Jolly Pumpkin E.S. Bam

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

Pours a beautiful amber-red bitter with a high dense head. Woody aroma with notes of grape and sugar. The flavour is quite dry with wood, sour cherry and lemon. It’s somewhat strange, but not bad.

Pint bottle from Knightly Spirits. Pours a dirty, opaque brown and a typically massive tan head that becomes pillowy and mountainous. The aroma is of funky and fruity Brett in also typical Bam fashion. Flavors include vinous fruits, yeasty horse blanket, spices, and apples in the finish. Medium/full body and incredibly lively carbonation. Tastes just as the label describes--a hoppier, maltier version of Bam Bier. Quite good, as are most of this brewery’s makings.

Bottle. Very high and creaqmy long lasting off-white head. Hazy amber body. Mild aroma of apples and pears with hops notes. Flavor of lemon, abricot and mild hops. Low carbonation and a long mild bitter aftertaste.

Bottled. Medium brown puir, tan head. Spciy, floral nose. Falvor was yeasty, malty, hint of barnyard. Hoppy finish. Didn’t seem much like a bitter to me, but I enjoyed it.

Bottle. Cloudy orange coloured with a huge and lacing off white head. Aroma of wood and hops with acidic notes and notes of wine and dish washer. Flavour of fruits, wood and wine with notes of brett. Dry hppy and woody finish. Barrel aged bitter is a strange combination, but it tastes good.

I was kind of disappointed with this beer. Pours a hazy amber with a thick off white head. Sour aroma, not as much hops as I was expecting. Flavor was a little thin, besides the mild sour I didn’t get enough out of this beer. I really didn’t enjoy it that much, and it isn’t exactly a cheap bottle.

Bottle at home - shared with Mette. Clear red/brown - white head. Red berries, soapy, tvål, grassy, light nutty, brett, high hoppy, dryness from the hops, caramel, citrus, light sourness. Very nice - but not as expected (A Bitter) !!!

April(?) 2008: E.S. Bam pours a deep ruby color with a frothy beige head. It has an acidic and tart aroma that is slightly funky like B.O. This beer is dry with some caramelized malt and a mild bitterness. It has a medium-full body and is smooth, complex, and well-balanced. This is a very good beer.

750 mL bottle (Batch 267/268). Rating #240 for this beer.
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8/08/2008: E. S. Bam smells of sweet and sour citrus (grapefruit) with grapes, sugar-cookie/caramel-like malt, and a tinge of the tasty trademark Jolly Pumpkin funk. This beer has a hazy amber brown (more brown than amber) appearance with a large, whipped beige-colored head that leaves dense lacing (a lot like that of a nitro-induced brew) on the glass and never fully collapses. There is a generous flurry of carbonation visible as well. The flavor is light, dry, and refreshing. It starts out much like an American or English Pale Ale with a generous showing of balanced caramel/toffee maltiness and fruity/lightly citrusy hoppiness with a mild to moderate level of bitterness. The sour and tart woody funkiness comes through about mid-palate and than fades through the finish leaving an earthy, grassy, citrusy (peel), and slightly spicy lingering hop flavor in the mouth along with some lemongrass and something that brings water chesnut to mind... Anyways, this beer has a medium to medium-full body and a fairly mellow palate like a true ESB or Bitter would have. This is a really well-crafted beer that does a very good job of balancing all the great Jolly Pumpkin characteristics with an ESB-styled beer.

750 ml. bottle (Batch 267, 268) from Jungle Jim’s International Market in Fairfield, Ohio. Rating #240 for this beer...