Jolly Pumpkin Luciernaga (The Firefly)

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

Bottle. Musty barnyard aroma with lemon and coriander notes. Hazy amber color with large head. Sour-tart new hay and lemon peel flavor - very dry with a light hops finish. Another great JP beer.

Very tart and sour, fruity aroma. Hazy dark amber in color with streaming bobbles and a huge, frothy head. Head mostly lasts and is clumpy. Nice lace. Like a nice wine, it takes a few sips before the character of this brew really comes out. Unique. Not as tart in flavor as the aroma suggests. Dry. Not my favorite, but I enjoyed it.

The beer came in a 750 ml. bomber with a very artfully done label. The Belgian style pale ale came out cloudy, deep golden, and bubbly, and readily formed a rocky two finger head, that kept rising up until it was sticking above the glass in a volcano shaped cone of bubbles. Haven’t seen a display such active carbonation since the last time I cracked open a Duvel. The nose was classic Jolly Pumpkin sour, with a clear note of Brettanomyces, which undoubtedly was lurking in the crevices of the barrels this beer was aged in. The taste was dry, oak-influenced, and earthy, with the Brettanomyces showing up rarely as band-aid. The spices were quite muted, and hard to pick out above all the other flavor influences. The band-aid off flavor and the Brett character faded as I let the beer breathe, and Luciérnaga became sweeter and mellower. Pleasingly medium in body, this was also quite warming for a 6.5% ABV pale ale, which was probably due to the fact that I was gulping this easy to drink beer down fast. In my opinion, this was one of the best uses of barrel aging I have run across for a while, and quite fitting the term Artisan Ale that is proudly a part of the name of this brewery.

Decade topper. The beer - a living organism - spurts forth its excitement upon opening, issuing a sampler of its sure to be generous head. Indeed, the head amply more than matches the volume of beer poured, looking regally staisfied in the well-proportioned tulip glass. An aroma unlike one I recall encountering before, green apple hoppiness, with a squeeze of palpably sour citrus. A touch of sweetness from the green apple bracing the sourness. Exquisite. The head becomes chunky as is slowly fades, leaving jubilant, patterned lacing behind. The warm up to this beer is a phenomenon in itself, justifying what must by now be many hours of patience with much lesser brews. It may be the only, or one of the only, perfect scores I have given to aroma to date. The beer is no letdown in the flavor - one you could suck down like a dionysiac if you were inclined to decadent debauchery, or slowly savor were you inclined to maximize your hedonic and perceptual experience. The collisions of hops and sourness from the yeast generate a refined fruit flavor that is quite enjoyable to the seasoned palate. This is not the easiest to get in these parts but with any luck I will drink it every year to commemorate my life. (It’s a good adult substitute for friendly’s mint ice cream pie, with the green label & flavor.) Simply a wonderful idea, flawlessly executed. Now, they simply need to age this in some kind of cherry sugar soaked cask and I will give it a 5. (Ed: The second glass, by the time I poured it, the bottle had already developed its own second protruding head. Nothing like enjoying that with some cheesy midi celebration tunes provided by ratebeer...!)

On handpump at the Map Room, Chicago. Thin, close to room temp, and with little head in a 20oz imperial pint glass. Wonderful aroma of gooseberries and malt. The flavor and mouthfeel are like a direct mix of an oud bruin and an English bitter. Smooth, tart, dry at the finish, with a minor collision of hops and lactic acid that somehow works. A truly unique experience, but I supsect beers like this were more the rule than the exception a couple hundred years ago. Primitave but well made and ultimately quaffable.

Thanks to Moejuck for this one. Pours orange with a white head. Smells of flowers, citrus, coriander, lemony and dough. Tastes peppery with some nice perfumy elements. Lots of tanginess as the beer warms.

(04.29.06) One pint, 9.4 oz bottle from DiCarlo’s, Mundelein, IL. 6.5% ABV. Poured hazy red amber with a gigantic long lasting white head. Assertive clove spice aroma. Medium bodied Belgium-style ale that starts dry with a wisp of malt sweetness and spicy fruity flavors. Some medicinal phenols and tangy acidity but not overbearing. Finished dry with light hop bitterness. A very good drinkable Belgium-style ale.

Pours an attractive honey-brown with an enormous, fluffy white head. Lots of brett, floral notes, tropical fruit and candy sugar in the nose. Intense sourness, lessening halfway through the bottle; honey, definitive belgian character with an abbey-dubbel malt profile; full, layered mouthfeel. Finishes clean, sour, with a slight mouth-drying hoppiness. An excellent interpretation of the style.