Friday, February 20, 2009
Restaurants Beer pick of the week: Stone/Jolly Pumpkin/Nogne O Special Holiday Ale
Posted by Jeff Holland on Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 5:53 PM
Stone Brewing Company
Escondido, CA
9.0% ABV
Once again I am late for the party. I just picked up this holiday collaboration, and I wish I had done so earlier because this one would have been great with the Christmas goose (if I had had a Christmas goose). No worries; this wassail-like ale with a hearty ABV and a complex laundry list of additions should age wonderfully for next year. If you see it around, pick up a few and sock some away to break out at the end of the year. There are three different bottles, each with a note from one of the three brewers.
Mitch Steele of Stone, Kjetil Jikiun of Norway's Nøgne Ø, and Ron Jefferies of Jolly Pumpkin in Michigan got together on this one, and each brought a little something to the pot--juniper berries from Norway (actually sourced from Italy), chestnuts from Michigan, and sage from Southern California. The enticingly spicy aroma will awaken holiday memories of evergreen, berries, and nutmeg, and the taste has a noticable earthy nuttiness. Dry, woody malts and a faint mincemeat-like sweetness linger under the tang of rye malt and caraway seeds. Cocoa and chickory in the center carry over into a long, dry, herbal finish of anise and cranberry. The body is firm and smooth, but not particularly creamy, with a warm alcohol, bordering on hot. The herbal flavors are tea-like, and I could see drinking this warm like a toddy to soothe flu symptoms (disclaimer: I am not a doctor). Complex and unique, if a bit raw, I am looking forward to trying it with a bit more age on it.
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