Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela No. 1 pumpkin ale

Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela No. 1 pumpkin ale (2012)

Autumn Seasonal (First Year)

25.4 fl. oz. / $13.99 USD / 5.9% ABV

About: "[Blend 15 - Bottled 09-21-2012] Ok, so the joke was that Jolly Pumpkin doesn't brew a pumpkin beer. Well, now we do. Just this one. Packed with real pumpkins, hints of spice, and a gentle kiss of cocoa to liven the soul. An everyday easy way to fill your squashy quotient. Guess now folks will have to find something else to joke about..." We'll see.

Thoughts: Poured an ultra hazy dirty orange color that's almost auburn or slightly yellowed, but hardly. Carbonation is off the charts. Tons of small white bubbles comprised the head before it eventually turned to fluff and puddles.

Smells like bubblegum and spice. Doesn't smell much like a traditional pumpkin beer at all, but that's not a problem as I welcome the different. I don't expect every pumpkin brew to smell like Pumking, but I do hope for each new one I try to have at least some personality. This actually smells like something my mom used to make... it was like a custard or something, sprinkled with nutmeg and other spices. I was never really into that stuff as a kid, and I'm not really into eating flan these days, but it doesn't smell bad. It's inviting, though bubbly. Like a creamy, bubblegum pumpkin cidra.

Taste starts off with a ton of malt, then a hard fucking slap in the face full of sour, followed by a quick spike of spice that injects then retreats. Gawd dayum. This brew is very earthy, dirty, herbal, and duckface inducing. Noticing tons of lacing. After a few gulps the spices start to come through a little bit more, so it's not obtrusively spicy up front obviously, but once the palate adjusts to the harsh sting of first contact the overall flavor and blending becomes a little more evident. I suppose if (un)Domesticated Wild Ales are your sort of thing and you like a bit of pumpkin mash and a lot of pepper in the background, then this beer would be right up your dark alley. I'm gaining the tongue for it, and really I don't mind (I'll finish the job you can count on that) but believe me when I say that this is a harsh one. Especially for the unexpected drinker. You've got wild ale yeast, straw and hay, tart and sour mash, lighter Belgian characteristics, it's a bit acidic, and there's a dry spice on the end of the tongue once it goes down. I love sour stuff. Ever since I was a kid I've been obsessed with sour, and on top of that, I drink pickle juice just because I love the stuff. Not to mention with all the beers I've tried so far, I think I'm gaining a pretty good handle on what is fuckin' harsh and my overall opinion on this one is: It could use a touch of sweetness. Bitterness and Tart is off the charts here and it's slightly painful. Every single spot in my mouth tingles and quivers when this beer hits it, like I'm biting down on aluminum foil or chewing raw citrus-less lemons (if that even fuckin' makes sense!?).

That said, I've typed all this and I'm not even half way through the bottle. So I'll quickly get to the other stuff and them I'm off to chug the rest. Mouth feel is slightly foamy due to all the carbonation, it bubbles up quickly once it comes in contact to saliva and remains an enigma after that. Finish is crisp, drying and semi-clean. Aftertaste is good too. Like an apple cider and flowers. It gets very floral and the slightest hint of fruity, but an artificial type. This is one fucking weird drink, man. It takes a little getting used to.... and if you're not used to a lot of other beers like this, it'll probably take you a lot of getting used to. So if you plan on buying a fifteen dollar bottle of wine for a special occasion, buy this instead... and when she (or he) spits it out, you can drink it all to yourself.

Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza

Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza - Oak Aged Bottle Conditioned Special Ale (2011)

Brewed and Bottled by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales LLC, in Dexter, Michigan. USA.

Winter Seasonal (Limited Release)

25.4 fl. oz. / $14.99 USD / 9.0% ABV

About: "Belgian Christmas ale aged in oak barrels. Deep mahogany and malty, it offers Layered Hops, Figs, Raisins, Sugar Plums, Cashews Betwixt Rum Laden Truffles."

Thoughts: I had to grab this one. A Jack-O-Lantern with a Christmas cap covered in snow? Heeeelll Yeeeeaaahh... as I popped the cap, it went flying! There's some yeast around the inside of the cap, foaming. I stop, and say a backwards prayer to Lord Glenn Danzig, before setting out to get that feeling he doesn't tend to indulge in: Un-sober.

Poured a dark, very murky, brownish-orange that looked a quite grim actually. It had a huge, fluffy egg-nog white head that was all small beautiful bubbles hiding underneath a thick froth. Thousands of carbonation bubbles rapidly float upward all around the edge of the mug. There's still one-fourth left in the bottom of the bottle that I'll pour in once it's warmed up a bit. 

All the voices in my head agree, this smells pretty awesome. It's not jumping out at me like a hurled pumpkin to the back of the dome, but it definitely smells of a Pumpkin type beer (note: there's apparently no pumpkin in this). Sweet and a little bit spicy at first, the more I take it in I start to notice flowery hops. Very earthy and like a fruity pulp.

Light spices... spices... alcohol shock to the facial nerves!... mellowing, pop of hops... second taste: getting fruity tones all around, a malty sensation starts to flow in, then a little bit of sour mash or yeast. After another high alcohol tinge, some sweet sugary candy fruits come through, and then are backed up by those sour, flowery hops. Tasting the air in my mouth a bit and I'm getting freshly cut grass. Cherries. Granny Smith Apples. This is what Mad Elf should have tasted like. The flowery hops (perhaps that strong, sour yeast) are distracting me a bit, overall lowering the score on this one, but it more than makes up for it with the other flavors. If there are those dastardly Saaz hops in this, they're present but laying low just enough.

Thick and frothy. Very giving in the puckering effect department.

It's a bit tart for me. Aftertaste is the wood from that oak barrel. It's all interesting and a sensation in itself, but the semi-overwhelming sourness puts a harness on this rabid weasel!

Alright, pouring the rest in. There were only a few little pits and pieces floating around earlier on, and it hasn't seemed to change this time around. Though, it's really hard to tell as the brew may appear a little lighter from an angle, once you try to look through it the middle turns darker than dark. It's not the most balanced that it could probably be, but the malts do a fine job of holding that sour back a bit... not much, but a bit. The malts and spices (that aren't heavy, nor peppery) save this brew from complete disaster. That yeast is strong! And whatever hops they used didn't exactly help matters. Thankfully it seems it all has worked out in the end, aside from a dry raspy feeling I'm gettin' in my throat right about now from talkin' so much.