Stone/Nøgne Ø/Jolly Pumpkin Special Holiday Ale

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

Bottle at Olympen, Oslo. Dark brown with a dense offwhite head. Super complex and spicy nose with lots of fruit, chocolate, spices and juniper notes. Indescribable, nutty, chocolate, cocoa, spices and fruit flavours. An explosion of flavours. State of the art.

Deep dark, almost opaque chocolate brown with thick creamy off-white head. Glorious aroma of oerwhelming spices, and just a bit of hops. The flavor is a very melodious blend of spices and roasted malt. Hard to pick out the individual flavors, but it is definitely complex. Long lasting echo of the spiciness in the finish. Malt and hops are evident, and serve well to balance the spice. Great beer experience.

Bottle. 22 oz. Split with Vin. Pours a beautiful chesnt with a two finger beige head. Aroma of ginger, cinnamon, juniper, oak, yeast, bread, oats, and corriander. The mouthfeel is amazing; slightly sticky, yet still smooth and easygoing. The finish is slow and a bit numbing under the tongue, with a great warming. Overall, this is probably the best Christmas brew I have ever sampled. Excellent brew.

Bottle. Deep dark brown beer with a very thick oily pour that throws out a massive thick sticky head. Aroma is great. Loaded with juniper and sage over a sweet sticky rye base. Sweet and very toasty with a great fruity and spicy component as well. There is a prominent hoppiness in the nose as well, but the beer seems to be quite balanced between the spices, spicy/piny hops and sweetness. Flavour is quite sticky and sweet but the beer is still quite balanced. Warming helps accentuate the caraway and spice. Lovely combination of spices and rye malt along with a nice brown sugary sweetness. Great balance. It comes across like a combination of Anchor OSA, sahti and barleywine and I love it. Pretty awesome beer for a cold winter evening.

Wow! now this is a spiced ale! lots of nutmeg, pumpkin and clove come to mind. reminds me of the anchor holiday porter. definitely embodies thanksgiving and christmas, and the alcohol will put you in a happy mood whether you like it or not!

Awesome appearance a nice reddish brown thick persistent tan head The aroma is amazing a mix of malty chestnut sweet and spicy The flavor has many of the same characteristics of the aroma malty sweet nutty spicy The spicyness increases and reaches a maximum as the beer heads toward the back of the mouth A very nice thick mouthfeel The spices and hops make a nice finish Slight alcohol warming is present as well Easily the best holiday ale of this season if not any season

Sampled on 12/09/2008. This spiced ale pours a deep amber brown color from a 12oz bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head, with good retention and nice lacing. The aroma is spices, lot of spices, nutmeg, nutty, fruity and sweet. A medium bodied spiced ale. The malts are caramel, fruity and sweet. The hops are floral and earthy. Lots of mix and match spices in this one, but no one single spice stands out. There is some nutmeg and allspice at the start and some caraway and sage at the finish. Very smooth tasting. Nicely balance between the malt sweetness, the hop bitterness and the wide variety of spices. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

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.