Oro De Calabaza
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales

 

 

Pours a bright effervescent gold with substantial head that is well retained. A light head remains as the beer is consumed.

Spicy, peppery nose with a little funk and lemony quality in the background.

Taste follows. Peppery punch to start the sip. Some citrus notes follow with a tart funky finish.

Lighter body. Refreshing. There is a slightly creamy quality to this beer that I quite liked.

Hazy, pale gold appearance with a large white head that fades slowly leaving a boatload of lacing. Yeasty, spicy, vinous, slightly musty aroma with doses of tart fruit. Taste shares a few traits of a crisp, white wine; dry, earthy, fruity, spicy, tart. Faint sour note near the finish.

Oak flavor is strong and dominates all other flavors. It’s a one note sour in my opinion. It’s not terrible but it’s not interesting.

 

 

 

Purchased at Purvis Beer in Melbourne, Australia.

Poured from a 473ml can, the beer is a lovely golden yellow/orange, with a fluffy, but quickly dissipating, head.

The aroma is neutral. Despite reading that I would have funk and barnyard assaulting my nose, I could pick up nothing at all.

The taste, however, points towards those funky vibes, with white wine, grape skins, wood, coriander, mild spicey yeast and a noticeable alcohol presence. It finishes clean and dry and the flavour melange intrigues me enough to take a further sip immediately. There's a lot to decode here, and only so much time to spend!

The carbonation is strong in this one, but the beer's effervescence heightens the perception of the relatively thin body of the beer, and for me it overshadowed the taste. I'm not sure that was a positive in the end.

Ultimately I was torn on this one. While the flavours are strong and point to the funky, wine end of the spectrum, the lack of aroma and thin body detracted from the overall experience. A slight miss for mine, but the beer's been around forever so clearly it's doing something right.

Cheers!

Bright gold with a thin film of white froth + champagne like carbonation; white wine vinegar, honeysuckle, Granny Smith apples, toasty oak barrel, mild barnyard, banana chips, yellow Bubblicious, and honey; honey biscuit, lemon peel, splash of mature vinegar, hints of vanilla, starfruit, some chalk, mild white pepper, spice and hay to end; smooth, medium, flat, no heat.

3.75 4.5 4.25 4 4.25

OK, wow.
Looks more like a lambic than a golden ale, but the nose + taste somehow get the best of both of those.
Phenols, esters, hops, tartness, barrel + funk all weave in a delicate dance, none really taking over.
There's a little "How sour is this?" scale on the label and the answer, at 2 weeks shy of 3 years in the bottle is: not much at all. It makes me wonder if the funk has had time to take a more prominent role.
That plays against a bunch of orchard fruit, less phenolic spice than others suggest, but also a lovely oaky baseline that gives this real depth.
You could sip like Cantillon, you could quaff like Duvel, it'd fit a million foods, work well outside in the summer - I see why this recipe is almost two decades old
I'd like to try it fresher to see it with more hops + less wild. And it could be fizzier. But overall, a revelation.

It somehow took me 13 years to check in a Jolly Pumpkin beer; it was worth the wait.

 

 

L: Pours golden. Rather lively.

S: Spicy. Tangy wheat. Clove, banana, bubblegum. Soured. Herbal spice, pepper.

T: Soured wheat, savory barley, and bitter hops. Enough said.

F: Nice finish.

O: Residual on the bottom. Give it a swirl before opening.

Poured from a can at fridge temp. Pours transparent yellow with white head. The nose is really special. Banana, honey, lots of funk, lemon, grass, and a nice sweet candy note. This smells amazing.

Taste is incredible. Leather, barnyard funk, wheat, lemon, bread, pepper, grapefruit peel (mostly on the back end), and a nice vanilla note. This is great.

Mouthfeel is light. Overall, this is an amazing farmhouse ale.

 

A not-so-sour sour...

Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of sours, but I still try, looking for that elusive sour that I might actually like. Well, this one ain't really it, but it's a sour I can actually enjoy. Great look, not so great smell, and the rest is good enough for me...

 

2012 bottle drank in 2021
Look - Great looking golden color with a nice white head
Smell - woddy grainy slight citrus smell
Taste - Woddy grainy slight citrus like the smell but with a bubble gum tart yeast,
Feel - medium body with a lighter carb
Overal - 9 years old, pretty good

Review 1546
The beer is 46 degrees and served in a tulip glass. The pour created a delicate and frothy one-fingered head. The retention is poor, it lasted only a few seconds. The bright white head did leave a smidge of lacing on the glass. The color is SRM 6, amber yellow with golden hues. This beer is mostly clear with a few happy carbonation bubbles.

The initial aromas in the beer are apple cider, lemons, toasted malts, and a touch of fun. Nosing further, I detect fruity esters, pears, straw, herbal, a slightly phenolic, oak, and a subtle dankness.

The flavors in the beer are white pepper, apple cider, lemons, toasted malts, phenolic, oaky, straw, herbal, floral esters, a touch of fruity sweetness, a hint of horse blanket, toasted crackers, and salty air.

The mouthfeel of the beer is tannic, tart, and crisp.

The body of the beer is medium, medium-plus carbonation, and a medium-plus finish.

I love this beer is tarty and dry with bold expressive hops. It makes a warm summer night cool. The wild yeast is kept in check gives plenty of flavors without overpowering the beer. This beer is awesome. I will seek this out again.

 

 

 

 

 

1 pt. 9.4 fl. Oz. bottle, as "Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza Artisan Golden Ale - Ale Aged in Oak Barrels", courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. Batch 463. ABV is 8%. Golden colour, slightly hazy, with a huge white head. Lovely fruity and spicy aroma, which also carries strong notes of "farmhouse" / wild yeast and white wine vinegar. The flavour is equally excellent, spicy and fruity notes, some acidity, with a hoppy and peppery bite in the finish. Extremely drinkable and refreshing for its strength.

