I have been eagerly anticipating my opportunity to try Jolly Pumpkin's Ales for some time now. This brewer, along with Russian River, have been two that I have kept my eye on for some time but both have proven elusive to me until recently. Both have created quite a buzz in the beer community and both specialize in high-end American renditions of Belgian ales - with a twist, of sorts. These two brewer's beers are wood-aged (oak or otherwise, in the case of Russian River) and bottle conditioned. This process has become all the rage in the craft beer industry as of late, and for good reason. The wood, whether it be from new oak, a bourbon whiskey barrel or a French oak Chardonnay barrel, imparts a unique character to the beer that is addictive to say the least.
It's official, I am a wood-aged beer devotee.
Here is a review, from notes, of my first sample of a Jolly Pumpkin oak-aged beer called La Roja. I've heard this beer classified as a Biere de Garde, but as my notes reference, this beer presents itself to me as being much closer to a Flanders Red-style ale. Regardless of how it is classified, it is certainly unique and causes me to want to sample the remainder of the Jolly Pumpkin line of Artsan ales.
This beer pours a deep, semi-opaque burnt orange color with reddish accents in the wide-mouth goblet I'm pouring into. The head is lively and rocky, mimicking pie merangue of a pale sand color. Some yeast particles are found in suspension in the glass despite a careful pour. Impressive appearance all the way around. Spots of thick lacing line the glassware as the beer's head recedes a bit.
The nose is quite complex and openly betrays the fact that this beer has been aged in oak. Predominant notes of sweet rum, caramel, vanilla and spice. Despite what I've read elsewhere, I don't detect a lot of alcohol in the nose here. Mild sweet malts meet wild yeast and collaborate to make for an interesting, but slightly disjointed, combination of aromas.
The palate is an expansion of the nose, hitting you with multiple flavor elements in a random attack of funk and smooth, mellowed malts. Although this beer is called a Biere de Garde, I'm not tracking with that descriptor at all. If anything, this is an odd oak-aged Flanders Red. The spicy aspects are nice and you can really taste the oak, but the constituent elements just don't quite come together for me. Very phenolic, but oddly flat at times. This beer has a bit of an identity crisis.
Sufficiently carbonated, but a little thin feeling in the mouth. This improves slightly as th beer warms to ambient temperature, but still leaves something lacking. A respectable 7.2 ABV is hidden well beneath the oak and bitterness - the latter of which really lingers long on the palate.As a Biere de Garde, this misses the point. As a Flanders Red, this beer has a ton of potential and might synthesize flavors a little better given some additional aging in the bottle. I'd we willing to try this again, but would like to see it sit for a couple years and round the ragged edges.
I've heard great things about Jolly Pumpkin beers. La Roja was my first sample of the Dexter, MI brewer's offerings. They didn't scare me off completely with this one, but I'd like to sample some of their other brews and hope for a little more continuity of flavor. I wanted to LOVE this beer, based on my preconceived notions, but it really didn't quite live up to the expectations I (likely unfairly) had in my mind. This was not the "oh my God!" beer I hoped it might be.
I have been eagerly anticipating my opportunity to try Jolly Pumpkin's Ales for some time now. This brewer, along with Russian River, have been two that I have kept my eye on for some time but both have proven elusive to me until recently. Both have created quite a buzz in the beer community and both specialize in high-end American renditions of Belgian ales - with a twist, of sorts. These two brewer's beers are wood-aged (oak or otherwise, in the case of Russian River) and bottle conditioned. This process has become all the rage in the craft beer industry as of late, and for good reason. The wood, whether it be from new oak, a bourbon whiskey barrel or a French oak Chardonnay barrel, imparts a unique character to the beer that is addictive to say the least.
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