Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza

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

Pours a cloudy brown with some floaties and a creamy off-white head. Spotty lacing. Expected sweet and sour combo that is Jolly Pumpkin. Caramel, chocolate malt, funky yeast, and dried fruits mixed with red wine, oak, apples, and vinegar. It leans towards the "Belgian Stout" in several areas, including the initial taste. A strong caramel/chocolate combo up front with an equally strong fruity sweetness that borders on syrupy. As the beer warms and you progress through it, it takes on more of the oaky, vinuous qualities I was hoping for. A little sour, either from the barrel or the yeast, or both, but I enjoyed how it gave the brew a pop in the finish.

Bottle. Batch 333/334. Dark mahogony brown beer with a nice cocoa-colored head. Tart aroma light light malt. Rich malty flavor with cocoa, spice, dark fruits, and a decent tartness. Medium-plus bodied. Fruity tartness lingers with spice and light cocoa.

Bottle courtesy of sebletitje. Pours a hazy amber with a one finger off-white head that leaves good lacing. Aroma of JP brett, spice, and caramel. Taste is the same as aroma. Medium thin mouthfeel with a mild amount of bitterness and very high carbonation giving the bee a considerable amount of carbonic bite. Not one of my favorites from JP but still good.

25 oz bottle, Batch 2, 2007. Pours a cloudy chestnut body with some small chunky floaties. Huge fluffy head. Not a gusher, but a heavy foamer, needed two glasses to catch this guy. Big farmhouse funky nose with lots of brett, wheat, dark malts, yeast, cherry skins, light bourbon and some wood. Reminds me of La Roja, with the darker malts, undertones of bourbon, lots of bretty yeast influence, oak. Finishes with a very earthy, almost chestnut like note. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a slight stickiness on the finish and soft active carbonation. Pretty nice, but I don’t think that this stood out among the crowd of usual Jolly Pumpkins.

Bottle. Poured a nice brown body with thin head. Aroma is nice and fruity, oak and funk. Flavor is slightly sweet, dried fruit, vanilla and oak. Slightly woody but with a palate that fades quick but this is very drinkable.

Bottle. Pours with a brownish color and a smallish very frothy head. Aromas of spice, some sourness and some toasted oak. Flavors are complex, initially fairly sour with some funkiness that then recedes and lets the toastiness and wood come through. Very smooth and hides alcohol well.

Pours dark red with a large light tan head. Aroma is sour with some hints of oak citrus and an off smell that I would best describe a sewage. Mouth feel is very carbonated and a bit sticky. Flavor is in your face sour at first, but mellows after just a bit to reveal bourbon, dark fruit and some malty sweetness. The after taste is string of oak and definitely the best part of this beer.

Pours ruby with a foamy tan head. Very heavily carbonated. Aroma is of sour fruit, oak, malt, spice, and lemon zest. Taste is very sour fruit, oak malt, and spice. This one is mostly dominated by the fruit and bourbon flavors. Has a nice lingering citrus zest. Warming alcohol taste. Very tasty.