I am a Jolly Pumpkin: La Parcela #1 Pumpkin Ale

So I planned on my next post to be the one about the home brewing experience, but I'm currently waiting on an email to verify certain facts because I don't want to sound like an idiot when I post it. So, in the interim, I will post my review on the last of the pumpkin beers this season. Next up will be Vixen from Sam Adams, which will mark the start of the holiday beers/darker beers. But before we get to that, let's move on to the review at hand.

Before we start, I want you to do something for me. Close your eyes, and remember the tastes of every single pumpkin beer you've ever had. They each have their own special aspect that draws you in, right? Maybe it's the way they added the pumpkin, or the different spice they put in. Maybe it's bitter with hops or maybe it's smooth like pumpkin pie. However, each of them have something in common, don't they? They all have pumpkin. Nearly all of them have cinnamon or nutmeg. So while they have their differences, you sort of know what to expect when you take your first sip. Some elements may surprise you, but it's always got that baseline. I want you to imagine the taste of every single one of those beers.

Now throw all that out the window.

Why, you ask? Because La Parcela #1 Pumpkin Ale (brewed by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales in Dexter, MI) has nothing in common with those beers. Nada. Zip. Not a thing. Looking for true originality in a pumpkin beer? Well consider this beer as worth trying. In addition to the description below, this beer was aged in oak barrels, and has an ABV of 5.9%.

"Okay, so the joke was Jolly Pumpkin doesn't brew a pumpkin beer. Well, now we do. Packed with real pumpkin, hints of spice, and a gentle kiss of cacao to liven the soul. An everyday easy way to fill your squashy quotient. Guess now folks will have to find something else to joke about..."

Color: Egads, what a head! (It literally spilled over the sides of the glass.) It takes a while to disappear, and is quite thick and foamy. The beer itself is spot on the color of a pumpkin, and is a bit cloudy. Pours a very light golden color, almost clear. Has some nice carbonation going. (I always enjoy it when I can see the bubbles moving.)

Aroma: Very sour / tart. It smells like a lambic, and not very much like a pumpkin. This is my first hint that not everything that I expect this beer to be will be true. I smell and sniff and smell, and I cannot detect any trace of pumpkin or spices. Maybe a tiny bit, but that could just be me trying to taste something pumpkin-y about this. Not that it's a bad smell or anything, I just wanted to be sure I'm not missing something.

First Sip: Wow. Wow wow wow wow! The most different pumpkin beer I've had, and probably the most original. Very, very tasty...but I can't taste the pumpkin! It tastes pretty much like it smells, and is very good, if you like sour beers. A clean taste, a tiny bit of sweetness, maybe.

Mouthfeel: The tartness is absolutely amazing. There's a little bit of puckering, but overall it's light and not as sour as some other beers I've had. There's also a little bit of bitterness underneath, which could be the pumpkin/spices, or it could be the hops. I don't know, because I'm still having a hard time tasting anything other than the tartness. There is a little bit of sweetness associated with it, perhaps due to the cacao (which is basically chocolate or cocoa beans), or maybe because it was aged in oak barrels, which usually give a brew a vanilla-like taste (though I can't taste that either). I'd like to try this beer without one of the ingredients listed and see how the taste differs.

Aftertaste: A bit bitter at the end, maybe a hint of pumpkin. I'm not sure, my senses are befuddled.

Overall, a beer I really enjoyed. It's definitely still a "fall" beer, but I couldn't taste a lot of the pumpkin or spices. Still, I'd definitely have another glass if offered, and I'd definitely recommend this to others. Even if you can't taste the pumpkin, it's still an intriguing brew.