Jolly Pumpkin Bam Bière

Brewed By: Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales in Dexter, Michigan  

Purchased: 750ml bomber bought at Jolly Pumpkin in Ann Arbor, MI; 2012

Style/ABV: Saison/Farmhouse Ale, 4.5%

Reported IBUs: ?
Batch 1210, Bottled 10-01-2012

Two things come to mind when I think of Dexter, Michigan: Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, and the Showtime television show, Dexter.

Jolly Pumpkin actually has a couple of locations. My understanding is that their main brewery is located in Dexter, Michigan. Dexter is about 15 to 20 minutes away from Ann Arbor, where the University of Michigan is located (the university is fucking GORGEOUS, by the way). Jolly Pumpkin has a cafe/restaurant located in Ann Arbor, and they supposedly do some brewing there as well. And lastly, Jolly Pumpkin has a location way up north in Traverse City. Me and the girlfriend took a trip up to Ann Arbor over Turkey Weekend to check out the campus and just relax. It was a good trip, and we ate at the Jolly Pumpkin's Ann Arbor cafe. The food was great, the service was even better, and the beer was fantastic. We also drove through Dexter during the evening hours to scope out the brewery, and check out the town. Let me tell you something about Dexter...that's a creepy little town! It has a huge Halloween vibe, has a creepy cemetery, and features some dark, winding country roads. Check it out.

The other Dexter is the TV show Dexter...of which I'm obviously a fan. To be honest, the show has sort of declined since season 2, reaching the -- literal -- bowels of mediocrity with Season 6. There's very few nice things I can say about the decline of Dexter, except they are fortunate that Michael C. Hall is such a fucking pimp. Michael C. Hall is the glue holding that cobbled piece of poorly written shit together. I mean really, Mos Def? I like his music, but really? And "how do I reach deez kidz?" Bleh.

FORTUNATELY, Season 7 of Dexter is like...really good. I don't know what happened. Season 7 of Dexter has turned things around, righted the ship, made the show good again. Hell...some of the dialog and cinematography in Season 7 is surpassing stuff from Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4. Season 7 of Dexter and Season 3 of The Walking Dead have to be this year's biggest surprises. Shit, this isn't TV Guide...about Jolly Pumpkin:

Jolly Pumpkin has three enterprises: a restaurant, brewery, and distillery located in Traverse City; a cafe and brewery in Ann Arbor; and a factor for their Artisan Ales in Dexter. The brewery itself was founded by brewmaster Ron Jefferies. Ron began brewing professionally in 1995, and quickly became known as a respected brewer among the Michigan craft beer scene. In 2004, Ron opened Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales. Jolly Pumpkin is known for brewing beer that is aged in wine barrels containing brettanomyces. Brettanomyces is a naturally occurring yeast that is typically unwanted in beer because it imparts a "sour, leathery, barnyard, horse funk" profile. When used properly, beers made with brettanomyces can have desirable flavors. These flavors are often found in Lambics and Geuzes, and more recently in American Wild Ales.

If you check out Jolly Pumpkin's Bam Bière page, you can get the lowdown on this beer. Now...I'm not going to lie. While me and the girlfriend were enjoying dinner at the Ann Arbor location, I ordered me a flight of beer. I fell in love with this beer. The Bam Bière is just a lovely beer, with huge fresh dry hops, big citrus, prairie, and light barnyard/hay funk. It's a clean, light, refreshing beer. Jolly Pumpkin describes this as an "artisan farmhouse ale" that is golden, cloudy, bottle conditioned, and dry hopped. At 4.5% ABV, this beer is aged in oak barrels, and should feature some light Brett notes. Let's see how this holds up in the bottle versus on tap.

Jolly Pumpkin Bam Bière

As with all Jolly Pumpkin beers...I do recommend opening this over a sink, or on a counter you don't mind getting wet. This beer did not gush, which is good. The beer pours a lovely hazy straw/golden color, with 3 fingers of white/yellow-tinted head. When held to a bright light, the head is super white, foamy, dense, and Belgian Strong Ale-esque. There's a ton of visible, peppery, small-bubbled, effervescent carbonation rising upwards. In bright light, the body is murky yellow with hints of orange: it's kind of juicy...lemonade.

I love the aroma on this...with big, bright dry hop aromas. You get that hop leaf/hemp aroma, which fades into peppery lemon, citrus, grass, lemongrass. There is just a hint of hay and barnyard funk in this, and the whole thing is super light, refreshing, and pleasant.

The taste follows through with the nose, only a touch lighter. At 4.5% ABV, this is a pretty mild beer. You get apple and herb salad, pears, peaches, and strawberries up front...it cuts into a light, grassy, dry hop bitterness. There's just a hint of must, hay, and barnyard throughout, with moderate acidity. 

I love this stuff. It's light, crisp, refreshing, and just really drinkable at 4.5% ABV. Palate depth is decent, complexity is decent, but the mouthfeel is lovely. This is light, effervescent, and SUPER DRY. This vanishes off your palate, leaving some nice dry hop kick. Up front is carbonation, apple and herb salad, some strawberry, pears, peaches; this rolls into some grass/hemp dry hop; the back end is super dry with big dry hop finish. Mild barnyard and hay is present throughout, and you get some acidity in this.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average on this. This is fantastic stuff, especially for a very mild beer at 4.5% ABV. I like how drinkable this is...and this is also sessionable too. Give me 1500ml of this stuff. My only gripe is there's a slightly anise/licorice finish from the dry hops, which is kind of weird. It could just be me though. Given that this is somewhat acidic...I would pair this with a salad that has a mild dressing. You could definitely pair this with some fish or chicken, or anything that would benefit from a little citrus/acidic kick. Like I said, this is a great beer, albeit a bit pricey per bottle.

Random Thought: Despite that Season 3 of The Walking Dead is pretty good....I still maintain that mid-season breaks are dumb. Do you know who doesn't do mid-season breaks? Dexter and Showtime. Suck it, AMC.