Jolly Pumpkin's Ron Jeffries should be used to winning awards at this point.
But having started one of the more unique brewery operations by selling artisanal sour beers all aged in oak barrels some seven years ago, he remembers when times weren't always so good.
"It's still difficult to sell sour beer, it was even more difficult seven years ago when we first opened," says Jeffries, fresh off winning a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival for his Belgian-style, gluten-free India Pale Ale, "Belipago."
Jolly Pumpkin over the years has won a good amount of hardware at the GABF, held annually in Denver, including a gold medal for their Oro De Calabaza, a strong Belgian ale brewed in the Franco-Belgian tradition of a Biere De Garde, just four months after the downtown Dexter facility was opened.
Jeffries says it feels good to be recognized at these types of events but those medals are also backed up with feedback from dedicated fans of Jolly Pumpkin beer.
"It wouldn't be a lot of fun if we won all these awards but then everybody said, 'We just don't like your beer,'" Jeffries says. "It's fantastic to have everyone enjoying the beer than to have that validated, if you will, by a group of judges. That feels pretty nice too."
Jeffries says with the Belipago, he set out to create a beer that could be enjoyed by everybody and not just those who suffer from Celiac disease (gluten intolerant). The tricky part of course being that they couldn't use malted barley or wheat in the recipe. Gluten is the protein in grains such as barley, wheat and rye - all traditional brewing ingredients.
"We sort of were developing and tweaking the recipe, we wanted to make sure that we didn't end up with big batches of beer that nobody wanted to drink," Jeffries says. "Plus, brewing gluten-free was all new to me. I didn't really enjoy the flavor of other gluten-free beers out there. It was important to me to brew something that craft beer drinkers could enjoy."
In the end, Jeffries employed a combination of sorghum, agave, chestnuts and other components. The beer imparts floral hop character and spice and is definitely hoppier than most other beers in the Jolly Pumpkin lineup.
The beer was entered into the "Specialty Beer" category at the GABF. Jeffries says the most satisfying part of winning gold this particular year was that his gluten-free beer competed against beers made with traditional malted barley.
"I think we succeeded in accomplishing what we wanted to do with the beer. To win against regular malt beers with a gluten-free beer, that was very satisfying. I wanted to make sure that people wouldn't say, 'Well, that was good for a gluten-free beer.'"
There were nearly 80 different categories of beer styles at this year's GABF, held Sept. 16 to 18, and will certainly grow next year and beyond as brewers continue to push the collective envelope on flavor profile and style. There are gold, silver and bronze medals awarded to beers for each category.
Other Michigan winners at the 2010 GABF included a silver medal to Grand Rapids-based Founders for "Curmudgeon," a gold and a silver to Warren-based Kuhnhenn for "Fourth Dementia" and "Simcoe Silly" respectively and a gold medal to Bellaire-based Short's Brewing Company for their "Key Lime Pie."
Jeffries plans on expanding distribution for Belipago first by way of local drafts and then eventually bottling. He said they are experiencing some technical issues bottling the beer but they will try to get it ready as soon as they can.
"We have had a lot of interest about Belipago," Jeffries says.
La Parcela 2010
(Starting last year, Jeffries brewed a pumpkin ale for the Halloween season in a very limited production, just 2 batches which equates to about 18 barrels. Based on the continuing popular demand for JP seasonals, they brewed 13 batches this year thus making Parcela much more widely available. In it, he uses more than 30 pounds of fresh pumpkin per batch and of course is aged in oak)
Appearance: This beer pours with more rocky, pillowy head than other JP beers I have had. It's an impressively clear and firm copper to burnt orange.
Smell: Black pepper, carraway, cumin, some waxy phenol, and suggestions of fresh mint. It is deeply herbal and spicy, reminds me of Christmas potpourri. And of course, as with all Jolly Pumpkin beers, there is a distinct and refreshing background of red wine, oakey sourness from the barrel aging (love it).
Taste: More black pepper spiciness, mint, pumpkin pie spices, cinammon and nutmeg. Again, the nose follows the taste in that it seems to be a pretty herbal beer but the interplay between the spice notes and the refreshing, sour acidity is lovely.
Drinkability: I have to say not one of my favorite JP beers simply because they do "refreshing" saisons better than anyone and that's what I love about this brewery. I could certainly drink more but this beer is probably not for everybody.
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