Jolly Pumpkin Bière de Mars

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

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.

Bottled. A hazy dark amber beer with a thin orange head. The aroma is very sweet with strong notes of caramel and alcohol, as well as light spicy notes. The flavor is sweet with hints of acidity from brettanomyces and with notes of fruits - I pick up passion fruit and pineapples, leading to a dry bitter end that also hides notes of wood.

Name: Beer de Mars
Date: 01/27/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Cask Eve, 2006

clear amber, whispy white head, sweet malt aroma with some hot alcoholic spices, sweet malt flavor, a touch of oaky character, slight sourness, balanced by some nice spices,
-------- /> Name: Beer de Mars
Date: 04/27/2006
Mode: cask
Source: brewery

big tart and spicy aroma, creamy body, big rich malt flavor with plenty of tartness, lots of complex character, a very nice smooth cask character,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

Thanks to TAR for this bottle - Cloudy copper pour with minimal head - medium tart/acidic aroma, with notes of oak, earthy/barnyard qualities, and some almost lambic-like funkiness - flavor is mildly acidic and somewhat tart up front, followed by big time wood flavors, then a gentle sweetness and a hint of grain, apricot - subdued spices and hops in the finish - a bit of alcohol warmth finishes it all off - a good beer, but not one of JPs best.

Lightly hazed brown ale with a thin creamy off white head. Woody cherry aroma, with barnyard qualities, veering on white wine. In mouth, a nice light flemish sour, with lactic notes, light herbal character, nice and quite interesting. At the Mondiale, June 2006.

Thick murky brown body with a reddish hue. Brown foam. Aroma is dark malts and plum with a nice earthiness. Flavour is sweet with a presence of vanilla and some geuze like yeasty quality thrown in to the mix.

750 ml bottle, ...hazy dark amber/ orange, edging on reddish’brown appearance, creamy froth atop, long-lasting in the glass. Tart, woody nose, a hint of cherry...darker tones emerge...very mysterious and intriquing. Fills the mouth well on first imbibement, tart cherry flavor dominates, sour, then sweet. Floods the mouth, coats the corner with generous flavor, slides out having done it’s job, unloading unique explosions of taste off the tongue and down the hatch. There’s a constant recurrence of the pucker, then the dark oak, then the sweet, as it rounds and quietly depart. Refreshing and drinkable, despite it’s stronger than average alcohol, (yet moderate, considering current trends). I like this. A very interesting beer, that doesn’t fit easily into stylistic folds. Fine with me. One can enjoy this easily with dinner, or sipping slowly in the company of friends. just don’t expect it to blow you mind or bust your tastebuds in 10 or 12 new ways.

Bottle from Sam’s. Wow.Sour and musty with a slight touch of vanilla and oak. A mix of gueuze,barnyard and teasty goodness.