Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo Especial

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

bottle. pours a mostly clear reddish brown, with a thin off-white head that quickly fades to a film, but still leaves a decent lacing. lightly musty grapes and amber malt smell, with a deep cotton candy character, and some berries filling in the back. kind of a light caramelly malt flavor dominates the taste, with grapes and other berries filling out the taste, again all with a sort of musty overtone, and that certain indescribable array of flavors that only weird yeast strains can produce. also some notes of orange zest and spices, as well as some oak notes. this is really good stuff. moderate hoppy bitterness in the end, quite dry, but a light sweetness comes in as well. light to medium body, quite carbonated, and a very quenching, coating, if a bit astringent, mouthfeel. as tends to happen with jolly pumpkin, this beer is going away faster than i want it to. perhaps my favorite of theirs so far. really yummy and really different!

July 2007 - Chestnut brown pour, moderate head, no lace. Strong spicey belgian aroma. Flavor was sour vinegar, bitter orange rinds and hints of chocolate (cacao?) and cherry. Very little sweetness of any kind to balance out the vinegar aspects and slightly overcarbonated to my tastes. Good, but not very drinkable in anything other than small quantities.

May 2008 update. OK, so the beer is more like 3.5-4 years old, and it is holding up wonderfully. Cracked another bottle last night as a transitions between RR Deviation and Veritas 003. Those are two heavy hitters, but the Maracaibo did its job well. Even drier and funkier than I remembered, the oak permeates everything, tying the cocoa, apples, and spices together beautifully. This is a masterpiece of a brew, and it clearly ages well. I sure do wish I had more of this.

Aged, bottled with the cool old-school oval label. My guess is 2 years old. The pour is a cloudy, completely unfiltered copper brown color. A fizzy, off-white head quickly recedes to just a small edge, leaving virtually no lacing behind. Aromas show cinnamon apples, brown sugar, cocoa powder, and some mildly pungent caramelized malts. Heavy, aggressive, new oak completes the nose. Flavors follow that same path, turning more towards sour rather than pungent. I can pick up a bit of the candied orange peel, which adds yet another sweet and sour element. The vanilla component that the woody oak imparts is signature JP, and it works very well in this receipe. The body is on the lighter side of medium, with an intensely fizzy palate. Finishes short and sour. Great brew. Jolly Pumpkin does it again!

Cold 25.4oz bottle: Pours a clear dark reddish orange color with a thin, creamy ivory head. Aroma is of roasted malts, earth, dark fruits, spice, cocoa and some light alcohol notes. Taste is of dark malts, earthy hops and citrus. Smooth and medium bodied with ample carbonation. Ending is of sour fruit with some astringency. This is more of a sour ale than a Belgian strong ale.

Bottle: Pours a clear reddish brown with a thin off-white head, light aroma of apples and brown sugar, starts lightly sour with a sweet ending, thin bodied with a watery texture, and a short sour ending.

Bottle courtesy of patrick767. Medium sized off-white smooth head that was mostly lasting, not much lacing, transparent, fast-rising carbonation, and an orange hue. Nose was brown sugar, fruity, alcohol, somewhat sour, and some spicy notes. Flavor was brown sugar, sour, tart, fruity, vinuous, and a somewhat watery, thin texture. Smooth, thin mouthfeel and light in body. Decent for the style, but there are much better available of this style and this beer left me not wanting it again. Not a bad beer, the flavor just didn’t sit right with me.

750ml bottle from kryptic. Batch 253. Nice amount of funky brett on the nose. A touch of lacto funk. Some vinous light red grape tartness. Quite pleasant, per all JP noses. Pours a dark ruby.brown with a nice lasting off-white, nearly khaki head leaving some nice lacing. Quite dry on the palate. A bit of lacto, but tart brett all the way. Cinnamon and orange peel... not so much. Citrus fruit that’s gone bad and starting to rot . A definite wood tannin tartness. A touch of toasty, buttered malt. Medium bodied with excellent, but far from distracting carbonation. Finishes with a lasting dryness couples with a creamy lacto tartness. Damn... I love this brewery. Continues to surprise and make me think.

750 Bottle: Pours amber with a fairly large head. Aroma of fruits, but not overpowering. Flavor of sweet fruits and malts. very good.