Jolly Pumpkin Lambicus Dexterius
Belgian style Lambic brewed traditionally (100% spontaneous fermentation). (Blend of 4 yr, 3.5 yr and 2.5 yr)
Malts:
Pils Malt,
Raw Wheat
Hops:
Aged Hallertauer
One of Jolly Pumpkins founding goals was not only to be the first all oak aged sour brewery in the US, but the first production Lambic brewery as well. We began creating this beer over four years ago. Brewed using a traditional turbid step mash, an extended boil, and allowed to cool overnight in one of our open fermenters. Moved the next day into some of our most sour barrels. No culture yeast is used, only our native Dexter cultures.
Notes of orange, grapefruit, and a wonderful funky sourness complete the picture. Bottled Still.
Malts:
Pils Malt,
Raw Wheat
Hops:
Aged Hallertauer
One of Jolly Pumpkins founding goals was not only to be the first all oak aged sour brewery in the US, but the first production Lambic brewery as well. We began creating this beer over four years ago. Brewed using a traditional turbid step mash, an extended boil, and allowed to cool overnight in one of our open fermenters. Moved the next day into some of our most sour barrels. No culture yeast is used, only our native Dexter cultures.
Notes of orange, grapefruit, and a wonderful funky sourness complete the picture. Bottled Still.
3.6
155 reviews
Dexter, United States
Community reviews
RBWG Winter Gathering, Asheville, courtesy of someone. Pours a hazy golden orange color with white head. Sour, tart, fruit, acidic flavors.
Bottle @ RBWG. Pours a murky dark orange appearance with a thin head. Heavy vinegar and dark fruits. Very tannic. Pretty door. Very oaky. Some grape notes. Cheesy notes. Some oxidation. Maybe a bit old.
Bottle at RBWG Asheville Grand Tasting. Thanks to Derek! Pours lightly hazy yellow-gold with a bubbly head. Nose has wood, tart lemons. Quite sour flavor, mild sweetness, big citric lemon bite, pale woody dryness. Medium bodied with soft carbonation. Bracing sourness to finish, more drying wood, lemon tartness. Nice stuff.
Pour out of 2007 bottle, very hazy yellow pour with thin to no head, aroma brought big funky, oaky notes, hints of white fruit, nice lemony, lactic, tart fruit notes, hints of leathery barnyard in there as well. Taste is a mix of tart lemon, biscuit, bread, nice earthy barnyard like funk, hints of cheese, bleu cheese notes, nice oak, finishing sour, lactic. Nice but lacking any real carbonation hurts it.
Dark cider color, barely any carbonation, sweet and sour aroma, overripe fruit, sharp acids, citric and acetic, leaves stickiness behind due to lack of carbonation.
Bottle. Pours still orange. Funky aroma. Taste is straightforward apple vinegar
Bottle @ a recent tasting... Poured hazy, burnt orange with no head. This was a lactic, acetone bomb. Too much of that and crossed over into drain pour territory. Hard to pick out anything else since the acidity of this beer was so intense. Not for me.
19/I/13 - 75cl bottle @ RBBWG 2013 - BB: n/a (2013-41) Thanks to Thirstybird for sharing the bottle!
Little cloudy orange beer, no head. Aroma: sourish, medicinal, chemica, nail polish remover, pretty bad. MF: no carbon, medium body. Taste: pretty bitter, cheesy, sour, lemony, bit fruity, molded cork. Aftertaste: very cheesy, mildew, dry, blue cheese, chemical. Ok, this is NOT how you make a good sour. Silly Americans rating the shit out of this beer, better be drinking some decent geuze instead. :p
Orange golden colour, slightly white head. Aroma of glue, acid, vinegar, acetone and candy. Sour flavour, light sweet malts, caramel, fusel oils, artificial sweetener and ethylacetate. Quite flat. Sweet finish, quite artificial, ethylacetate, sweetener. Very dry.
Was quite curious to an all-american lambic. Not quite my cup of tea though. Very sour, lots of vinegar. I did learn quite a bit from this beer though, as I was told it has quite classic characteristics for a vinegar infection (azijnsteek) camouflaged with artificial sweetener.
(From 75cL bottle @ RBBWG II, 2013. Courtesy of Thirstybird. Thanks Rian!)
