Jolly Pumpkin Luciernaga (The Firefly)

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

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...!)

In short: A soft but complex brett and barrel marriage.
How: Botle 750ml, various vintages, various aging.
The look: cloudy dark golden body with a medium off-white head
In long: Super marriage of Brettanomyces and barrel. Extra-comfortable cushiony body. Some dried fruits, a few orange peels, a little woody caramel and a pinch of white pepper. Overall barnyard sensation. But it’s really the Brett and barrel that makes this beer. Despite being very bretty the Luciernaga doesn’t come with any of the sourness of other brett bombs (Bam Biere, Sanctification, etc.). Think Orval without the hops. This is a soft beer but what it lacks in intensity it more than makes up with complexity and originality. Drinking that thing makes me feel happier than a redneck in a sheep-fold.

Oak, vanilla, nutty marzipan and market-fresh vegetables in the aroma along with a beautiful brett character. Hazy, burnished golden-copper coloured body with decent off-white head that recedes to generous and lasting fine-bubbled cover with some nice lacing. Earthy, musty, light barnyard, but clean tasting with a nice peppery spiciness and some minty notes and some flowery hops. Brett character is also very apparent in the flavour and lingering in the aftertaste. Fair bitterness in the finish. Beautiful soft texture and mouthfeel with fine-bubbled carbonation that stimulates the tongue and opens the tastebuds. I just want to bathe in this one. Bottle enjoyed with MartinT, muzzlehatch and Rastacouere. Original rating (8-3-8-5-16=4.0), resampled Mar-06 and bumped the score up dramatically.

Semi-translucent and glowing orangish-copper in color with a decadent mossy head and slow motion cascading lace that mimics vellum from time to time. Aroma delivers with green grape skin and souring pinot grapes, brett funk, and a perfumey hop zest comprised of lilacs and callolilies. I could sniff this for years. Other wafts produce coriander and lemon rind scrapings, and some sugary esters underneath it all. Oak and brett take a flavor likeness to riesling aged in chardonnay casks. Floral attributions configure a tulip and rose petal bouquet arrangement, perfectly captured within the subtle hop array. Checked coriander, lime juice and daffodils aid the symbiotic rendition and subconscious slips of melanin. Palate perfection, ingrained with oaken smoothness and encapsulating effervescence to provide a custom net that catches and catapults the rigid, sour trait display. Mild finish, as a resilient and persistent spice force sings a duet of coriander and chrysanthemums. No one in the country is displaying this much artistry and brilliance in the craft of brewing as Ron achieves every single time.

Beautiful copper-orange in colour, very large off-white coloured head, excellent lacing. The aroma is of apples, yeast, very bretty, lambicy, floral and spicy. The flavour is peppery and spicy, yeasty, bretty, some barnyard, earthy, musty, oranges and peaches, light coriander. Lightly sweet mouthfeel, medium body, high but still soft carbonation. Finishes long, floral and spicy. Very Orval like, lots of green apples and brett. The bottle exploded when I opened it, its a good this I decided not to open it next to my computer. Absolutely fantastic.

750ml bottle obtained in a trade with <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?U target=blank>OhioDad, thanks Scott.
Opened on July 12, 2007.
No best before date.

The Lure:
A towering foam outgrowth leaves islands of lacing all over. Whispering wooden barrels delicately suggest engaging conversation to the flowery hops and grains of paradise. Wild yeast is perfectly integrated for tantalizing results.br>
The Festivities:
Dry oranges, peaches and apricots are fabulously linked by the wooden dryness component of the barrel aging. Coriander milkiness seduces, and is frothy carbonation is lively and authentic, this is as drinkable as it can get, while remaining rustic. The remarkable brett wilderness is never aggressive, only a competent companion amongst others to render more complexity. Stunning.

Transcendence:
On the French countryside, the soup of the day is always straight out of the garden. And boy is it lovely.

Bottle (courtesy of Sammy): Poured a dirty yellow color ale with a huge white foamy head with perfect retention. Aroma of floral malt with a good dose of Brett is exquisite. Taste is almost perfect with a great mix between floral malt, oak and a well balance presence of sourness and tart. The spices that are mentioned on the label (Coriander and grain of paradise) are very subtle and could hardly be tasted though. This is probably the closest thing to Orval that I’ve had the chance to drink. I do wonder when going through some of the other ratings and the description on the label if the Brett and the sourness were intended or not but in any case I am not complaining because this was a great beer experience.

Bomber at Jerry’s. Cloudy caramel-amber with big, foamy beige head / Big, aromatic nose of fruit and caramel / Light bodied, tart and crisp, with delicate carbonation, a silky, balanced body, and a long finish / Flavors of green apple, lemon, pear, caramel, chrysanthemum, oak, coriander, and lots of earthy funk / Lacking a little of the complexity (maybe?) of other JP offerings, but still spectacular.