Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza

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

First Official Houston Tasting. Pours a cloudy golden color with a great white head. Very nice lacing. Aromas of winter spices and orange peel. Flavor has great Belgian layers with strong, but well integrated mulled spices, including nutmeg and cinnamon. Crisp, refreshing with a very nice mouthfeel. Very nice beer.

[750 ml bottle] Opened with a forceful gush, which continued to erupt for a few minutes.. still, it poured a nice, hazy yellow color. Golden, with a super-dense, white head. This thing is ALIVE. Refreshing, almost lemony-citrus aroma. Some slight funk, a peppery hops. Flavors are a unique combination of malts, wheat?, clean, clear sugars and barrel funk. Interesting hop presence as well, which really adds to the complexity overall. I really dig these beers with a strong hop/brett combination.

Porus big like a brett beer should, wild but clean at the same time. A good super saison style in my opinion, brett and lactic come through well without being too sour. Nice hidden alcohol, dry finsh for an 8%er. Recomended.

Bottle. Yellow beer with a strong head. The aroma is lightly mulled and the flavour is very belgian beer like. Overall a nice reasonabley mulled beer.

Thanks to Mullet for letting me try this. Bottled, upon opening... we lost about 3/4 of the bottle though a ’fire hydrant’ style gush. That should never happen really, but I’m not sure where to dock points from the beer for it. As it settles down and is able to be poured, it comes out a cloudy golden with a thin white head. Aroma of citrus toilet blocks, yeast, big astringency which almost works with the saisony citrus that lurks underneath. Flavour is pretty harsh, piney hops, minced meat, yeast, clams and salt and a very lactic finsh. A bit all over the place but interesting to try all the same.

The Dan Journal #129. Tasted 11/8/07. Thanks again to Keir! 750ml bottle. Hazy with a golden hue. White head. Orange and banana yeasty aromas. Medium to full bodied with a big bitterness. Smooth and easy. Touch skunk. Touch earthy. Huge wit style with saison touches. Great esters.

750 ml bottle. Bright golden color with a huge white head. Aromas are flowery with a hint of cider. A spicy flavor with that wonderful Belgian funk.

750 ml bottle, purchased and sampled 11/5/2007.

I was unprepared for just how good this beer turned out to be. It poured an elegant gold, slightly hazy, with a nice fluffy head. Aroma of orange and vanilla and a bit of sweet malt, slightly sour, nice but not nearly preparing me for what was to come (perhaps I served a bit too cold - almost straight out of the fridge.) Astonishing flavor: like sucking honey lemon through oak, glorious smooth mouthfeel atop a slightly funky, incredibly drinkable ale, not sour like a lambic but more sour than I’d expected, with marvelous (if maybe slightly on the heavy side) wood tones.

What a stunner. I rated La Roja a tenth of a point higher -- but was that a mistake? These two I need to try head-to-head. 7/4/9/5/17

8/14/09. Two year old bottle. Well, I guess my palate has changed somewhat; I don’t think it has as much to do with the two years on this one. Today it’s good, but just good. Strengths as described above, but less so. Weaknesses: a sweetness that would be better gone, too much oak. I’d go about 7/4/7/4/15=3.7. I’ll average the ratings but I think that’s being generous.