Thx. to Thirstybird / Rian for this one. 75 cl. bottle sampled @ RBBWG 2013. Mmm an American geuze, sort of psyched. Instead of wild fermented in a koelship, this appears to have been wild fermented in barrels, using the bacteria living in the wood. Blend of 4 yr, 3.5 yr and 2.5 yr old lambic. Pours a lightly murky orange without a head. Smells quite sour as in real vinegar and not as in vinegary, herbal candy, sour oranges, touch peal and hint acetone. Taste carries clear characteristics of the different years used to blend, vinegar, touch acetone, quite strongly medicinal, aspirin, strong vinegar, very herbal in wild herbs, medicine cabinet, oak & quite a bit of acetone/paint thinner, vinegar leading into a very medicinal, herbal finish. Enjoyable flat as specified on the bottle. Not sure that this was what they were expecting and going for. I feel a bit that some of the new sour brewers don’t always quite get it when their sours basically more or less fail because this is not really what this is supposed to be. Or maybe it is their custumers pushing them to do this or because of the costs they do it anyway because otherwise they loose too much money. Dunno… I do find stuff here to enjoy but I am not entirely getting it, maybe its me.
75cl bottle sample @ RBBWG 2013, courtesy of ThirstyBird.
Orangée, pas de col et peu d’effervescence.
Arôme rappelle les fruits fermentés; abricot avec ce côté vieux fromage moisi le tout sur un boisé restant très faible.
Palais garde ce côté trop mûr et ce côté infecté industriel. Le profil aigre s’en retrouve diminué et la boisé presque absent, le tout se terminant sur un léger côté sec et grains. Le tout se retrouve pénalisé par un palais plat qui n’apporte pas de complexité.
Un peu déçu ici Jolly Pumpkin.
Sampled from bottle @ RBBWG 2013. Slightly unclear orange color, no head at all. Aroma has sourness, fruitpeel, tart. Taste sourness, a bit medicinal, fruitpeel, lemon. Quite nice. Dry finish, long lingering sour fruits, good body, good carbonation.
750 ml bottle from thebaldwizard- thanks again, Joe! Pours a flat-looking apple juice color with no head. The cap came off really easy and didn’t pop at all. We were worried. The nose is awesome, though, with oak, fresh-cut herbs, lemon, apple, straw, white grapes, and cheese. Flavor of lemon, sawdust, white grape skins, floral notes, and a bit of vinegar. Really sour. Light-bodied, with a tart, dry mouthfeel and low-to-nonexistent carbonation. I know the flatness was intentional but some carbonation could have helped. Tasty and interesting.
Cloudy orange with no head. Aroma is funky and sweet with a bit of peach. Taste is vinegar and some peach, just the wrong kind of sour for me. Completely flat. Not impressed.
Bottle shared by Armin (thanks!) Hazy dark orange pour, no carbonation and an aroma of light acidic fruit. Flavor is bitter apricots, slight spice and a whole lot of funk with some wood on the aftertaste. Really enjoyable beer, I just wonder how it would have been fresh.
Bottle, 10/24/2012. Pours cloudy orange amber, nearly flat save for a few large bubbles ringing the glass. Aroma has sour citrus notes, intense bleu cheese and vinegar funk, acetone and wood. Taste is bracingly sour- stone fruits, big vinegar notes, mold, acetone, oak. Palate is thin, relatively slick mouthfeel, perhaps the only thing truly lambic-like here. Aside from the occasional whiff of nail polish remover escaping the glass, this was serviceable.
At Snallygaster event. Poured a cloudy orange color with a small, white head. Aroma was a bit funky, with yam/gourd/pumpkin notes to it. Funkly flavors, some tartness, sourness. Interesting brew.
Served in a Jolly Pumpkin tulip. Pours a clear deep golden color with no head. Almost completely flat. Nose is a bit cheesy with some backing funk. Completely still. Flavor is fairly harsh with heavy acidity. Some cider; no complexity.
Bottle. Pours a hazy earthy peach that is slightly hazy with a white head that dissipates completely. Aroma has a good amount of acidic notes with some very sour stone fruit. Flavor is quite intense with a very acidic sour fruit with a bit of JP funk.
Bottle shared by Steve. Pours clear pumpkin orange. Nose/taste of tart fruit, peach vinegar, yeast and some paint thinner. Abrasively tart at times. Medium body.
