Deschutes Jubelale

Beer: Jubelale
Brewer: Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR, USA
Type: Winter ale
Bottle: 12 fl. oz. bottle
ABV: 6.7%
IBUs: 60
Served in: Pint glass
Place of Purchase: Unknown - gift from our friend Louis!
Price: Also unknown! Thanks, Louis!!!

Happy 2010! It's our first beer review of the new year! It's definitely a late start for us (thanks to lingering illness - seriously, sick from December 25th to just a few days ago.) Your two Beeraucrats, (that's us - Mugsy and Jugsy), are finally able to actually SMELL and TASTE beer! We are now more than ready to bring you another year of loving beer!

It's mid-January and certainly still mid-Winter, so we will continue with our seasonal brew reviews!

On January 1st, our friends Louis and his wife Lindsey were kind enough to drive all the way from Idaho to Los Angeles just to bring us a couple of bottles of beer! OK, so maybe their trip was really to show off their new baby boy, Soren, to friends and family in Southern CA. Any way you slice it, the proud parents were kind enough to bring us a couple of bottles of Deschutes Jubelale to review!


Each year, Deschutes Brewery's Winter offering features a unique label with artwork by different local artists - this time by central Oregon artist, Tracy Leagjeld. We're thinking about starting our collection now.

Thank you, again, to Louis, Lindsey and Soren! And thank you to our Beeraucracy readers! We wish you a happy, healthy and beer-filled 2010!

In every proper review, your trusted husband & wife team of Beeraucrats will examine the Appearance, Aroma, Taste, Mouth-Feel, Drinkability and Overall Rating of the Beer and arrive at a Total Score from 1 to 10.

Deschutes Jubelale

APPEARANCE:

Mugsy: Dark brown yet not opaque. Becomes deep bronze when held to light. Average sized, lightly tan colored head that dissipates very quickly. Not much noticeable carbonation. No lacing is left on the glass as glass is emptied.
Jugsy: Reddish brown in color with strong copper hues. Carbonation is barely visible. Medium head dissipates very quickly. Particulate matter in bottom of glass. Leaves little to no lacing on the glass.

AROMA:

Mugsy: Strong, sweet malt aroma - almost a "chocolate milk" type of smell. Very slight hints of toffee. Hops are almost imperceptible but do come through in the end, especially after swirling glass.
Jugsy: Chocolate covered cherries and vanilla rum comprise the initial sweet scent. Strong aroma of chocolate malt along with a wheat and berry bread smell. The faintest hint of piny hops can also be detected.

TASTE:

Mugsy: Bitter roasted malt comes on first. Then a sweeter malt immediately follows. Hops are definitely there, however, more as an aftertaste. Very slight bitter dark chocolate aftertaste and slight coffee aftertaste.
Jugsy: Heavy roasted malt flavor dominates. Predominantly chocolate flavor with a hint of coffee. The fresh and bitter taste of piny hops reveals itself more in the aftertaste than the initial sip. If I really concentrate, I can sense a hint of fruity yeast, as well. The flavors are not as complex as the aroma would have you believe.

MOUTH-FEEL:

Mugsy: Creamy; almost like drinking a glass of watered-down chocolate milk. Slight sting from the bitterness of the malt and/or hops. Not even close to being watery, this one is on the heavy side. In fact, almost chewy - but not quite. Very slight coating left on the tongue. Goes down quite nicely.
Jugsy: Initial impression was creamy, but the more I drank, the more watery it seemed to become. The Jubelale is very mild on carbonation, perhaps too much so, as it gives the beer a thin feel. However, it does leave a malty/hoppy coating on the tongue.

DRINKABILITY:

Mugsy: At 6.7% ABV, this might not necessarily be everyone's best candidate for a session beer. However, I could easily throw back several and enjoy every drop. The heaviness may become a problem for me though when considering drinking more than one or two.
Jugsy: While the Jubelale might feel like a lighter Winter ale, its 6.7% ABV certainly packs a punch. Going on flavor alone, one could certainly drink a fair number of these, but the higher alcohol content would limit me to only one or two.

OVERALL:

Mugsy: Nice, complex beer. Quite a bit going on here as far as taste. Also, the creamy mouthfeel is quite nice. Just a little on the heavy side for me and maybe the tiniest bit too sugary, but hey, that's never stopped me before. Would pair very well with rich Winter foods or with desserts. Even with the heavy-handedness I would absolutely drink again, but only one or two. Or three.... Maybe four.
Jugsy: I wish I could have actually tasted all the complex aromas I smelled in this brew! I was looking forward to tasting this beer, not only because Louis went through so much trouble to get it into our hands, but also because its smell promised to deliver so much flavor! Overall, this is a fine seasonal ale - maybe not my favorite - but I will definitely seek out next year's batch!

SCORE:
Mugsy 7.0
Jugsy 6.6