Stone/Nøgne Ø/Jolly Pumpkin Special Holiday Ale

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Escondido, California USA

Pours a murky magenta brown hue, modest layer of off-white head dissipates, spotty lacing. Nose of holiday spices (mostly sage), pine resin, berries and lighter fruits. Taste is a sage and spice showcase, some fruits and berries in the background, modest malt backbone is consistent, finishes full and sweet. Medium-bodied, moderate-high carbonation, creamy texture. Overall, fairly one-dimensional in terms of the spice profile, my palate good pretty tired by the end of the bottle.

Bottle thanks to Lagunitasfan. Pours a deep brown-red color with a small white head. The aroma is fairly light and hard to nail down; some light berries and nuts, some hops also. The flavor was similar; light fruit mostly berries, some citrus hops, lighter malts and some spices. Nice and interesting. Very easygoing but flavorful.

Color is a deep amber with good carbonation and a thin tight tan head. Aroma is spicy with a pine like back tone. Taste like Christmas. Starting with a medium body it goes down crisp and fizzy. Finish is a bold spicy feel with pine and nut flavors then a full bitterness on the end. After taste is more of the bitterness and the pine lingers on. Its good, but I really do not like juniper in a beer, it gives off to much of a pine like taste. I must say it has a real holiday taste so I think its just what they wanted it to be.

Thanks to John for sharing. Pour is dark brown decent beige head. Aroma is strong sage, pepper and other spices. Flavor is a lingering sweet, spicy and kinda hot. Medium bodied. Glad I got to try but won’t be buying again.

Bottle. Pours with a brown color and a fairly sizable brown head that dissipates fairly quickly. The aromas are about sage and juniper. The flavor profile is alos dominated by sage and juniper. I did not get any funkiness in there like with regular JP beers. I also could not detect the caraway.The beer got better as it warmed up. Quite intense, not something you can drink every day.

[Bottle] Pours deep red with a small beige head. Aroma is rye, something subdued that was quite sweet, juniper, and chestnut as it warmed. Taste is very malt heavy. Definite rye, considerable hops and the bitterness from them towards the back end. Some alcohol, more carraway than in the aroma, and a little juniper after warming. Good mouthfeel and finish. A well done beer that I could drink quite a bit of, but a little boring in the taste, and not as good as I had hoped--then again perhaps I had just gotten my hopes too high when I heard the breweries involved with this beer.

Bottle from South Bay Drugs and Liquor. Pours a dense mahogany color with a tiny yet thick solid formation of head. A nice and pleasant aroma of bready malts and spices that display what the holiday season is known for. Flavor is a bold backbone of malt in a bread/rye fashion with a delicate dash of a few spices that unknown territory to me such as juniper berry, white sage and caraway seed. Hope this is available each year since it’s a well rounded beer that puts me in the spirit of the season.

Pours a slightly hazy dark mahogany-brown with a fairly thick but not overly persistent head. Aroma is strong and malty with a decided hint of cinnamon and a yeasty undertone. Flavor is surprisingly hoppy, not too bitter, fairly malty with a touch of spice, mainly cinnamon and cloves. Texture is fairly thick and smooth with a nice hoppy bite, and finish is hoppy.