Jolly Pumpkin - Calabaza Blanca

It's two days before "All Hallow's Eve" and what better brand of beer is there to review than Jolly Pumpkin out of Dexter, Michigan.  Not only does their name make them an obvious choice, but their often eerie bottle art and unusual flavors make them a brewer that stretches comfort zones and pushes the boundaries for many a burgeoning craft beer drinker.  Today's review will be for their "Calabaza Blanca" (translated:  "White Pumpkin"), an artisan white ale allegedly "brewed in Belgium's biere blanche tradition," according to the label.  Jolly Pumpkin tends to focus on open fermentation and barrel aging, so one comes to expect a bit of sour goodness when cracking any of their bottles.  This particular bottle is from batch 853 and was bottled on 7-28-2011.  Let's pour!

Aroma 11/12

My first whif from the bottle elicited a "Wow, that's funky!"  However, things settled much more pleasantly in the glass.  Overall, it is a very floral brew with a distinct sour note behind it.  The sour in the aroma evokes more sour green apples than it does the pungent orange peel used in its brewing, but that is not an unwelcome development.  A very earthy coriander complements things nicely... or is that a coriander that blends well with an earthy hop variety?  No matter, it all adds up to a classic gueuze type aroma.  Ooh, and the orange blossom floral qualities open up even more as the beer warms.  This is not a light aroma!  It's got some oomph behind it.

Appearance 3/3

Everything on the mark for the style.  A bright, high clarity, sunshine yellow gleams in the glass and is capped by a noisy white head that fizzes quickly to a ring around the surface.  OK, so normally one expects some haze in a witbier, but with how long this bottle has been again all that sediment on the bottom is going nowhere.  The clarity and color seem awfully summery for this time of year, but I won't hold that against it.

Flavor 17/20

Wow!  The sour invades your personal space like an exuberant uncle at a family reunion.  The blast of intense lemony lactic flavor dulls when held in the mouth, as does the angrily aggressive carbonation, and one is left with the earthy, slightly bitter fragments of the sour-splosion that just occurred.  Unfortunately, little else takes place.  The bitter could just as well be from lemon peel as it could orange and any coriander spiciness is wanting at best.  The finish, of course, tends to emphasize the bitter a tad more than in the backbone of the beer, but that's about the only change.  It is of course ridiculously dry, but that is aided gradually by the sour left in the mouth that inspires a helpful dose of saliva.  Very tasty and not light on flavor, but extremely simple aside from the sour and earthy bitter.

Mouthfeel 4/5

The body in this beer is nearly nonexistent.  I mean almost water, people.  That is fixed a bit once the zealous carbonation has quickly died, but even then the beer can be called very light at best.  Normally, a carbonation level this high would interfere tremendously with the texture of the beer, but with a beer this light it really can't do much damage.  Any further negative effects of such high carbonation, even for a bottle conditioned beer, are lessened by the simple fact that the bubbles are so damned tiny.  I have no idea how they did it, but they did.  A mouthfeel like this and the accompanying low ABV of 4.8% lead me to think of this beer as more of a simple gueuze or a musty berliner weisse than any sort of white ale or witbier.

Overall Impression 7/10

This is well made, robust in both aroma and flavor, and definitely something for someone getting into sour beers to try.  Its body, sour flavor, and high carbonation all keep it a refreshing beer, while the low ABV and light body mean you could probably drink quite a few if the flavor wasn't so intense.  In fact, this brew is probably meant to be drank in quantity or popped like champagne, but its simplicity doesn't quite fit the bill as something to sit down and savor.

Total 42/50

This is a tasty beer.  Or rather a tasty sour champagne that is barely less dry than real champagne - and with less alcohol.  This is a refreshing change of pace from big IPAs and some of the pumpkin/yam beers of the season, but probably not enough to keep me coming back.  Ultimately though, it IS something that I would buy to show to my friends how different and unusual beers can be.  It also may be something that a drinker heavily into lambics could branch out to try.  Good work Jolly Pumpkin.  You've made a refreshing beer that doesn't skimp on the intensity of its flavor, but now I'd like to request some complexity.

New Glarus - Serendipity

It's not often that I come across a New Glarus beer that I have not yet sampled.  However, when drought beleaguered the Wisconsin cherry crop, interrupting the brewing process for a world-class fruit beer, Diploma Master Brewer Dan Carey stepped in with his usual dose of inspiration and creativity.  Enter Serendipity.  Snatching up what cherries could be found, New Glarus blended them with some other grand Wisconsin flavors courtesy of a bumper cranberry crop and a harvest of apples that somehow pulled through the dry months.  The brew is then aged in oak barrels and left to ferment wildly, thus giving the brew's name its double entendre for both its fermentation as well as its makeshift ingredients.  Would we expect anything less clever from New Glarus?  I hope not.  Let's pour!

