Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza

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

750 ml bottle from Styles; Blend 2, 2007; Nose of bretty tartness, cherries, nutmegy spices, and sour apples; Cloudy dark brown with a big, glass-lacing straw head; flavor of horseblanket, crabapple sourness, (both light and non overpowering at all), spices, and caramelized brown sugar; finish a nice light brett tartness. Typical Jolly Pumpkin!

Blend 3, 2007... Appears a dark mahogany with a small beige head that slowly fades out and leaves streaky lacing around the glass. Smell is of brett, tart citrus, cherries, vanilla, plums, lemony zest, earthy notes, and brown sugar. Taste is of the mentioned aromas with some standout earthy mushroom, plum, and caramel flavors coming through on top of the brown sugar base. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, tart/sugary, well balanced.

Bottle Blend 1. Body-dark almandine with a quarter inch foamy head. Nose-woody, sour La Folie like nose, light funk, unsweet apple juice, pot roast spices, light vegetable rot (in a good way), light urea. Taste-thin horse, black tea, cherry, medium wood tannins, light cheap Chardonnay, raw leather, kind of squash like vegetables, corn water, malt vinegar, slightly astringent tea like tannins really come out and dominate. Very complex and layered. I am very surprised by the malt vinegar/tea flavor combination.

750 ml green bottle Batch 1 poured a clear dark mahogany with a lasting amber head. Aromas of tart citrus, oak, light spice and hints of cherry. Palate was medium bodied crisp and slightly tart. Flavors of oak, cherry, grape, light spice and some vinous notes with a crisp lingering lightly tart finish.
One of the best Christmas beers I’ve had this season!

750ML Bottle Blend 2, 2007 from River’s Bend. Poured hazy brown color with a large frothy light brown head that was mostly lasting with excellent lacing. Aroma was as complex heavy dark fruit, spicy, wood and yeast. Medium body with soft carbonation. Moderate spice sour flavor with a Moderate sour fruit finish with medium alcohol bite. Good brew.

Blend 5, 750ML bottle
Dirty brown with a thick white head and lacing. Aroma is dark fruits. oak and yeast. Flavor is over ripe fruits. Very sweet cherries and malt. Tart yeasty finish.t

Bottle courtesy of golubj. Poured a murky brown, bog color with light brown head. Aroma is heavy on a sour oak, with fruit, caramel, yeast and maybe flowers. Flavor was much of the same. Almost a little bit too sour for my liking. Other flavors were wood and caramel; not as much dark fruit in the flavor. Some aging might do this some good.

750 mL bottle purchased at Liquor Max in Loveland, CO. Blend 1, 2007. Pours mahogany with an average, fizzy, light brown head, somewhat lasting after initially fading somewhat, fair lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (cookie, caramel), average hops (citrus, flowers), average yeast (earth, basement) with notes of sour cherries, wood, and figs. Medium bodied, fizzy and bubbly texture, lively carbonation, and a bitter, metallic finish. Long duration, light sweetness, heavy acidity and bitterness. This one needs to sit a while, IMHO, as it seems very raw. The 9% ABV is well-hidden beneath the soured fruit and wood flavors.