Dark hazy amber-orange body. Next to no head or lacing. Huge funky nose with some underlying citric notes, cheese and vinegar. Relatively intense--more unblended-lambic like than geuze-like. Flavor combines similar elements and produces an intensely funky and lactic tartness. A bit of nail polish remover comes in here at times. Medium bodied, bracing sourness and acidity. Overall, an interesting effort that falls short of capturing the beauty and complexity of quality geuze. That said, this does have some things to offer that are reminiscent of unblended lambic.
750 ml bottle; pours expectedly flat with no head and dark, clear orange in color; poopy nose with stale cheese and dry hay, stale lemons; texture is flat, thin and almost silky; minor nailpolish and mineral flavor; also mild vinegar too; love the nose but flavor a little rough for me; in a tasting that featured some Cantillon, De Cam and 3 Fonteinen, it’s a little hard to stand up
From notes. First reviewed 10/7/2011. Poured from a 750 mL bottle into a long stemmed tulip. Thanks to Dunt for bringing this over to celebrate his birthday.
My pour is a hazy tangerine color with golden edges and no head whatsoever.
Lactic sourness, some lemon and peach, and some grains in the background all create a nice nose. Oak and funk aromas are there further in the back.
The flavor is an explosion of lactic sour. Lemon, peach, and general tartness with a lactic tone. Some grapefruit as the sourness grows toward the end. Pretty much blisteringly sour.
The fact that this is flat really drags it down. No carbonation, a lactic sourness, medium bodied.
There is a very nice lactic sourness to this beer. It starts with a medium body that dries out and gets lighter as each sip goes on. Very tart and acidic for sure.
bottle with huge thanks to Chad for this rarity... bright and clear light orange with a bit of copper, kind of like apple juice... the aroma was nice, very acidic, oak... tastes good but you can tell this is getting to the tale end of its life, drink it up now
Bottle shared by destructo at the TOSPH. Pale yellow pour with no head. Funky as nose. Sour with barnyard, tart citrus, and oak notes. Wicked....
Had this beer numerous times. Last one was my own bottle at a recent tasting. 750mL bottle, first batch. The beer is undrinkable, all nail polish. Everyone poured it out. I took the bottle out and everyone got excited and happy thinking it was going to be the bomb. I was excited that other were excited but secretly I knew what was coming. As soon as they sniffed it smiling faces turned into faces of bewilderment. Then after a sip it turned into disgust. 15 people and only have the bottle was poured into glass and almost all of that went in the drain. Not just a bottle issue, this has been my experience at least twice before now but it has gotten worse with time. Mike, thanks for sending this to me, I wished for long that it would be better.
Pours to a straw amber body with no head The aroma is very sour leather and tart malts. Very well blended aroma. The flavor is a little harsh with leathery nail polish. The palate is super sour and lactic. Leathery beer.
Thanks to Derek (I think) for opening this! Poured near-clear lighter golden with no head present.. looked flat and uninspiring. The aroma was sour with lemon rind, oak, and vinegar responsible.. aggressive, but I thought it came together well. The flavor was sharp, with lots of oak, lemon, and vinegar again.. more funk and vinegar throughout.. very sour and assertive, but it lacked direction. Quasi-refreshing on the palate, but there were misplaced residual sugars that got in the way.. good brew, but not great.
750ml bottle from that notoriously generous MI dude.
Pours a hazy golden orange with only a few stray bubbles on top that recede very quickly.
Aroma definitely has the JP funk, with some wet hay and mustiness, with a decent amount of light fruits - apricots and oranges. There is also a solid oaky tannin character to the nose.
The taste has less fruit and more acidity, some lactic and vinegar that just stings the palate. The finish is oaky with the signature JP funk.
The mouthfeel is almost completely lifeless and flat, seriously dry, oaky and acidic.
This is a good beer, though it’s not one of my favorites from JP and, for me, lacks the complexity in the taste that I expect from some of the best lambics.
Thanks a lot for sarro and his tasting group for sharing this bottle.
Aroma: Aged cheese funkyness upfront along with some cedar and a peach/pinneaples fruiyness, all wonderfully blended together.
Appearance: Peach body with no head.
Flavors: This one is real sour, much more than the usual JPs. Crushed lemon and grapefruit rind with intense woody flavors.
Palate: Very dry and still. I’m not so much into flat beer but I thought it fit the beer profile.
Overal: Excellent beer, maybe a little too harsh and sour though.