Nøgne Ø / Jolly Pumpkin / Stone Special Holiday Ale

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Escondido, California USA

Serve in Lager glass, Tumbler

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Bottle (Nøgne-Ø bottling) at the PourHouse in Westmont, NJ. Pours a hazy dark chestnut with a camy light khaki head and a lot of lacing. Mild citrus aroma at first gives way to a nice bright caramel, grassy, herbal nose. Aggressive hops are nowhere to be found in the flavor but they play an important supporting role alongside the earthy, spicy, malty, nutty flavors. Some semisweet chocolate, vanilla and toffee in there as well. Creamy texture. Long, mildly sweet finish with just a hint of bracing hop bitterness. A sure Top 10 Winter/Holiday bw for me.

Bottle 355ml @ yngwie
[Courtesy of yngwie] Pours clear deep ruby brown with a off-white head. Aroma has notes of malt, caramel, dried fruits, licorice and fruity hops. Taste is medium sweet and light to medium bitter. Body is medium to full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft.

Tasted as part of a line up of all three versions Appearance - Pours a garnet/mahogany color with a thin off white head. The head settles quickly. Nice clarity. Good lacing. Aroma - Pretty strong aroma. Smells like a spiced (think holiday spice not pepper spice) beer. Despite being a rye beer I don’t really get much in the way of rye spice. Mouthfeel - Low/Medium level of carbonation. Wouldn’t guess it’s 9%. It somewhat dries out my mouth. Taste - Overly spiced. Large aftertaste of the spice. Very rich and malty. I get a little of the rye but it’s overpowered by the spices used. The juniper is very dominate. Overall - Not my favorite winter ale/warmer but still better then a lot of the other ones I’ve had. Out of the three versions I tasted this ranks third in all categories.

Wow. Pours syrupy, opaque dark amber with a thin brownish-white head. Aroma is sage, vanilla, very sweet, earthy, grass, herbal, mint, chocolate. Taste is sage, berries, mint, alcohol. Smooth. Very interesting; very tasty.

Head: none
Smell: herbs, anise,spicey,boozey,almunds,sweet
Taste: spicey,malts,coffee bitter,bit of caramel,yeast,dry end, earthy after

Bottle. Lots of dark fruit flavor. Very thick and almost syrupy. Spices are very present in the nose and towards the end of the swallow.

500th rating! Time to start the Holiday season with this one. 12oz bottle pours a murky brown amber cola with hardly a trace of off-white head. Aroma is full of juniper, with sage, roasted malt, and slightly nutty. Juniper and spices work really nice in the alcohol noticeable but covered nicely by the sharpness of the juniper and sage, with chestnuts, roasted malts and licorice. Pretty complex, nice!

Bottle from atom. Looks like flat soda in the glass. Almost no head was present, and after that it leave a few sparse bubbles along the neck of the glass. Aroma reminds me heavily of soap. Definitely get the juniper, sage, and a bit of the caraway. The aroma leave a slight burning sensation in my nose. Bleh! Taste is a bit better, but still has loads of spice and pinesol character. Leaves an awful after taste. This is just bad, folks.

Bottle. Pour dark amber with a small head. Intense aroma from the start. Nuts, raisins and lot of spices, in fact a bit too much for my taste. I remember it was kind of "special" when I first tried it some years ago, but it seem even more "special" now.

Mörk färg med mycket enbärsdoft. Den dominerar även smaken som dessutom är ganska syrlig, lätt rostad med lite brända toner, mycket kryddor som nejlika, kanel mm. Efter 1,5 år i källaren hänger alla smaker ihop men det går inte att komma ifrån att kryddorna är i mesta laget.