Stone/Nøgne Ø/Jolly Pumpkin Special Holiday Ale

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Escondido, California USA

12 oz. single - $2.99 at Bullock’s in Marietta, Georgia. Appearance: Pours out a seemingly heavy, opaque, brown body with a growing, lasting, off-white head. Smell: A downright potpourri-scented aroma smelling deeply of rich notes of dark caramel-coated bread crusts, cocoa, herbaceous sage, piquant juniper berries, ground chestnut shells, miscellaneous fruit paste, and spice. Taste: Sweet burnt caramel sauce, cocoa powder, and an earthy nuttiness upfront. A second later the prickly spicy rye deftly melds in with the other long-riding flavors. Full, though not overwhelming tastes of minty rubbed sage and junpier berries (which always sets my mind thinking about gin). Slight bitterness, leaving the other flavors to round out the sweet malts. At times you get flashes of dried cherry fruitiness, and other times some fleeting sourness. Drying, spicy, deeply earthy finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Oddly dense, questionably high, yet creamy carbonation, as if my bottle contained one of those nitrous widgets. Drinkability: Wow! I’ll admit to being a bit hesitant after reading the list of bonus ingredients. It’s true, I may have even murmured "Jesus Christ" right in the middle of the liquor store on a Friday afternoon. But boy was this flavorful and simply brimming with character and tasty complexities. Also, I appreciate it being sold in twelve ounce bottles, as that seems to be just the perfect amount. I don’t know about the rest of you jokers, but I’ll never ever think of saying "no" to a three-way again.

Smells like coriander and nutmeg, strangely enough. The flavor on this is pretty nice. Certainly has some distinct Christmasy spices. A bit of heft and a quite tasty finish. Nice brown color.

Spice aroma, caramel malt, lots of fresh cut tree! Deep amber, tinted red. More spice and spruce with nutmeg building to a surprisingly ample hop finish, though the mouthfeel is a little gummy in the backend. I wasn’t thinking Juniper at all.

Another splendid beer shared by Yaniv, thanks! Warm copperish brown with light tan head. Sweeter dark malt, light Belgianess in the yeast. Light spice. Thinner body, lower carbonation. Sweet spicey dark malt tinge. Cinnamon. A bit of tannin maybe. Not too heavy or creamy. Tastes much more stone than Nogne or Jolly Pumpkin.

Slightly hazy light brown with thin head. Dominant flavor reminds me of ginger with a little gin like juniper berry. Nutty caramel malt sits in the background. Too much spice for my liking, but not awful. Finishes with an astringent bitterness.

beautiful thick brown appearance with a nice off white head. Aroma of cinnamon, spice, and malt. The flavor is much like the aroma although there is a presence of honey even though it isn’t really there. even though it is a malty beer, there is enough dryness and hops to keep it from being overwhelmingly sweet. I normally don’t like Christmas/Holiday spiced beers, but this was very pleasant. I would love to see these 3 brewers collaborate on a better style!

Bottle courtesy the Cheeseman. Pours a dark brown with a thick white head. Wonderfully fragrant juniper berry and herb aroma. Taste is malty, nutty, herbal with hints of the fruity juniper berry. Very fragrant and delicious, not your typical beer and should not be thought of as such.

Bottle generously shared by sloth. Poured an orangey amber color, decent initial head that thinned to a small ring. Aroma was cinnamon spicing and ginger with higher temperatures, some caramel type malts. The flavor followed the aroma: ginger, cinnamon, juniper, caramel type malts. This beer finished with a firm bitterness, not sure if it was from a hop (Stone’s contribution?) or some other odd ball ingredient like a caraway seed, lol? The mouthfeel was oily big relative to the appearance and what I was expecting. Decent carbonation to keep it somewhat zippy on the tongue. Did Jolly Pumpkin really have anything to do with this? Where’s the Bret? A for sure disappointing brew given the collaboration of such quality brewers. Thanks, Bert, for sharing.