December 28th, 2014
31 Beers of December – Day 28: Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza
@jollypumpkin @NewEnglandBrews
To celebrate the Holiday Season, we have teamed up with beer bloggers and craft beer enthusiasts around the country to host the fourth annual beer bloggers advent calendar. This is the season of sharing and we intend to share our love of beer with you.
During the 31 days of December, we will be sharing our favorite regional/winter seasonals/holiday beers with the help from our fellow beer bloggers. We hope that you tune in every day, to hear our stories and share our holiday cheer.
Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza
Blogger: Jordan Griffin
Blog: New England Brews
Website: www.nebrews.com
Twitter: @NewEnglandBrews
About Jordan: Events/Social Media Coordinator for the Craft Brewers Guild, Boston columnist for Yankee Brew News.
Beer: Noel de Calabaza
Brewery: Jolly Pumpkin / Michigan
Website: www.jollypumpkin.com
Twitter: @jollypumpkin
Beer Details:
-Style: Winter Ale
-ABV: 9.0%
Commercial Description:
Seasonal release; deep mahogany and malty, layered hops, figs, raisins, sugar plums, cashews betwixt rum laden truffles.
Why I selected Jolly Pumpkin’s Noel de Calabaza:
While there are plenty of great wintery beer options in New England to choose from, I returned to my native Michigan roots for this one. I’m a fan of Jolly Pumpkin’s delightfully sour brews year-round, and the Noel de Calabaza doesn’t disappoint.
I picked up a bottle from the Jolly Pumpkin Café in downtown Ann Arbor (Go Blue!) in time for Christmas Eve dinner with the fam. In a glass, it’s deep amber in color and smells of tart plum and raisin with a hint of clove and nutmeg spice. The signature JP sourness is present through the duration of each sip, with the malty, barrel-aged booziness up front and wintery spices rounding things out. Subtle flavors of plum, raisin, and maybe a tart cherry in there somewhere make this a Christmas ale that’s less about classic winter spices, and more about dark fruit and oak aging with a sour twist.
About New England Brews:
It’s essentially a portfolio for anything I’ve had published in the Globe, Boston.com, and Yankee Brew News; the publication which I currently write the Boston beer column for. It’s also a place for an occasional (usually beer-related) topical rant.
About Jolly Pumpkin:
The name bubbled forth years ago on a warm spring afternoon. It was one of those rare sunny March Michigan days, the kind that seems much warmer than March really has any right to be. Small piles of snow still dotted the yard as my wife and I sat on the patio in our shirtsleeves. Sipping beers and enjoying the sun on our faces after the long dark, cold Michigan winter. After firming up our business plan for months, the dream had finally evolved enough to need a name. So we sat, pen and paper in hand, brainstorming, smiling and laughing.
Many great names came forth that afternoon, but as the weeks passed, and spring finally sprung, the name that always made us smile was Jolly Pumpkin. It encompassed everything we wanted to express about our brewery. Fun and quirky, all that needed adding were the last two words; “Artisan Ales”, the description of the brewery’s products and mission; The creation of fantastic beers of truly outstanding artisan quality. Maintaining traditional small scale production, keeping beer a beverage of both outstanding complexity and simplicity, this would be our laudable goal. Complexity of flavor, simplicity of ingredient and process. This duality was perfectly balanced in the name. Simple and complex. Complex yet simple.
-Captain Spooky Ron J, Brewmaster at Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales