin beer. This pours a reddish amber, with a fluffy off-white head. Nice tart aroma, with hints of vanilla, and roast in the background. Nice and light on the palate. A very drinkable beer.