Jolly Pumpkin Luciernaga (The Firefly)

Brewed by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Style: Belgian Ale
Dexter, Michigan USA

Bottle, rectangular label, bottle shape as pictured. Aroma of JP funk, diverse citrus notes (funky, tart, juicy, bitter orange, sweet orange, lemon, all sorts of stuff), floral hops, a lot more going on than in some other (newer?) JP beers I’ve had of late that are just pure funk. Flavor has an unusually nice interplay between funky notes and bitter, hoppy notes as well as lightly bready malt. All in all pretty good, hard to find an area to criticize, though admittedly I don’t think I’d return to this.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy deep orange with a huge, thick frothy off-white head. Aroma of sweet fruits, lemon, citrus, bitter hops, and sweet tart candies. Flavor is sour/yogurty at first with a dry, malty, slightly bitter finish. Palate is thin, sort of watery. This is alright, certainly easy to drink but underwhelming. 8/4/8/3/14 (3.7/5)

750 ml bottle from Binnys (Orland Park, IL). I’m excited to try this! Pours a very hazy fiery amber, orange and gold with amber, big billowy almost tannish white head. Laces very well. Very aromatic, pushing some heavy fruit esters: banana, pear, and some apple with good spicing, clove and grains of paradise, belgian yeast spice, vanilla and very light cinnamon. A bit of a wet grass, funk, but fruit kinda dominates. Initial is completely different: some bretty sourness and tartness come forward, light funk moving into a bit of barnyard and cheesiness. Light bodied, delicate without flavors necessarily dominating the beer over others. Strikes a nice balance, with the fruit taking in the backend of the palate with pear, apple, and light banana. Sticks to the palate, the funk and light tartness win me over as I sip this, relaxing the holiday weekend away. The spice is there, but gives way to fruit and funk’s delicate, flavorful, special balance. Cheers to this!

This is my first Jolly Pumpkin. The beer starts off with a sour smell. Reminds me of Rodenbach Grand Cru fresh in Belgium. Huge amount of fluffy head. The beer’s sour doesn’t come through on the taste. The body of the beer on the first sip doesn’t linger. It is an easy drinking soured beer.

ultra dry musty nose. plenty of yeast on hand for aromas and also the carb that could have blown the cap through a brick wall and has my tulip filled with a cotton candy head. aroma evolves to the sweet yet dirty lemon flavor my brain has come to associate with wild yeasts. unbelievable and unmistakable stank of dirty straw and livestock. head has begun to recede but only around the edges, leaving a pimple like circle in its midst begging to be shattered of its ’pus’: pure bready reeking organisms. before it has time to complete its recession into the depths of brew that lurk below, i perform my best rusty cunnilingus on the pimple, tempted to spell the ABCs and enjoying the musty murky flavors, not unlike a real vagina. i can wait no longer, tipping my glass nearly vertical so that the liquid breaks its foam barrier i am greeted with more leathery goodness and a strong malt background. it ebbs and flows, the waves interspersed with more and more of the wonderful vitamin A laden yeast. more then a good beer, this is genius. the low ABV prevents me from moving this nearly to the top of my list.

Thanks ogglethorp. Clear amber pour, large, rocky, free-standing beige head. Aroma has the Jolly Pumpkin house yeast funk and some cellar mustiness. Flavor is principally yeasty, nice molasses theme in the malt backbone. The finish is a bit off-rubbery. Palate is dry with an apple-peel astringency to it, very nice.

Sampled at DLD color was amber to orange with aromas of sour fruits and spice taste was sour fruits (like something went wrong not my style)spice and hops

2006 750ml bottle with the old style oval label. Hazy orange/amber with a rocky off white head. Earthy dry aromas of JP funk, cheese, dry hay, wood, with some caramel. Light body with a frothy mouthfeel. Dust bowl dry flavors of toasted wood hay aged cheese and pale malts. Gawddamn this shit is awesome !