Beer pick of the week: Maracaibo Especial
February 3rd, 2009 by Jeff Holland in Drink
Make it funky: Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo Especial
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Dexter, MI
Belgian Amber Ale
7.5% ABV
Although it was released in November as a seasonal ale, it is certainly not too late to pick up a bottle of this “special brown ale.” In typical Jolly Pumpkin fashion, it straddles the strange territory between open-fermented Belgian ale and tropical elixir by way of the frozen Midwest. It is brewed in the abbey style, with wild yeasts that introduce funky aromas of dirty sheets and composting earth. Really. Cacao, cinnamon and orange peel add the equatorial element suggested by the Venezuelan city from which the beer takes its name.
This is a fairly light-bodied beer, flinty and sharp, despite its rusty amber color. Tart green apples, sour cherries and tangerine ride on a barely-there raft of toasted malt, yielding to herbal flavors of lemongrass and mint in the tart-but-not-puckering finish. Intriguingly complex but eminently approachable, Maracaibo Especial is a great introduction to the world of wild ales, and a tart, fruity treat to get you through a cold winter.
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