Jolly Pumpkin Luciernaga Grand Reserve

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

#2400! Life can be funny. I spent the better part of 2 years in the South, where the best beer I could find was right before I left and the cap was lifted. That’s when I found Sammy Impy Pils. Then there are times when great beers seem to come around every night. Not coincidentally, the times when I find a lot of great beers in the fridge are the times when i ramp up my trading, and find great guys like Ohio Dad, who sent this one to me. The beer pours a hazy dark straw color with an off-white, fairly sizable head that reappears with every repour. The aroma is very complex, with a malty oaky biscuity citrus up front, giving way to a plethora of spicy and floral notes, and some oaky, bourbony, mushroomy fruitiness. I call beers like this Dopplegangers, because they don’t fit any particular category, and they don’t need to. They also evolve as they warm, and this one gets a tad more sweet as it warms, then the oaky vanilla cobwebby malt re-appears. The palate is lively, medium bodied, and the complexity is off the charts. If you can find this, find it. I’d drive two hours with a pitstop in Calcutta and another in Harlem (if the 2 were within 2 hours of each other....you’ll have to give me some leniency with my analogies) for another bottle of this! Yeah man!

Bottle: Thanks to whoever brought this to the Hampton on friday night. This was really good, it had a nice oak character that went very well with what this beer already had going for it. With the extra age on the bottle there was also a sour apple taste to it.

Bottle... This beer rocks!... Murky, deep golden ale with a small, creamy, off-white head. Good retention. The nose is so many things wrapped up into one... funky, earthy, citrusy, woodsy and spicy. Well-balanced flavor. Woodsy, tart and medium-bitter. Medium-bodied with lively carbonation. Lengthy, tangy, spicy, dry finish. Yet another world class beer from J.P.! Thanks go out to zathrus13 for the bottle.

12 oz. bottle special thanks to Kramer7801. Cloudy orange color with a decent head that faded quickly. Aromas were very vinous sour fruit. Flavors were tart, and not nearly as fruity as I had expected. It was a really quick flash of tart, then hoppy bitterness. Some Alcohol in there, but not overwhelming. Definitely some wood and spice in the finish. This is good, but I was expecting somehting completely different, and I don’t even know why. Still a good beer.

12oz bottle thanks to Styles: Pours to a very slightly cloudy amber body with some strawberry highlights. Atop this body sits a large, thick and creamy light beige head that lasts for a pretty good amount of time, though not the full glass. The aroma at first has a slight vegitable aroma, but as I get further into the glass, I notice that it’s not vegitable, rather it’s an earthy, musty, sour wood smell. There is also some oak, mild sour cherries, lemon grass, yerba mate tea, with some hints of anise & black pepper hidden in the back of the nose. The taste is very sour & bitter, but in a very different way from say a Cantillon (i.e. it’s less acidic than Cantillon). I get notes of light lemon grass, steamed bamboo, very floral hops, dried citrus zest, bourbon barrel (though it’s not overdone, excessive, or overly alcoholic!! Well done). The bourbon note is definitely a highlight, and well blended into the flavor rather than dominating. This suggests to me that the bourbon barrels used must have been well conditioned, possibly with previous batches of beer to wean some of the bourbon out of the wood. There some light yeast, and actually a bit of banana/clove esters hidden in there, along with a wood flavor that really reminds me of matches (pine/sulfur?). Medium bodied, medium carbonation, it does feel a bit watery at times - a complaint I think I’ve had for many JP beers. Maybe a good way to describe it would be the carbonation seems to enter the mouth lively, then die very quickly. Finishes with some citrus zest, bitter lemon grass, and some sugar/bready malt notes. While the beer itself doesn’t blow me away, and I don’t think the taste of bourbon blends well with this beer, this beer is a shining example of bourbon barrel aging - particularly melding the bourbon flavors without an alcohol burn or complete domination of the flavor by bourbon.

Medium orange body with ringing tan head. Aroma is oak, bourbon, red win and OH esters. Sour, leather flavor. Palate is smooth.

A many thanks to rater MikeMac for all the amazing Jolly P beers!

Rating #950
Well… I can assure you that Luciernaga Grande Reserve will never again taste or even resemble the liquid that I have before me. I’m certain that because this beer was aged in a nearly virgin to wild yeast oak cask… The beer remained in it’s near original state only picking up more oak and bourbon nuance.
Fire Fly pours a hazy maple colored body with a silky fine bubbled fluff of foam resting atop. The aroma is Absolutely Wonderful… Not too oaky or bourbon like in any way! Biscuity malts rest beside a mild hint of hoppy spice, a yeasty / doughy tartness, and a lovely bouquet of vanilla beans, smoky oak chips and bourbon… Awesome!
The flavor is all mentioned above… more yeasty light lemon tartness than in the aroma an a tad more delicate black pepper, clove, orange peel spiciness than the aroma. I really like the way the tartness lingers on the end of the palate rather than the oaky bourbon, which is mostly present in the aroma and a breath after the sip. There is very little brett or lactic tartness… It’s just the way I remember the early Luciernaga, but now almost dismissively backed by bourbon. Stellar… a tremendous treat!

12oz. bottle thanks to the always generous Mullman. Hazy orange/amber color with a small white head. Musty, oaky aroma with just the barest hint of bourbon and some wet leather. Very dry flavor with tons of oak, some vanilla, tart apples and yeast. Probably the most pronounced woody aroma and flavor of any beer I have ever had.