Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca

Brewed by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
Dexter, Michigan USA

Cloudy pale yellow with a bunch of tiny brown particles released at the end of the pour. Sour apple, sour grape aroma. Woody sour, puckering tartness, citrus and spice flavour are dominated by the overall sourness, but this still comes across as light, zesty, and refreshing.

Pours a golden yellow with a thick, but quickly disappearing white head. Tastes really sweet, maybe a little too much. Definitely some orange and other citrusy flavors. Very nice dry finish. Pretty decent, but I was expecting more at that price. The bottle looks cool though.

Pours an opaque gold color with a thick, yet quick to disappear, whitish head. Aroma is full of wheat, orange, funk (a bit too much, or else something had gone slightly wrong) and feet...not much spice to speak of. The flavor was much better than the aroma...lots of citrus (tons of lemon, and some orange), wheat, yeast, and a nice acidic funk to back things up. Any spice, including coriander, takes a backseat in this brew, as it doesn’t stand out as it does in most Wits. Good on the palate...finishes very dry (would compare to a white wine) and keeps you coming back for more. I would pick this one up again, despite the odd aroma, so I would say this is a pretty good beer, though definitely off the beaten path for the style.

What’s this? A commonly available JP beer I haven’t rated? Well, better late than never - hazy golden, fizzy beer, with a quickly dissipating head - the aroma has the standard JP funkiness to it, that seems to overpower the more subtle nuances (no big deal, though, since I enjoy their yeast), but some of the spices come through a little bit - tingly carbonation in the mouth - the light tartness and earthy funk that is common to their beers doesn’t overpower in the flavor like it does in some others - there is a nice combination and lemon/citrus acidity, soft wheaty flavors, and light leathery funk - the spicy character the style usually brings is not very present, but the lively, crisp tartness that replaces it makes up for it, and makes the beer more like a berliner weisse than a wit - not their best offering, but a nice refreshing brew.

Bottle from Raleigh WBF. My least favorite of their offering, perhaps because the wheat overshadowed the yeast, and I do like the funky wild yeasts they use. Lemony/citrusy with some spices, but not over the top. A very nice white.

750. Beer is hazy, light pale gold with a large, frothy, white, diminishing head. Seagulls of lace on the glass.The aroma is malty with a light note of toasted grain; Hoppy with a moderate note of lemon zest, light note of pine resin; Yeasty with a light note of sharp band-aid; Trace of orange zest, light coriander and white pepper.The flavor is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, trace bitter with a longish, lightly acidic, trace sweet finish.The body is light, the texture is watery and the carbonation is lively.

From NEPA case split on 4-25-08 from Kevin. Elegant white with a nice sour leathery backbone and an amped up coriander spice content (to the point I expected to see some floating around). There is a floral ginger quality here but otherwise it doesn’t get any more complex. Highly carbonated and dry like cider but not thick or creamy.

750ml from Sam’s, Durham. Funky butt? Funky wit!!! Now this is what I’m talking about. Way to take a pretty meh style - at least as far as the usual offerings, either too watery or too cloyingly sweet - and give some depth and serious quirkiness without compromising style. A gorgeous pour with a big silky head, the aroma is suggestive to say the least. Sure the usual ingredients (listed in the commercial description) are there, but you get a nice funk element in there - not JP barnyard dank but a blend of dry brett and over the hill melon/orange. There’s slightly more sharpness in the taste, but the funky elements are the strongest, and I think that’s a very good thing. I still won’t drop this kind of coin for a wit too often, but this is probably the best I’ve had.