Luciérnaga
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales

LuciérnagaLuciérnaga
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From:
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
 
Michigan, United States
Style:
Belgian Pale Ale
ABV:
6.5%
Score:
90
Avg:
4.04 | pDev: 10.15%
Reviews:
395
Ratings:
978
Status:
Active
Rated:
Mar 07, 2022
Added:
Oct 28, 2004
Wants:
  75
Gots:
  121
The Firefly, an artisan pale ale brewed in the Grand Cru tradition. Enjoy its golden effervescence and gentle hop aroma. Coriander and Grains of Paradise round out the spicy palate, melting oh so softly into a silken finish of hoppiness and bliss!
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 3.8 by QuintusHorace from California

Mar 07, 2022
Photo of Frisbeehead
Reviewed by Frisbeehead from Ohio

4.13/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
750mL bottle, marked 07/19/2017, drank 12/19/2021. Poured into stemmed teku glass.

Pours a beautiful golden, slightly orange and clear, has the look of a classic Belgian pale or saison. Nice foamy cream colored head, lacing around the edges that sticks around throughout. Has the texture of a Belgian pale in the mouth, fine carbonation. The taste is well balanced all around, I get the wheat flavors like in a Belgian pale but then some sourness and hops like in a saison. It is not very sour at all, just a tinge of sourness, and otherwise tastes like a witbier or pale. Very old-world for sure, tastes quite traditional. The alcohol doesn't stand out much.

For flavors, I get green tea, clove, lemon zest, yeast.

Overall I like it a lot, I agree wholeheartedly with another reviewer who wrote that they wished it were sold in a smaller format (and possibly in cans) because this would definitely be something that I would pick up a 4 pack of every once in a while. The large format is something I would normally share with friends, and doesn't quite have the punch I had expected. Would be an excellent summer beer for sure.

4.25/5, I would say Jolly Pumpkin were successful in what they were going for!
Dec 19, 2021
Photo of rodbeermunch
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada

3.8/5  rDev -5.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
So back in May we went to the last baseball homestand for Nevada, a doubleheader of a Saturday. We had this beer. I had it before, was happy to have it again. Surprised to see here I had not reviewed it yet. Good. My Michigan numbers have been slacking big time.

Pours a burnt, dark orange, auburn like color with light brown influence. 1/2" off white head. Complex nose, there is the grain, the spicy water, the mild funkiness, the lemon, the coriander, light hoppiness, green apple, wet hay, lemongrass, woodiness, citric rind etc. . . you could go on and on.

Taste was nice, popped some fruity and spritzy brett like notes. Drinkability easy, moderate bitterness. Alcohol plenty tempered. Great unique grain like presence, might be the grains of paradise reference. Yeast does heavy lifting and its remarkable old world stuff. Refreshing and a lot going on. Light clove.

Its a pretty nice beer with a relatively big price tag ($20).
Dec 17, 2021
Photo of CraigDeMoss
Reviewed by CraigDeMoss from Kansas

4.06/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Glowing, hazy burnt orange. Steady carbonation and a formidable foamy head. Saison esters, spicy oak. Orange and grapefruit citrus tart, followed by a nice grains of paradise warming spice. Medium, fizzy feel, slight drying, good carbonation, somewhat bitter. Not bad at all, would have liked to tried this fresher, still very good and worth a try.
Jul 19, 2020
Photo of EMV
Reviewed by EMV from Pennsylvania

4.27/5  rDev +5.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured from a bomber into a Dogfish Head tulip. Pulled out of the depths of the cellar. 2015 vintage.

L: Clear medium golden pour with thick fluffy white head. Great retention and outstanding lacing. Sediment at the end of the pour clouds the 2nd glass.

S: Tart and funky. Green fruit and yeast.

T.F: Follows the nose. Light crackery grains... a bit of funk and citrus. It wants to be an ooch tart but never quite gets there. A bit of funk and spice. Green fruit, oak, and esters. Grapefruit rind and tea leaves. Medium to light bodied... well carbonated. Dry finish.

O: Pretty awesome beer. Great taste and drinkability. Kind of a cross between a Belgian Pale and a tart saison. Really nice mix of flavors in this brew.
Feb 17, 2020
 
Rated: 3.54 by Grinky from Illinois

Feb 07, 2020
 
Rated: 3.46 by ImperatorScab from Tennessee

Feb 01, 2020
 
Rated: 3 by C_Adams from Ohio

Jan 27, 2020
 
Rated: 4.04 by robotic_being from Illinois

Dec 11, 2019
 
Photo of macrosmatic
Reviewed by macrosmatic from Florida

4.01/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Reviewed from (long-standing) notes. Poured from the 750 mL bottle into a Cigar City Brewing goblet. Purchased from a local bottle shop on 6/20/16, consumed about six weeks later.

A: Nice brilliant gold with just a very slight haze. Forms a two-finger off-white head with very good retention. Lots of visible carbonation. A pretty beer for sure.

