Something never occurred to me when I enjoyed a Jolly Pumpkin in my own private domocile, before I ever tapped a keg for the fine folks who come to drink and dine at the Blue Nile, and that thing is, what a horrible name 'Jolly Pumpkin' is for a brewery.
Everyone, just about everyone, thinks it's a pumpkin beer! I have to talk them out of it. No, no, it's just a terribly misleading name, there's no pumpkin in the beer!
One person recently got it, and said to me, without prodding, "yeah, I guess Dark Horse doesn't taste like horses."
And Sierra Nevada beers don't taste like mountains, Anchor doesn't taste like wet metal, Boulevard doesn't taste like a dirty sidewalk, and Flying Dog doesn't mean the beer is made of airborne canines. Yet, here we are, and I've got the only kegs of Noel de Calabaza, which is fantastic, and wonderful, and tastes nothing like a pumpkin! I have to keep telling people this!
It's a fantastic thing. These guys are on the forefront of great Belgian-style beers in America, in the Mid-west, in Michigan, whatever. Truly, wonderful. For more, I refer to my first notes from a bottle, about three years ago...
(very similar weather at this moment, a grand, wonderful 13 above.)
it's 11 degrees out with a fierce windchill....i just got home from biking back from work...need something dark, warm, deep, rich and mystical...maybe this will do...only one way to know... (9% abv)
noel de calabaza, off goes your cap, and into my Big Ass tripel karmeliet glass you go...
dark brown color, mahogany mixed with prunes, or plums...somewhere around there, with a full creamy tan head...gorgeous!
bewitching aroma! dark fruits find the funk! raisins, plums, dates, as well, meet grapes, and berries, and port wine...a wicked mix! with fragrances of myriad spices, as well, an ethereal delight!
A tickle as it trickles into the mouth, and spills all over the palate. Malty, sour, slick, supple, slightly sweet, and terribly complex...a lot of stuff happening here. Dark fruits at play, a rich blend of grain and fruit, velvety smooth, with a sleek, sensual mouthfeel. full bodied, long finish, dark and delicious...this is one, despite being, as we say in minnesota, "spendy", that I may have to return to again and again...best jp beer i've yet had...damned good!"
It is damned good, and I'm drinking it on tap, aren't you jealous? Fantastic stuff! Despite being "spendy"...
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