Jolly Pumpkin / Nøgne Ø / Stone Special Holiday Ale

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Rated Feb. 2009. Courtesy of sebletitje. Pours amber with brown edges and thin tan head. The aroma has varied notes of spices to go along with faint pumpkin and malts. Overall the aroma is on the mild side. The taste has an initial pulse of pine hop bitterness and a bit of tangelo and grapefruit hop flavors. Just beyond the hops are notes of sweet pumpkin, winter spices and sweet malts. Midway and to the finish the hop bitterness wells up before a mild note of Brett tartness joins in the fray taking the experience into the finish and after taste.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Dark ruby red, brown with small light brown foam head. Aroma is very nice, caramel and chessnut. Nice taste, bit too sweet, but fruity, chessnut and red fruit. A ver nice beer. (Velp 201312)

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

sampled on 1/2/10. 12oz bottle with mitch. this bottle is a year old, sampled with the 09 Nøgne Ø/Jolly Pumpkin/Stone Special Holiday Ale. pours a dark brown color with ruby highlights. medium head. aroma is a lot of spices, dark fruits and sweet. medium body. taste is nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice (allspice?), caramel, piney, dark fruit and sweet. mouthfeel is full. aftertaste is slightly sweet. aging on this has lost a bit of the spiciness, but the maltiness is coming out.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

mint, spice, toffee, mint chocolate.. . upfront spiceness, good bitters .. . clean spiced ale.. . nice body .. . like drinking a christmas tree forest .. .

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Bottle from Knightly Spirits. Missed out on last years version. Pours a very dark brown color with a huge frothy tan head. Nice foamy retention. The aroma is interesting, as is everything with this beer; wood, charcoal, berries, dust, lots of spices, alcoholic cleanser. A lot of spice flavors are featured here and it’s not at all hard to pick up the sage and juniper berries. Cinnamon mingles mid palate along with piney hops and ashy notes. The sage is quite strong at times and lingers in the finish. This drinks somewhat thin but has more alcohol warmth than I expected. Slick backing. A fun one to try and overall pretty solid.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This one deserves the anticipation of two great breweries colloborating. The body in this one is a deep reddish brown color. A big, frothy beige head rises and stays awhile. Settles into an impressive lacing. The aroma was strange at first until I read the ingredients. Juniper, right up front, bold and in your face with a supporting cast of pine and winter spices (cinnamon, allspice). Medium to full bodied. Carbonation balanced well. The flavors are an impressive dance of roasted sweet malt, bitter chocolate, alcohol and spices. I like this one!

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

Really suprised at how much this smelled like my recent pumpkin beer, which I had heaping amounts of pumpkin pie spice and nutmeg. Off the original pour, lots of clove and nutmeg. Beautiful, beautiful pour....viscuous, mahogany brown..huge 3" head in my Maudite glass. I could only pour about half and the rest was taken by the head. Stunning lacing clinging to the glass. After it warms up, spruce tips, some Southern Comfort, the caraway seed, fruit cake spices, and some sweet licorice. Crazy insane aroma, that seems all over yet together. Flavor has some nice toasted malts, gingery, medium piney-bitterness (chewing on needles), spiced earth, and rye. This beer was gone before I knew it. Very well done and very enjoyable.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

12 fl. oz. bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 9.0%. Bottle conditioned. Chestnut coloured beer, huge and creamy lasting tan head. Nice aroma of caramel, spices and dark fruits. Rich and full mouthfeel. The flavour is malty, rich and sweet, with loads of spices - but I’d have trouble identifying which ones, if I didn’t know. I would also have guessed that there was some aniseed or liquorice in there. There is a distinct hoppy bitterness and more spices in the finish. Interesting stuff!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Pours out in a clear deep ruby red colour with a small creamy off-white foam. Spicy aroma of cardamom, wormwood, juniper and cinnamon with sweet fruity undertones of prunes and raisins. Nearly full-bodied with notes of wormwood, roasted almonds, cardamom, port wine, nutmeg, mild pepper and toasted malts. Rounded and rather chewy mouthfeel. Long rounded and spicy finish of white pepper, nuts, leather and wormwood.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

12 oz bottle. Pours a dark reddish brown with a thick creamy reddish tan head that retains well and laces the glass.

The aroma is pretty subdued - some malts, a little juniper and some floral spices and some alcohol.

The flavor is roasted malts, nuts, spices and some alcohol with a bitter finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and creamy.

Overall, interesting and different but I'm not sure I like it. It is a little subdued. I was expecting more.