Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo Especial

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

Fully hazy, amber-brown beer; small yellowish rim. Fuselalcohols, esters, orange peel, spices. Orange peel again in the taste, as well as strawberries, alcohol, sweet-sourish, and again obviously full of fusels (and quite possibly, fermented at demented temperatures, for doing "Belgian"...). Warming up, some coriander. Well bodied, but well-attenuated at the same time. Good yeast, this one. Sweet-sour and forced Belgain. OK, quite nice, but it IS forced. Thanks to Dirk, as well as to an anonymous American donor!

750 ltr bottle, from Slob (I think). Pours a hazy chestnut brown with a huge, fluffy beige head that leaves spotty lace. Aroma is dry and somewhat vinous, oak notes along with hints of molasses, bitter chocolate and molasses. Nice tart dark fruity flavors, along with lemon tea, prune, brown sugar, tannic with a bit of the wild funkiness and a sour cream raisin character. This one opens and improves as it warms. Medium body and very smooth like liquid satin with a nice tingly carbonation.

Bottle via Puddintane. Brown in color with reddish hues. Faint tan head that diminishes instantly. Cinnamon, tropical fruit and raisins in the aroma. Wow, that’s zingy!! Starts out sweet but turns tart mid-palate and finishes dry. It’s hard to pin down the flavors; musty chocolate, apples and dark fruits along with an orange hint and all along, tons of cinnamon. Another great beer from JP.

Bottle. Reddish brown pour with a soapy off white head. Funky aroma - grass, wet hay, sourdough, and a really nice punch of sweetness in there. Good woody notes in there also, along with some spiciness and a touch of alcohol. Flavor is much more on the sour-type-flemish-application-thing. The aroma only hints at the tartness that’s in the flavor. The flavor is much less complex than the aroma. I guess I was expecting something different, but this is a pretty substantial beer as far as most of the sour beers I’ve had go. Worth having once, especially in the summer - nice and refreshing. Smooth and bubbly.

Very cloudy glowing copper body with a small beige head. A little bit of everything in this one. Fruity sourness, chestnuts cream, earthy wood, orange peels, and I can go on and on. A wonderful beer that may even be a bit too much in the long run. The bottom line is some kind of wacky mix between a Flemish Sour and Brown Ale with some barrel notes thrown in. And the whole thing really really works. This is a case where whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And the sum of its parts is less than the whole. Sorry, I’m an engineer, I had to double-check the equation.

Bu au Mondial 07. Brune brumeuse, pas de collet. Légé arome de malte caramelisé, avec des note de fruits sûrettes. Goût de fruit malté très sûrettes, mais une finission sec.

This one was a trip. Bottle pictured with a tulip glass, red/brown with a tan head. All sorts of fruits and spices in this one. Apples, berries, citrus, cinnamon, raisons... intriguing concoction.

Hazy reddish brown with a creamy tan head, dense, but thinning over time. Lightly sweet nose with a slight yogurt tartness. Round smooth malt with enough raspberry/apple tartness to balance. A bit creamy. Really well proportioned. Lively small bubbled body with a slight tingle al la Flemish sour. Foamy and creamy, though not over carbonated. Round round malt in balance with an almost vinous grapey tartness. The chocolate seems to fill out the malt and give the sweetness a bit more depth, as there isn’t any huge distinctly dark malt presence other than some well placed caramel. Very dry finish. Clean, slightly toasty aftertaste (from the lingering caramel notes?). A lovely beer, I’ll pick it up next time I see it.