S: On the low side for overall amount of aroma. But there's musty funk, lemony citrus and coriander, with some biscuit malts. I’m getting more saison yeast than Belgian on the nose.

T: Brettanomyces earthiness and mustiness. Lemon citric tartness – but fairly mild. Brett-derived pineapple and some citrus, tropical fruit, and grassy hops. Biscuit malt body and mild woody oak tannins. Light Belgian fruity yeast esters – pear and mild banana – lurk under the coriander. It finishes with a fruity hop bitterness and more dry Brett funk.

M: A medium body with lots of good carbonation sensation. Low alcohol presence.

O: Tasty and well-made. It doesn’t have huge flavors, or overly sour, or terribly funky, nor particularly hoppy. But it’s balanced in all of those things, and killing off the bottle solo would be no problem. If they packaged this in small format, especially in cans, this would likely be something I'd grab as a change of pace off the shelf. But with this bottle - likely opening it to share with a few people - it just doesn’t deliver a big punch of anything in particular. But I’d definitely grab a pour on tap in a heartbeat if I was in the mood.
Aug 16, 2019
 
Rated: 3.5 by dafla67 from Pennsylvania

Apr 05, 2019
Photo of OohToBeAGooner
Reviewed by OohToBeAGooner from Indiana

4.17/5  rDev +3.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Date bottled: 03.11.14

Look: hazy amber with an orange hue. Nice off white head with evenly dispersed fine bubbles.

Smell: nothing inherently overwhelming. Slight hint of hand sanitizer with an underlying tone of orange peel.

Taste: bright citrus notes with grapefruit throughout. Complex backend of hops and wheat competing in the aftertaste. Bit of a cardboard vibe.

Feel: extremely palatable. Light, yet full mouthfeel coating the tongue but not lingering.

Overall this is a fantastic pale ale. It’s extremely refreshing but still has the depth of an aged beer. After reading some of the other reviews it seem the aging does make a difference this one being nearly 5 years aged. Great brew from the Ann Arbor neighboring town.
Jan 25, 2019
 
Rated: 4 by Marvicsin from California

Dec 27, 2018
 
Rated: 4.3 by Best_Enjoyed_In_Texas from Texas

Oct 25, 2018
Photo of cjgiant
Reviewed by cjgiant from District of Columbia

3.5/5  rDev -13.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.25
Bottle dated 4/2016:
Okay, I am under the assumption this beer, while a BPA, is not one that definitively should not be aged. I bought it as such from a respectable place, but I could be wrong. This beer has much yin and yang to me at its current age.

The look has a nearly cloudy, somewhat murky amber orange body. Yet, its head is a lovely near white, and doesn't leave the top of the beer throughout this ordeal.

The nose just jumps at me ax oxidized. There's a freshly opened bag of rubber balloon main scent here. Not appetizing. Behind this is a lemon vegetal note, and eventually a decent spice, earthy in general, nutmeg in nature particularly.

The taste has the same rubber balloon aspect, but it isn't as bad. The funky yeast isn't helping, I believe. The earthy spice may also be stepping on the opening, but at least they let up and become an interesting aspect by the end of the taste. There's a light lemon zest that accents the funk. Grains of Paradise seem obvious once I learn that's the spice I am getting. In general, this reminds me of an early fall lawn cleaning, with grass clippings and the first leaves of fall combining for a earthy, grassy tea base upon which there is some spice and funk added.

The oxidized nature was just too much for my enjoyment. I would suggest letting this one warm, as this aspect seemed to fade as I drank the beer. There's some interesting things going on, throughout, but they seem to come together a little better nearer cellar temps. I wonder how much different it would be without two years on it.
Mar 18, 2018
 
Rated: 3.58 by johnverduin from Indiana

Mar 09, 2018
Photo of Ciocanelu
Reviewed by Ciocanelu from Romania

4.35/5  rDev +7.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
On tap at Artisan (Rome). A bit hazy orange color with off-white head. Aroma has sweet candied fruits like apricots and tangerines with a light yeast funk. Taste starts with sweet and tart apricot, peach, tangerine but on the finish it gets quite bitter with herbal hop notes. Light to medium body and carbonation. A really well made beer with a good combination of tart, sweet and bitter flavors, all integrated gracefully.
Feb 21, 2018
Photo of stakem
Reviewed by stakem from Pennsylvania

3.85/5  rDev -4.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
750ml bottle dated 2010. Poured into a snifter appears a clear copper color with an offwhite head that fades leaving patchcy lace.

The nose is grainy sweet with clove and spices and a hint of orange.

It tastes bitter and rindy with clove and almost has a hint of tea and orange zest as well.

This is light in body with effervescent carbonation. Overall pretty nice.
Feb 16, 2018
 
Rated: 4 by paulish from New York

Nov 11, 2017
Luciérnaga from Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Beer rating: 90 out of 100 with 978 ratings