Jolly Pumpkin Fuego del Otono (Autumn Fire)

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

Pours a deep hazy orange color with a white head. Aroma is malts, apples, and figs. Flavor is malty, apples, figs, and some roastyness.

Enjoyed at NoogFest III. 750ml bottle. Pours hazy orange with a big frothy head that never stops coming. Fairly light aroma with sweet hints of fruit and spicy yeast. Apple (?). The flavor is probably the best I’ve had from a Jolly Pumpkin. Light spice and lemon fruit with that signature Jolly Pumpkin yeasty funky business. Nothing over powering like many of their others IMO. Saison like actually and enjoyable in flavor. Way too carbonated for me though (as is usual for their beers). However, overall I liked this one. It was refreshing.

An amber appearance with a large foaming head. Which seems to be standard for JP. The aroma was filled with strong citrus and some caramel. A bit of grapefruit and lemons showing up with a caramel and nutty backbone. A malty and sour finish. It was good but not one of thier best.

Bottle at the mondiale ’07. aroma is very fruity with apples, and slight banana comming through. Flavour is fruity, with some peppery notes like a saison, and some caramel in the finish. Quite a complex beer, lots going on. Very very nice.

2006. Firey mahogany-red pour, thick and resistant, retaining a thick layer of forthy crown throughout. A perfectly pungent sour green apple aroma precedes layers of pecan and toffee-caramel malts. Becomes somewhat dry, vegetal and grassy eventually. The chestnut tones are brilliantly subtle, dusted with cinnamon and buried in the richly textured malts. Oak breaths aged anthems of smoke into a fresh, tart-tasting body. Finish is tangy with sharp cloves and dill spice. Thick but lively in the mouth, dynamic and resonant, its myriad of voices humming in intricate counterpoint. An approachable sophisticate, mysterious but inviting to every sense. Thanks John! 8/4/9/5/17 4.3

2007. Cascading white gush on a firey orange murky body. Thick apple tart and fritter sweetness in the aroma; warm cinnamon spiciness and earthy nuttiness. Spices seem quite green sometimes; a cool, sweet wisp of tarragon. Pickled ginger and citrus acids predominate a tart, juicy sweetness. Flavor is a mite thin, showing a lot of grapefruit and mandarin tartness that seems to flutter a bit weakly on a brittle body of malt. More prominent is this soft sweetness of oak and recurrent, dry-sweet greenish spiciness. Pickled ginger rings out still and lends some funk to a soft sourness of white wine and overripe pear. Full of delicacy and complexity, but notably less dense, less warming and less autumnal than last year. Full sparkly palate, somewhat brisk and quite acidic. Finishes on a soothing sweetness of vanilla and lemon meringue, musty and short. Less memorable, if not necessarily worse. Thanks Mike! 8/4/7/4/15 3.8

Bu au Mondial 07. Dorée foncée, moyen collet peu blanche. Arome d’épice malté et des fruits sûrettes agréable. Goût de malte épicé sûrette plaisant, goût doyx et peu amère.

As expected this was a foam monster. Pouring this thing was challenging to the point of ridicules. Huge rocky head that refused to dissipate. Even when I put the bottle down, with it still ¾ full, odd bubbles were foaming out of the bottle reminiscent of frog eggs and making a mess on my coffee table. The beer itself was beautiful looking-the color reminding me of the river in the U.P. called Smith’s Creek: Amber but almost glowing. This one was a bit bitterer then I thought. It had the usual apple tasting brett but something seemed a little out of wack. Green apple, hops, and oaky. The backend taste of chestnuts actually had a slight unlikable plastic trait to it. I didn’t dig this Jolly Pumpkin as much as I do others. However, its entirely possible I just wasn’t in the mood for it and will try it again.

2006 bottle shared by Blake. Pours to a clear brown amber with ample carbonation supporting a huge meringue-like head. Woody, cinnamon-spicy aroma with tart acid over ginger bread malt. Great flavor on this stuff - tart green apple, tangy nutty wood, and lemon citrus over soft pale malt. The mouthfeel is aided by velvety carbonation - not at all tingly or harsh. This beer is well put-together; I don’t dig on the nutty flavors too much but it’s still tasty.