278. Jolly Pumpkin Bière de Mars

Jolly Pumpkin is rising in over all popularity around these here parts—we’ve got more of the delicious dirty band-aid we love going on with this beer. We can add Bière de Mars to the list of delicious beers from Jolly Pumpkin—we’ve previously sampled E.S.Bam and La Roja.

Bière de Mars pours a hazy nut brown with a minimal ivory head. The nose has candy sweetness followed by vinegar and sourness, with the vinegar tartness predominating. Candy tartness opens the flavor profile, turning to sourness in the middle and continuing along to become lightly chalky and alkaline into the finish. Bière de Mars closes with some citric tartness and a sour twang, ending bright and fresh on the palate. The body is medium to light, with tight, sharp carbonation that rounds and shapes the beer effectively. Some puckering due to sourness/vinegar tartness in the mouthfeel. Another excellent beer from Jolly Pumpkin; it could use a bit more complexity across the flavor profile besides the sourness, but that’s small potatoes here. Bière de Mars is fresh and lively, and, like all of the Jolly Pumpkin beers, worth drinking again and again.

From the bottle: “Brewed with two yeasts. Mellowed in larg oak casks, and re-fermented in the bottle, our Bière de Mars is a sustaining beer brewed to comfort in the gusty ides of March and welcome in a wealth of warmer weather.

‘Beware the ides of March’ – Some guy to some other guy, a long time ago.

Please enjoy our beers in good health, Cheers & Mahalo plenty!”

ABV: 7.0%
Blend 2, Bottled 2-24-10

(4/4/2010)