Stone/Nøgne Ø/Jolly Pumpkin Special Holiday Ale

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

Bottle thanks to my buddy bman1113vr. Hazy ruby pour with a fine tan head. Aroma is nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, ginger, caramel and brown sugar. Flavor is cinnamon, fusel, light spice, caramel and some coffee on the back end.

Aromas of ginger, sage and light mint. Nice ruddy chestnut brown with a thin off-white head. It is quite smooth and sweet with flavors of mint cinnamon, ginger, dark chocolate and a hint of vanilla on the finish. Quite good but not something I would drink very often.

Bottle. Nose is heavily-roasted coffee beans with cinnamon, clove, and vanilla. Pours near black with a medium brown head lacing nicely. Very full-bodied, but in a dry-stout sort of way, by which I mean creamy but not heavy. Flavors are balanced with good but not overpowering contribution from spices. Nice chocolate/toffee/caramel malt sweetnesses play off the cinnamon and clove spiciness very well. Lingering sweet and spicy. Very solid for the style, if disappointing for the breweries involved.

Bottle from the mystery swap. Pours a deep ruby brown with a just under medium sized dark beige head. Spice right up front, but soft and not overpowering. Smells a bit of candy canes, with a slightly medicinal edge. The spicy rye hides gently near the back end. Nice body, smooth and creamy. Light roast and malt right up front, and then the spices pick up right away moving quickly to a large hit of spice and then moving slowly away. Finishes smoothly with a subtle chocolate note and more spice. I’m amazed at the difference between this and the second edition of it. This one’s a whole lot better, and I don’t think it’s much to do with the extra year in the bottle. Curious.

Bottle. Poured a hazy dark amber with a small beige head. Nose is dominated by spice notes, ginger, juniper, and clove with some secondary toffee notes. Thin bodied with a somewhat watery mouth feel. Flavor is mostly spice but not nearly as much as in the nose. Starts off with dark malty anise notes with more clove and ginger notes through the finish.

Pours dark brown. A little fruit, a little caramel, mint. Sweet and fresh.

0.355 l bottle at Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Ruby color. Sweet, perfumed, spicy and caramelly aroma with almonds, juniper and cardamon (reminding just baked Finnish pulla). Sweet spicy and caramelly flavor with raisins and rye. Woody spices in the finish. Well made and complex spiced ale with good malt backbone.

Pours a nice chestnut brown with a thin off white head. Aroma is caraway for sure. Something in the aroma reminds me of eating at an Indian restaurant. Flavor is nutty, spicy, fairly smooth. Nice beer.