 

 

 

Can from Uptown Market.

A golden yellow with a dense, white head with excellent retention and lacing, this looks gorgeous. The nose is delectable with a gorgeous, brilliant, spicy earthy note, a blend of clove, dust, pepper, lemongrass, honey, a gorgeous, delicate malt character, a firm acidity. The palate opens mildly bitter with a blend of herbal and hoppy bitterness, a blend of earth, mild pepper, a touch of lemon and orange peel. Delicate dough, honey, firm Brett acidity. Firm, supple feel. Awesome.

 

Blend #4 from 03/09/2016. Enjoyed on 09/18/2020.

 

I picked up a bottle of this for the purposes of sharing it as part of a long-distance beer tasting, but that didn't really come to fruition exactly as I imagined it, so here I am with the very same bottle reviewing it on BA as a, well, normal review. Not as exciting or as topical, but whatever. I've had plenty of Jolly Pumpkin stuff over the years, and have reviewed several of their beers in a more professional capacity, but this may be the first JP review I do for BA itself. Oh boy.

Oro pours a hazy golden color with a nice, retentive head of pure white foam that eventually settles down to about a finger or so in my glass, leaving behind articulate but inconsistent lace around about one hemisphere of my glass. Good legs on this one, though, with a very hazy surface that remains as such for the entirety of the experience. Nice looking stuff.

Nose is very reminiscent of pommeau; aromatic and deep with intense spice and orchard fruit notes, including apple. I will note that this is a bottle dated 4/20/17, meaning it's just about 3 years old. Tons of oak and apricot with warm tannins, funky Brett, grapefruit-like tartness and tropical white grape. Lots going on here but it never really gets to the point where I'm lost... JP beers do a good job keeping everything within a logical perspective even with some time on the beers themselves. I dig the big, bold, spicy, and unusually warm fruity note here that dips into orchard-like aspects pretty readily.

On the tongue, OdC is heavier-bodied, somewhat syrupy and quite flavorful... it begins with a slightly orchard-fruit like flavor on the tongue and continues into a semi-tannic and oaky note in the mid-to-late palate, before bringing out some peppery, spicy notes in the finish. The decently-high ethanol component keeps this pretty engaging throughout, with fruity elements being the most apparent aspects brought to the table. However, I will say that this is definitely not "to style" when it comes to Bière de Garde, so do not approach it as such.

OdC has a fairly light body for an 8% beer, with some light tartness and slight concessions made towards it being within the realm of oaky/cider-like/spiced wild ale. It is pretty intense about its defining characteristics and flavors, and the oak barrel aging it underwent is not, by any means, some kind of hidden qualifier; this beer is proudly barrel-aged (foeder-aged?), and it comes across with those vanillins and odd spice aspects pretty apparently. Fun stuff, and I will revisit it again for sure... maybe three-four years from now!

 

375ml bottle dated 03/09/16 Blend 4

Pours mostly clear bright gold with a lasting dense creamy white foam head. Smells like tart apple, oak barrel, some vinegary funk, mild banana, sweet golden grains, hint of vanilla, peppercorn, apricot, with a touch of floral earthy hops. Tastes pretty nice and clean, lemony with some tartness, a hint of sour funk, oak barrel, tart apple, banana, vanilla, peppercorn clove spice, apricot, sweet malty golden grains, yellow raisin, white grape, pear, with floral earthy grassy hops. Feels medium bodied, slick with smooth moderate carbonation. Overall a nice wild strong golden ale aged in oak casks.

 

 

 

750 mL bottle from the LCBO; bottled Apr 20 2017 and served slightly chilled - the last of two bottles that I picked up in summer 2017. I do remember enjoying the first, but that was over a year ago, so I'm hoping this 2.5 year old 'beer for keeping' lives up to the reputation of its style.

Pours a foggy golden-yellow colour, with nearly an inch-thick crown of soapy white foam floating atop the surface. It hangs around for the better part of ten minutes, slowly diminishing to a creamy half-inch cap and collar; gobs of lovely lace are flung about in the process. Truly a beautiful looking beer. Notes of Brett funkiness and cider vinegar sharpness come through on the nose, accompanied by lesser hints of apple, stone fruit, grape and lemon. A bit spicy, with some floweriness, wood and just a hint of vanilla.

Very tasty, but its flavours are complex and challenging to describe both accurately and thoroughly. Pale malt graininess is a continuous background presence, with hints of green apple, sour peach, lemon and grape crisscrossing the taste buds by mid-sip. The funk presence is fairly low key before the tail end, where notes of musty oak wood and leather become dominant; suggestions of vanilla, cherry, cider vinegar and spiciness round out the finish, with leathery funk lingering into the aftertaste. No sign of the 8% whatsoever. On the lighter side of medium-bodied, with assertive carbonation that remains lively well into the glass; feels frothy and a little prickly. I found this very drinkable, but depending on your familiarity with wild yeasts, your mileage may vary.

Final Grade: 4.33, an excellent A grade. I certainly can't profess to having had all that many bières de garde, but I will say that Oro de Calabaza is way more funky than the others I've tried. A little sour too, but it's really the Brett in the driver's seat here, with the oak cask treatment working alongside it wonderfully. I'd love to see more JP beers stocked in Ontario in the future, though I do understand why it may not be worth their trouble to do so - in any event, I'd pick this up again without hesitation. I think Oro is totally safe to store in the cellar for 2-3 years, and may hold up decently for even longer than that.