Aroma 12/12

This sprayed a bit when I was opening it, implying a feisty level of carbonation inside.  I then proceeded to smell the beer and my notes look something like "HOLYMOTHEROFCHERRY+APPLEAMAZINGIWANNARUBITONMYFACE!!!1!1!"  You know, more or less.  This smells like fresh-pressed cider from your local apple orchard blended superbly with cherry's tart bite and a hint of cranberry's patient bitter.  At this point I do not smell much of the sour ale within, but I'm getting plenty of the same dark cherry tannin smell that makes New Glarus' Wisconsin Belgian Red such a smash hit.  This is a beautiful bouquet with plenty of wow factor!

Appearance 3/3

I was surprised at the generous level of head for this style.  It was microscopic bubbles forming a soapy texture that lived longer than I thought it would.  Sitting on the table the beer is a crystal clear, gem-like magenta.  When held aloft, the top takes the color of real apple cider, while the bottom becomes a vibrant sports car red.  I'm just looking at this glass and am so impressed that I'm shaking my head, my brow furrowed.  Good grief.

Flavor 20/20

Wow!  This is an amazing sour/fruit ale!  It definitely borrows heavily from their Wisconsin Belgian Red, but that's not a bad thing, especially if this beer is to be a substitute until better cherry crops can be grown and harvested.   Apples, sweet cherries, and tart cranberries abound, but soon the tannins take a stronger foothold and impose a bit of their "browned apple" flavor.  It may have been a bad year for cherries, but apparently the folks at New Glarus found the best in the batch because there is no shortage of cherry flavor here.  Well, there might be, but they have supplemented it so well with the other fruits that one can hardly notice and if they did they certainly wouldn't have anything about which to gripe.  The finish is more of the tannins, plus a subtle cranberry bitter that becomes a bit more bold once the other flavors have found their way down the throat.  Two things surprised me about the finish: First was that the cranberry bitter was so light.  For me, this is a good thing since I generally don't care for cranberries.  Second was the saliva gland-pounding pucker that this beer put on me.  After swallowing, my spit factories were cursing a blue streak and ordering all hands on deck!  This lasted well after the swallow and my jaw was tingling like mad.  Very neat!

Mouthfeel 4/5

Very light in the mouth, undoubtedly aided by the teeny, tiny carbonation that we saw comprise the head.  A beer this sweet could very easily become syrupy, especially after warming, but Serendipity avoids this trap with the liberal use of cherry tannins which help provide a bitter backdrop against which they splash their tart, sweet fruits.  The back of the mouth is left slick, but the beer itself never comes close to that sensation.

Overall Impression 10/10

Another excellent, world-class effort from the Careys.  They have gracefully traversed what will hopefully be a short gap between bountiful Wisconsin cherry harvests.  The aroma is second to none, the appearance is very appetizing, and the flavor is not to be considered a consolation at all.  In fact, I feel that it's so similar to their Wisconsin Belgian Red, that were I not told, I might not be able to tell the difference.  Of course, it's been a very long time since I've sampled that particular brew, but I feel that Serendipity doesn't fall very far from the tree (the cherry tree?).  If I am permitted one other nit pick it is that the beer makes the back of the mouth quite slick and sticky.

Total 49/50

I feel bad for noting those minor grievances with a beer that is so damn tasty, but that's why there is only one point deducted.  Sure there are things to improve on, but they are so minuscule that they hardly affect what is otherwise a completely pleasurable drinking experience.  For me this is a near dead-ringer for Wisconsin Belgian Red (thus its fourth reference in this review), but if I had them side-by-side I'm sure I would be able to discern their differences.  In case you couldn't tell, if you like other New Glarus fruit beers, you're bound to like this one as well.  Chalk this up in the category that can also be used to sway non-craft beer drinkers over to our team.  I suppose I was hoping I'd get something new and different from New Glarus, but I'm almost as happy that I did not.

New Belgium - Tart Lychee

The sour beer movement grows stealthily every day.  However, despite its recent press and critic acclaim I still have a rather difficult time finding many at my local bottle shop.  Granted, I live in midsize Midwest market, but it's still rather surprising to see Duchess de Bourgogne as the only sour beer staple inhabiting the shelves (OK, and technically the lambics).  For those unfamiliar, "sour beer" refers to those beers that are fermented using wild yeast of bacteria strains.  As their genre name implies, they often have a sour, tart, and/or acidic taste.  Typical brewing avoids these "contaminants" at all costs, but in sour beers they are welcomed.  Some common characters used in brewing sours beers are Brettanomyces (a.k.a. "Brett"), Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus.  Though the latter two are often known for their contribution to other foods besides beer: sauerkraut, yogurts, cheeses, pickles, cider, wine, kimchi, and sourdough bread to name a few.

