Comments on: Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza

By: Jason kratz

Jason kratz — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:14:48 +0000

To me pretty much all of the Jolly Pumpkin beers taste the same so I won’t be spending $13 or so a bottle on them anymore. That being said….I picked up a bottle of the 2008 xmas brew and it was very tasty. The year of aging definitely made a difference.

By: nhudson

nhudson — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:18:29 +0000

My bottle is batch number 331, which I would assume is older than yours. JP no longer keeps up with batch number on their website, so no way of knowing. The way it ages, could be effecting everyones opinion.

By: amm002

amm002 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:15:56 +0000

And my bottle is from Blend 4, 2009. If anyone else has tried that version.

By: amm002

amm002 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:09:53 +0000

Interesting, Michael. I feel like I’m having another Duchesse de Bourgogne experience here, as I struggled with the tart/acidic aspect of that beer even though others thought it was relatively sweet.

By: amm002

amm002 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:06:55 +0000

Interesting you got a ton of dark fruit, Nick, as I got about zero. The tart flavor was too overpowering for me. There were some decent things going on (like the brett) but overall it fell flat for me on the malt side of things.

By: aperfectpint

aperfectpint — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:05:13 +0000

I say “hmmm” as well. I had a bottle of this last year from batch #333/334. I loved it. Having said this about it:
“This beer is like a rum-soaked, plumy bread pudding. The bread crust malt and burnt sugar flavors form the perfect accompaniment to that amazing fruitiness. And it’s all set off by the slightest touch of the characteristic Jolly Pumpkin funk. An endlessly complex beer.”

But Jolly Pumpkin beers can vary wildly from batch to batch.

By: nhudson

nhudson — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:46:57 +0000

Hmm interesting read. I drank this one last night and I kind of liked it. What I have found with all Jolly pumpkin beers is that it has to be cold, cold, cold when you open it or it’s a gusher. Once opened and poured into 2-3 glasses, you must let it warm up around 55-60 degrees before you get any flavor out of it besides what you described. Yeah a ton of work, but I have found that it makes the flavors in the beer come out.

As for mine last night, once it warmed up I got a ton of flavor of dark fruit, figs, raisins etc and of course the tartness with the pungent horse blanket in the nose. Its not the best offering from JP but not bad either.