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750ml
$10.99
Sam's, Marcey

Batch 256

Jolly Pumpkin's Biere de Mars artwork is one of the coolest around. My tulip slowly fills with a surprisingly dark heavily rusted red liquid. When backlit the body glows the color of tarnished copper and shows off some of its haziness and swirling carbonation. A standard pour wasn't conjuring up much of a head but I did get two fingers of dishwater beige foam when I poured more aggressively. The head fizzled rather quickly to a solid ring and decent skimming. Each drink leaves behind thin but velvety sheet lacing.

I'm hit right away by that signature Jolly Pumpkin twang of tartness. There's a good amount of caramel in this beer. Mild cherry and peach flavors rise from the yeasts used and there is a decent underlying brown sugar quality that's barely noticeable. The mild fruitiness grows as this beer warms. The peach comes forward more and there are flashes of white grapes along with slightly overripe green apples. The aroma is interesting with a lot of critter qualities.

The flavors follow the aroma stride for stride. Caramel maltiness gets things started and lays down a foundation to be proud of. All of those special Jolly Pumpkin bacteria do a fantastic job of adding fruity complexity. A semi sweet peach quality flashes through before tart, crisp green apples, overripe green apples, and tart white grapes all play a role. Sour cherries come along toward the finish and make for a good sour-styled beer.

This beer shows some mild stick on the front of the tongue but quickly becomes airy from the Belgian-esque carbonation. The body is on the lighter side of medium and has a semi dry finish that keeps me coming back.

This is a highly drinkable Biere de Mars. The dry finish and puckering ability of this beer keeps me wanting another drink as soon as I swallow the last. The bottle is disappearing fast and I'm afraid it won't be enough.

Biere de Mars is another high quality beer from Jolly Pumpkin that I wouldn't hesitate to pick up again. They have the sour aspects of their beers down to a science and they all seem to be within moderation. Unfortunately, it's getting harder and harder to find their beers around these parts. It seems like they're just not on the shelves anymore.

Reviewed: 8/30/08

Price: $10.99 Served In: Tulip

Batch 346/348.

Wow - I didn't expect this to be so dark - it's a real bourbon-colored body - best way to describe it...almost Dubbel-esque but with more clarity. Head is a dried ginger color that's extremely doughy and with a fair amount of muffin tunnels, decent coagulation and lacing. Head retention, too. Sparse carbonation moves with moderate strength throughout the glass.

Good solid yeast electricity with a slight amount of sour funkiness as well as extreme dry qualities aided by carbonation and a piney mild hoppiness. At the same time, a sweetness of the darker malts provides a little bit of a dark fruity vinegary pucker to it.

I do like the dryness of this a great deal. It's sort of a mix between, say, Duchess de Borgogne and Brute. Not on the level of each of those, mind you, but a more mild version of a split of the two right down the middle. The darker malt provides necessary sweetness and backbone against the tight sourness and carbonation, while there's sufficient spriteliness to mellow out the vinegar. Peanut butter and chocolate right there.

Palate feel gives that nice, jarring electrical jolt of a slightly wild fermentation. Dries up a great deal on the finish, but the finish stays nice and long. By no means heavy to the palate or to the touch. Reasonably well-balanced.

While this may not be something I seek out every day, it's greatly appreciated. This is a clear case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Quite well done.

Price: $12.00 Served In: Tulip

Sampled February 2006
Pours a lightly hazy, ruby-hued, dark amber color. It is pretty well carbonated, which produces a two-finger thick, frothy, lace prone, tan colored head. The aroma is nice and fruity up front with a mix of raisins, sweet plums, and fresh figs. The aroma is quite fruit focused actually, underneath this is a solid caramel malt note, which in its brightness only tends to accentuate the fruit aromatics. Among the fruit notes there is a light tartness as well, but it is fairly subtle. There is also a bit of spiciness that becomes noticeable after a bit of time; I get notes of bergamot, some clove, and perhaps a little bit of something sharp (sort of a cross between black pepper and ginger). The aroma is quite nice, though it is perhaps lacking a bit in the complexity department, I really like the straight forward, appealing fruit notes that are rounded out by the other supporting aromatic notes.

The taste has that same rich fruitiness to it. In fact it almost has a jam-like quality to it, though this beer is certainly not sticky or sweet. There is just enough sweetness to accentuate the fruitiness, but without anywhere near the levels of sweetness that would make this unappealing (this coming from one who is not a huge fan of sweet fruity beers, even of the more complex variety). Definitely ample notes of ripened plums play center stage here, it is joined by some raisin-like notes, which at times are even more prevalent than the plum notes. There is some spiciness here, but mainly that of the sweeter variety; some definite clove, and perhaps some allspice like notes (including a bit of a ginger-like thing). The finish has a certain astringency to it, I would almost guess that some of it is wood derived, and some of it would most definitely be fermentation derived.

This is quite a rich beer, and I don't mean that in a sort of thick, palate sort of way. Instead the fruit notes just give this beer a certain richness, that seem to make it an appropriate after meal time drink. A solid, though light, acidity finishes this beer off at the end of a sip; it is tart like an apple or plum perhaps. This is really accentuates that feeling, for me, that this would make a good after meal drink. The acidity almost acts as a digestif for me, it keeps this light enough on the palate to be drinkable, but the rest of the beer keeps this rich enough to be a contemplative after meal treat.

Served In: Tulip

Thanks to Joey for opening up this 750ml bottle last night at La Bella. I've wanted to try this beer for a while now. Batch 256 on the bottle.

Pours the color of burnt brown sugar with a very thin head. Some good head retention on my glass but not so much on Joey's or Danny's glass.

First thing I smell is funky plastic, light berries, some currants, and a bit of caramel and toasted malts. Some slight vinegar and brown sugar later on.

Funk and plastic upfront, just like in the aroma. Some fruits and berries like strawberry, grapes, lightly toasted malts, and green apple in the finish. Dry toast flavors develop later on in the finish.

Medium-low carbonation with a semi-dry finish. Quite easy to drink.

Served In: Other

Amber pour with a fluffy two finger dirty white head. Aroma of bread and barnyard funk. Vinegar immediately jumps out. Tart or sour apple flavor with some hint of pear. Also a hint of brett. The barnyard carries over to the taste as well and there is a hint of ciitrus hops as well.

Served In: Flute Glass