Jolly Pumpkin Bière de Mars

Brewed by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Style: Bière de Garde
Dexter, Michigan USA

Light, clear red-auburn. Thin, wispy head, barely present. Nose is wondrously good, great promise here. Acidic, lightly oaky, just the right kiss of sourness--this is a great, great smelling beer. The brett is there as well, just a bit of funk, nice balance of the yeast, wood, and sourness, really intriguing. Regrettably, the flavor can’t even vaguely begin to live up to the promise of the nose. First impression is an overly thin and watery beer, very little carbonation, just does not stick in the mouth at all. Very lightly tart, bit like concentrated grapefruit. Some vanilla and oak. Vaguely acidic, but not much going on. After how lovely this one smelled, an incredibly, incredibly disappointing beer.

750 mL capped bottle, fresh – 2006: deep red-gold with a thin, quickly diminishing ivory cream. Sweet and tart aromatics – sour malts and dulled grapefruit hops. Mulled wine and all spice interact with strawberries. Smooth, almost watery palate, lacking any interesting carbonation…but it works alright with the sour and lip smacking flavours. Melon and hop juice is a welcome addition in the middle of the sour start and finish. Quite a bit of lactic sourness through the finish. Enjoyable, but the other Jolly Pumpkin beers I have had have worked a little better.

Poured a nice orange with yellow highlights from a strinkingly beautiful 750. Funky, oakey and sour nose. Taste starts off with nice tartness that makes way for pink grapefruit, pine and oak, with funky brett character. Palate is full though could do with a bit more carbonation, making a bit more lively and quaffable. It is mostly flat in the mouth.

750 ML bottle: Medium amber w/ no head. A thin ring forms around the top of the body, but does not have a head. Seems as though it would be white though. Oak wood aroma is immediately noticeable as is the Jolly Pumkin yeast twang/brett aroma. Malt is lightly grainy, but mostly just oak & yeast character. Lightly toasty & bready as it warms and the yeast becomes a little peppery, but all other aromas are fairly light. The beer is fairly dry from start to finish. Very oaky and wood tannin like in the flavor. Very immediate taste is lightly sweet w/ a light tart fruitiness. A light cinnamon taste comes around mid palate from somewhere, maybe the yeast. Aftertaste is dry, oaky, and lightly toasty malt. Lighter medium body, medium high carbonation, light warming alcohol. Definitely not my favorite JP beer. Others have been good up until this point, and it’s not a bad beer, just a bit 1-2 dimensional IMHO as far as complexity goes. Could us some aging to mellow out the oak character.

Clear chestnut body with virtually no head. The nose is really interesting: at first I thought it might be infected, but now I’m not so sure. Sweet apples, tart berries, caramel, layered grains, earthy hop notes, light spice (almost cinnamon?), vanilla, hints of oak, light diacetyl, warm alcohol and some sherryish hints as well. The body is perhaps a little thin and has virtually no carbonation. The flavor is kind of sweet up front with the fruity and grainy elements coming through. Nice subtle caramelization as well. The finish has a surprisingly strong hop bitterness that I was not expecting. The spiciness is very subtle in the mouth. The finish is short to moderate in length and with some noticable alcohol warmth. This didn’t even begin to grab me the way most of the Jolly Pumpkin beers have. I don’t know if this one doesn’t really work for me or if the bottle I had was a little off. Hopefully I will find another bottle to try.

750-HUGE thanks to TAR for bringing this one to the DLD06 gathering (your a gentleman and a scholar!). bright copper with a small soapy white head. tropical nose with a nice oaky/woody undertone (like most of the jolly pumpkin line). some nice citric qualities as well (light). very tart finish, the most tart for all the Jolly pumpkin beers i have had to date. This is a pretty good Biere De Garde, but i think La Roja is a tad better (more balanced).

Bottle. Pours a cloudy red-copper body with a small white bubbly head. The aroma is subtler than the reserve - more rich caramel maltiness, yeast, and tons of fruit...apples, pears, and oranges come to mind. Fantastic. In some ways I prefer this to the Reserve (which was drunk side by side). The drinkability is superb and the scores reflect that aspect - lots of juicy fruit flavours that were evident in the aroma and plenty of brett funkiness. I could see myself drinking this outside on a warm summer day :-). Purchased at Bello Vino, Ann Arbor in April 2006 (Recent batch).

Thanks for sharing Mike! The second of many at what ended up being Tuesday night Jolly Pumpkin Bonanza! Sampled side by side with the reserve version. Not as cloudy as the reserve, and pours deep mahogony/amber with medium beige froth. After a minute, looks like a barley wine. More subtle in aroma than reserve, less booze, and more fruit. Lots of apples, pear, with mild hints of caramel and a funk that is not as pronounced. Very tart, with super bretty funk taste, and lots of yeast. STrange fruitty bitter flavours too, that last through the finish. Very soft and silky. ANother champ from JP. Thanks Mike!