Tart Lychee is beer that definitely steps outside any standard genre.  It is a sour ale, or American Wild Ale to be specific, with 56% of the ale aged in oak and 44% brewed with lychee and cinnamon.  Despite its pink exterior accents and sweet sounding ingredients, it still hefts a 7.5% ABV.  I'm excited to see if this beer will be a sweet treat or something with a little more "oomph."  Let's pour!

Aroma 10/12

Things begin, respectively, with a dusty barn smell, a note of the acid, and way back is a sweet, nectary fruit.  A little time to warm in the glass yields much more of the sweet, nectary smell, which has now morphed into a strawberry Starburst/pink Kool Aid type sweetness, and it is battling with the sour acidic aromas.  The acid does a superb job of balancing what appears to be a rather unyielding sweetness.  It also lends a bit of dryness almost like a champagne.  Overall, it's a very nice trifecta of sour, sweet, and dusty horse blanket.  Much to my surprise the cinnamon and oak are undetectable at this time.  Further warming erodes the sugary sweet note and leaves mostly the sour note to stand alone.

Appearance 3/3

It appears brightly enough in the bottle, but in the glass this beer is a cloudy glass full of earth color yellows, golden straw, and other shades of orange-yellow not out of place on a monarch butterfly or a  marigold garden.  Ridiculously small bubbles flit and dance their way to the top of the glass to sustain a ivory head that left a bit too soon.

Flavor 18/20

Given the reputation of the lychee fruit and the sweet aroma that made up one third of the nose, one could expect the first tastes to be very sweet as they contact they tip of the tongue.  Well, you know what Samuel L. Jackson says about assumptions...

The first flavors are actually quite neutral and sparkling with carbonation before the acidity takes the reins and refuses to let go.  It fades in with a champagne's dryness, but is instantly more acidic and sour once detectable.  Holding this beer in the mouth is full of a salty mineral note and lemon's acidity sans sweetness.  There are also notes of green apple.  It also grows more bitter in the mouth, leaving the hints of champagne further and further behind.  The origin of the growing bitterness is a mystery, but undoubtedly aided by the oak and the earthiness from the cinnamon, even if at this time no cinnamon flavor is detectable.  This is a nice wild ale combination of sour, funk, fruit, and the wood gently supporting them all.  The finish is a lingering, mouth-watering swallow that finally shows the cinnamon in a very subdued and appropriate role both in its flavor and with a slight tingle on the back of the tongue.  A good burp also brings back the cinnamon for a second visit.  The aftertaste is more bitter than sour, but even that flavor is timid at best.  However, despite the lack of lingering flavors, the mouth continues to salivate for quite some time.

Mouthfeel 4/5

This is a medium-bodied, highly carbonated beer, with invisible alcohol.  There is a tingle after the finish, but this could be from any number of contributors: alcohol, cinnamon, or acids.  Lots of flavor, but this beer never seems weighed down.  It has a crisp, lively mouthfeel that make it a perfect candidate for summer days or when you need a simple quenching.

Overall Impression 8/10

Not a bad sour by any means, but it's a far stretch from tasting like lychee.  The lychee was certainly present in the initial aroma, but was found lacking in any other aspect of the brew.  Color was typical for a sour and the carbonation, early on, went a bit beyond refreshing and bordered on distracting.  Its positives are the aroma, the strong sour, green apple and funk flavors, hidden ABV, and the easy-drinking body.  On a personal note, I really appreciated the subdued cinnamon as that particular spice has a tendency to overwhelm many of the beers to which it is added.

Total 43/50

Full disclosure, my experience with sours is limited.  In that same vein, my recollection of what lychee fruit tastes like is vague and based on impressions from a long, long time ago.  That said, this beer did not find cause me any trouble in getting to the bottom of the bottle.  It was crisp, flavorful, and of course sour.  Overall, its mostly sour with a bitter kick toward the end.  Unfortunately, there's not much sweetness to balance the sour and it results in what I feel is a rather simple creation.  I don't know when this was last bottled, but being that there is a large amount of sediment (and the high carbonation) in the bottle, I can infer that the yeast/bacteria continued to eat the sugars, perhaps leaving the beer much less sweet than when fresh.  Maybe.  Did anyone who had this beer fresh find the lychee and sweetness lacking?  Please feel free to comment.  There's plenty of the sour flavors, but in a beer that promises oak, sour, cinnamon, and the exotic ingredient of lychee fruit, just "sour" won't cut it.