Golden Manatee Belipago
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales

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From:
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
 
Michigan, United States
Style:
Belgian IPA
ABV:
5.5%
Score:
83
Avg:
3.54 | pDev: 13.56%
Reviews:
5
Ratings:
14
Status:
Active
Rated:
May 06, 2019
Added:
Mar 08, 2010
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
A delicious Belgian-style IPA, brewed with chestnuts, tapioca, sorghum, agave nectar and loads of the freshest hops money can buy. Fermented with two yeasts for a layered complexity, and dry hopped for a spicy mouthful of fun. Gluten free!
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Rated: 3.25 by KingforaDay from New Jersey

May 06, 2019
 
Rated: 2.5 by fredmugs from Indiana

Jun 11, 2015
 
Rated: 4 by PatGreer from Massachusetts

Aug 21, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by duceswild from Heard & McDonald Islands

Jul 03, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by BillRoth from Maryland

Jun 22, 2014
Photo of elNopalero
Reviewed by elNopalero from Michigan

3.23/5  rDev -8.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Well hello there, aren’t you a curious brew. A gluten free IPA from the masters of saisons and barrel-aged ales.

This pours a pale straw golden color.

There’s a distinctly hoppy lemony aroma with an offish note, not bad off but ... Star anise? Something is hanging out in the aroma that I can’t place.

The flavor reminds me of lemon pledge with a bit of tangerine. It’s tangy, with a strange finish.
The server called it one of the best gluten free IPAs she’s ever tried, and with that qualification I’d have to agree. But as a whole it doesn’t work for me.
Apr 11, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by Agentveba from North Carolina

Dec 06, 2013
 
Rated: 4.5 by hpthebull from California

Oct 01, 2013
Photo of Brenden
Reviewed by Brenden from Ohio

3.48/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
This beer is a medium-dark yellow, clear but for a slight haze. The head, an eggshell sort of not-quite-white, was moderate in size and reasonably substantial. Lacing was left in a blend of spotting and patching.
Some lemon and perfume were first in the nose with a touch of a yeast-like funkiness. There's some leaf and a few interesting notes that were difficult to place, somewhat reminiscent of what might be smelled in an herb garden. There's a spiciness to it.
The taste is similar, with plenty of citrus coming out first. The main elements are yeasty notes, a light funk, leaf, and something like rosemary. It's a little peppery with a bit of rind but it's otherwise fairly soft. I wouldn't peg this beer for an IPA, though, as hops do not provide very much bitterness. It is there to a degree, though, mostly herbal and perfumy.
The body is light, crisp and soft but with steady carbonation.
Sep 22, 2013
Photo of TheBrewo
Reviewed by TheBrewo from New York

3.33/5  rDev -5.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25
This brew was served on tap at the Jolly Pumpkin Café taproom in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It arrived in a generic tulip glass, showing a glowing golden orange coloring. It held only a film of a head, tan in color, showing faint patterned lacing as the liquid disappeared. A chill haze cut clarity, but no sediment was found. Carbonation appeared to be moderate. The aroma gave lemon hops, hibiscus and lavender florals, pale and wheat malts, strong sunscreen chemical creaminess, birdseed, corny adjuncts, soured apple acetaldehyde, fusel booze, and raw waxiness. Our first impression is that the flavoring is quite bitter and chemically, reminiscent of sunscreen, as was noted in the nose. As we sipped, the taste opened up with strawberry and lemon fruitiness, chemical sunblock, walnut, plastic packing peanuts, melted plastics, dill, honey, and a rice-like maltiness. The middle peaked with herbal and piney hops, chemical zing, pale and wheaty malt extract flavors, crumbling autumn leafiness, and extraordinarily astringent green grass and green grapes. The end came with a revival of those plastics, lemon cleaner, marijuana weediness, pale cracker graininess, gravel, fusel alcohols, and rice crispy sweetness. The aftertaste breathed of light vanilla wafer, lavender herbals, dandelion weediness, corn, metallics, chemical phenols, white flour, pale maltiness, and strawberry extract fruitiness. The body was medium, and the carbonation was high. Each sip gave okay slurp, smack, cream, froth, or glug, but did show excellent finishing pop to the lip. The mouth was cooled initially, but quickly decimated into extreme astringency, followed by a good deal of chalky pucker. The abv was appropriate, and the beer drank okay.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this beer was its taste. This was actually quite surprising for a gluten free beer, with a certain complexity that you might not expect. Actually, coming from Jolly Pumpkin, had you not told us this was gluten free, we might have just thought it was some weird yeast or malt character giving that overly chemically creaminess that cut harshly through the aroma and taste. That said, it didn’t really fit the typical profile of the Belgian IPA, with no real head on appearance, odd chemical inclusions, and distant hops that never really built up enough to match. The feel was also overly harsh and offensively drying. It is nice of them to attempt a beer such as this, but it really doesn’t add up to their typical standard of quality.
Aug 05, 2013
 
Rated: 4.25 by BlissJunkie from Michigan

Jan 14, 2013
 
Rated: 3.5 by dmorley21 from Michigan

Apr 01, 2012
Photo of BieresDesMoines
Reviewed by BieresDesMoines from Iowa

3.24/5  rDev -8.5%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Imbibed at MBGSF. Pours a reddish color with a good head and good lace. The aroma is some bug spray and some earthy and fruity notes along with some cherry, but after someone mentioned I can't get it out of my head that the aroma here is very strongly similar to paint. The flavor has some sour cherry and it's really bizarre. It's kind of bitter in a chemical way but somehow it works nicely with the bugginess and sourness of the whole thing. A weird experience but if I became a celiac I'd drive to Michigan for it.
Dec 20, 2010
Photo of lstokes
Reviewed by lstokes from Illinois

3.27/5  rDev -7.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
I was underwhelmed by this beer when I had it at the Cafe in Ann Arbor--it was served in a Duvel-like glass, orange with some wisps of lacing on top, and citrus hops and a lot of spice in the nose.

The taste is almost overwhelmingly spicy--I was getting a lot of pepper under the citrusy hops, with maybe some chestnut underneath that, and found the mouthfeel was extremely dry and bitter. Not really an IPA so much as a sandpaper to the mouth--I felt like it was very unbalanced, but maybe I was having an off tasting day.
Mar 08, 2010
Golden Manatee Belipago from Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Beer rating: 83 out of 100 with 14 ratings