Jolly Pumpkin Bambic

Brewed by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Dexter, Michigan USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Bottle to taster (Blend 2; thanks Jay). Looks okay; a little thin though. Yellow with white head. Smells good; tart and funky. Tastes solid; lambic-esque, but a little thin. Average on the palate. Solid, but not spectacular.

Sample from a bottle shared from Jay’s personal stash. Hazy golden color. Thin white head, leaving good dots of lace. Very nice tart sour taste, a really nice pleasant buzz to wake up the taste buds. Oak, light floral and citrus hops, some acidic fruit to the aroma. Really nice light smooth carbonation, with a tingly finish, slight viscosity in the aftertaste but mostly dry. Definitely one of the tastiest sours I’ve had yet.

[Bottle, thanks Guerde!] Pours hazy orange with a creamy white head. Aroma is pencil eraser, bubblegum, a little funkiness, and underlying citrus. Taste is fairly tart, great bitterness without being overpowering. Hint of dill and a lot of oak. Full mouthfeel, long finish. Overall, very unique and enjoyable. Thanks again, Andy!

375ml Bottle, Batch 1, December 2010; Sampled July 2012
A steady pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet tulip produces a two finger thick, pale tan colored head. The beer is a light amber color that shows an almost clear, pale-amber tinged, gold hue when held up to the light. The beer smells lactic and fruity up front; it comes off as smelling of tart, floral apples, roses, perhaps a touch of hibiscus, plums, and a touch of grapefruit. There is a nice funkiness to this brew that is certainly musty, perhaps a touch medicinal, or perhaps even moldy somehow, and it has a certain muskiness, but it is most definitely a Brettanomyces signature. Underneath this even is a touch of enteric character that I wouldn’t quite call fecal, thouh it is perhaps a touch like clean, baby vomit; luckily this is quite subtle, and certainly at a suitable level for something that is supposed to be Lambic like. After I notice it in the flavor, there is a definite, pale toasted oak character found here in the nose as well.

Expressively carbonated and sour, both contribute to a lively, effervescent refreshing quality. The beer is quite light bodied, but without being watery. There is quite a bit of oak character here as well; there is a touch of vanillin, a soft, buttery oak component, a definite woodiness and a piquant woody spice character; the wood character here is certainly not subtle, but is well integrated. The sourness here is mostly lactic, though there does seem to be a certain piquancy to it that suggests at a touch of acetic character; this is not aggressively sour for a Lambic, but it is certainly well soured. The acidity accentuates flavors of rip, floral apples, a touch of grapefruit like sourness, a hibiscus like note, and even a spicy rose like flavor. The beer finishes with a phenolic note that leans towards medicinal, or perhaps slightly like some sterile cleaning chemical, this is fairly soft though and doesn’t seem to detract much, in fact it sort of works here. This does seem to have a touch of hop bitterness to it in the finish, with the dryness of the beer it even has a touch of bite to it.

This is definitely a tasty beer; one I should have gotten a hold of a long time ago. This really is fairly Lambic like, there are certainly some differences, but this is the best version of a Gueuze / Lambic that I have had from Jolly Pumpkin yet.

Tap at Sour&Bitter Copenhagen. Looks good in the glass, deep golden, small head. Starts intense sour, then milder. Finish reminds of sour apple, quite dry, some lemon hints. Okay.

(bottle - 330 ml) Light orange pour with the traditional Jolly Pumpkin mountain of white foam. Some light fruit in the aroma but then a very tart and dry sour and farmhouse undertone. Very sour and slightly dry at the start of the flavor. Some mild fruit and citrus but mainly that dry and almost dank tasting sour note. Not bad but a bit unusual.

Bottle, bought @ Sour’n’Bitter 2012.
Pours muddy yellow with a small, creamy, white head. Aroma has good funkiness, sweet oranges, light malts, apple zest and mild tartness. Medium carbonation, dry and light creamy mouthfeel - even if it still feels light and breezy. Flavour is softly vinious, grainy wheat, very tart. Fruity fresh. Light bitterness. A wonderful lambic that clearly separates itself from the Belgian ones.

10th May 2012
Bottle shared at Sour & Bitter. Very hazy gold beer. Little white head. Light lemony sourness, not too intense. Somewhat insipid finish. That’s about that. Meh!

Bottle @ S&B - Pours dark yellow to amber - Aroma of apples & sweet citrus fruits. Light body with fairly fresh notes. Some citrus, freshness from beginning to end. OK, but that’s it.

From bottle at Sour & Bitter 2012. It pours cloudy light orange, with a thick white head. The nose is apricot, peach, lemon, leaf and hint of white vinegar. The taste is tart lemon, grapefruit, hay, floral, onion and medicinal notes, with a long dry finish. Medium body and moderate, prickly carbonation. Not particularly complex. A decent sour, but not brilliant. IMO this is pretty overrated.