Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza

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

Pours a hazy golden color with an amazing white ice cream cone head. Aroma is spices, fruits, esthers, sourness. Flavor is fruity, sour, apples, spices, yeasty, goodness. Really nice brew, underrated!

BHottle. High fluffy but long lasting white head. Hazy yellow body. Spicy and fruity aroma and flavor. Coriander dominates. A good deal of hops bitterness in the long aftertaste. Low carbonation.

Poured a cloudy golden-yellow body with a nice thick off-white head that lingered for a while. Spicy, peppery, fruity resonance that persisted long after each sip. Slick, appley finish with a astute alcohol afterlife. Great beer.

Pours cloudy golden with a thick, creamy off-white head that lasts forever. Nose is wonderful. Honey, apricot, and red grapefruit meld together wonderfully. The flavor is spicy, peppery, and sharply bitter, with notes reminescent of grapefruit peel, flowered hops, and a slight cheesy mustiness. Lingering aftertaste, rather oily on the tongue. This is super.

8/12/2008: Well, I popped the cap off and turned to throw it away. I looked back in shock to see the beer foaming out of the bottle in an explosive manner and just flowing down the outside of the botle in sheets! It happened so fast and was so forceful that I lost nearly 8 ounces on the counter in a matter of seconds. What a terrible waste of beer as well as the $10.99 it cost me for this bottle. Arrggghhhhh... At any rate, Oro de Calabaza Artisan Golden Ale has a cloudy dull gold color with a large and lofty off-white head. The foamy head is long lasting, creates puffy lacing on the glass, and is supported by an active champagne-like carbonation. The aroma is fruity (sweet and sour combination of strong pineapple, lemon, and other citrus), yeasty, and spicy and paired with a tinge of JP funk and tartness. The aroma has a malty Lambic quality to it. Taste mimics aroma quite closely for this beer. it is fruity (pineapple and other tropical-like fruits) with notes of bubblegum, soft peppery spice, and just a splash of sourness. It also has a dry, spicy, and pineapple seltzer-like lingering aftertaste. There is a good level of maltiness to this beer which helps to supress the alcohol content from encroaching on the flavor. This beer has a medium-light to medium body and surprisingly does not feel over-carbonated on the palate. Everything about this beer is very well-balanced except the ridiculous exodus from the bottle when the cap is popped off!

1 pt. 9.4 fl. oz. bottle (8% Alc/Vol) from Jungle Jim’s Internation Market in Fairfield, Ohio. Rating # for this beer...

At RateBeerians tasting session. Bottle: Lots of fizziness, seltzer-like, similiar to champaign style beers. Fruity and dry, finishes with tartness.

Bottle. Aroma of some light fruits (apples, green grapes), herbal spices, but mostly an earthy feel from that ol’ Jolly Pumpkin yeast. Flavor dominated by that sour, earthy character and herbal bitterness. My first couple sips I thought this was going to be stellar, but it quickly became rather boring for me, and soon thereafter rather hard to drink with an acidic and somewhat alcoholic finish. I love me some Bam, but I’m pretty sure I overrated La Roja in days of being influenced by others, and this one didn’t get the job done for me either.

Bottle. Pours a light gold (or perhaps yellow/orange) with a thick foamy wite head that leaves pretty lacing. Aroma of sweet fruits (melon, citrus, apricot) and spices. Flavor of sour fresh apples, bitter hops, melon rind, citrus/OJ. Very similar to Bam Biere but less sour and fruity. Interesting beer and pretty tasty, although it does wear on you slightly after a glass or so. Good beer.