Jolly Pumpkin La Roja

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1234

1234

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I have never brewed a sour before, but I saw that this was a very popular beer. I found the clone recipe in a BYO Jan/Feb 2008 issue. It seems very straight forward. What do you guys think?

http://***********/stories/recipein...0-jolly-pumpkin-brewing-company-la-roja-clone
 
Looks good, but have you had this beer? If you don't like "over the top" sour beers, then you'd probably be better off fermenting with a neutral yeast like US-05 before you pitch your roeselare blend.

By the way...I don't concider this beer to be very good. That's my opinion, of course. I've tried a lot of sours...and my favorite style by far is Flanders red or brown. I noticed they have a clone for New Belgiums La Folie on that page. You should give that a try. It's an amazing beer. The 2011 isn't that good, but the 2009 and 2010's were great. Hopefully that clone is for one of those.
 
I bookmarked them all and hope to do all of them. I don't have the ability to ferment at 75 right now, but in the summer months that is no problem. The half bath that my wife lets me use to to ferment in has no heat or air duct so in the winter it is perfect for most beers and the summer is good for belgian style beers.

I have not tried the beer, it is almost impossible to get here. The distributer only gets lie 12 cases for the entire mid-state area. A lot of the bottles are pre-sold before the stores get it.
 
1234 said:
I have not tried the beer, it is almost impossible to get here. The distributer only gets lie 12 cases for the entire mid-state area. A lot of the bottles are pre-sold before the stores get it.
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while what Suthrncomfrt1884 has said is completely true (his opinion and all), don't let the description of jolly pumpkin la roja scare you away from trying the recipe. there's no way with the 100,000 variables in sour brewing that you'll end up with an exact clone of la roja. i bet whatever you brew it ends up somewhere between la roja and la folie. i also bet if Suthrncomfrt1884 lets his 2011 la Folie age it will end up at the quality of the previous vintages;)

btw: if you get New Belgian La Folie i would be happy to go in on a trade for some Jolly Pumpkin La Roja! that way we can both ale each others regional woes:)
 
jessup said:
. i also bet if Suthrncomfrt1884 lets his 2011 la Folie age it will end up at the quality of the previous vintages;)
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I bought a few bottles for exactly that reasone. But...I've done the same with previous years. I'll usually buy 4 bottles. I drink one right away and e allow the other three to age a year or two before I drink them. I don't think it should be neccissary to age a beer that's already beer aged for 1-3 years...but it's needed for this beer.

When I commented on the taste of 2011, I was comparing it to when I tried the previous years without aging them. In that aspect...the 2010 was probably my favorite.
 
Suthrncomfrt1884 said:
I don't think it should be neccissary to age a beer that's already beer aged for 1-3 years...but it's needed for this beer.
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i know it's crazy!! and i hope i didn't come off nasty in my previous post, i totally meant it innocently about the aging!! i think new belgian just started doing vintages. my take on the quote below is that before 2010 they would bottle and release different batches throughout the year(s) and probably blended differently and leading to a lot of variation in batches. i've only personally tried it twice and they were definitely very different from one another!
from new belgian:
"New in 2010, we'll do a single bottling of La Folie for the year. Collect the 22oz unique to 2010 designed bottle and start a yearly wood-aged collection of goodness."
 
La Folie is not a live beer anymore, its now pasteurized so aging wont really do much, this happend when they changed over to the Lips of Faith series

As for suthrncomfrt's assessment of La Roja, I couldnt agree more, I find the beer over-phenolic and very rough around the edges, yet the other JP beers Ive enjoyed......

And to the OP, it would actually be a good idea to add the dregs of one of JP's lower alc beers i.e. calabaza blanca to yours, as they have some really strong souring bugs in there
 
Does anybody have access to any of the Jolly Pumpkin beers? I would be glad to compensate you via paypal for it. I will call around just to be sure that I can't get any of them here locally.
 
Before I run off to my LHBS, www.rebelbrewer.com I thought I needed to ask a question. The recipe calls for 8lbs 5 oz. blend of Pils and pale malts. Anybody have any suggestions on what ration I should make it?
 
I really dont see how much difference there is between the in a sour, do whatever your gut tells you
 
I also agree about La Roja. In general, Jolly Pumpkin is among my favorite US breweries, but La Roja is just not a good Flanders-inspired sour ale. In addition to the assessments above, it comes off with a strange woody quality that is not beneficial to the overall character of the beer.

La Folie is my favorite, followed by Rodenbach Grand Cru and Vintages.

Ryane is right on about the base malt. There are so many other elements in the making of this beer that will exert a much more noticeable influence on it.

Although there aren't a lot of commercial options for homebrewers, I'm not a big fan of the Roselare blend. Without putting it through a few generations first, and then really encouraging it to sour along with much age, it just doesn't do much to excite me. If you can get a hold of it, I'd go with Bugfarm or the Flemish blend from East Coast Yeast if possible. (Also, a question I see a lot is whether to ferment clean, followed by a bug blend in the secondary vs primarying w/ bugs. Definitely Primary with bugs, especially if you have to go the Roselare route.
 
Jaymo said:
I also agree about La Roja. In general, Jolly Pumpkin is among my favorite US breweries, but La Roja is just not a good Flanders-inspired sour ale. In addition to the assessments above, it comes off with a strange woody quality that is not beneficial to the overall character of the beer.

La Folie is my favorite, followed by Rodenbach Grand Cru and Vintages.

Ryane is right on about the base malt. There are so many other elements in the making of this beer that will exert a much more noticeable influence on it.

Although there aren't a lot of commercial options for homebrewers, I'm not a big fan of the Roselare blend. Without putting it through a few generations first, and then really encouraging it to sour along with much age, it just doesn't do much to excite me. If you can get a hold of it, I'd go with Bugfarm or the Flemish blend from East Coast Yeast if possible. (Also, a question I see a lot is whether to ferment clean, followed by a bug blend in the secondary vs primarying w/ bugs. Definitely Primary with bugs, especially if you have to go the Roselare route.
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The base of the recipe is what Jolly Pumkin uses, but it is not going to be like the beer due to a different yeast strain. I have to use the Roeslare Yeast due to it's availability. Where does one go about getting Al' Bugfarm yeast?
 
I've got a flanders that had cultured la roja dregs in the primary, and roeselare in the secondary (along with several other dregs). It's about 5 months in and is pretty good. I had a sample a couple weeks ago and it smelled and tasted similar to la folie, but not as complex or sour. I'm brewing another sour in a couple weeks using cultured dregs from JP autumn fire and GI fleur for primary and WY lambic blend in the secondary.
 
1234 said:
The base of the recipe is what Jolly Pumkin uses, but it is not going to be like the beer due to a different yeast strain. I have to use the Roeslare Yeast due to it's availability. Where does one go about getting Al' Bugfarm yeast?
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Al makes his East Coast Yeast strains/blends available through Princeton Homebrew in New Jersey. They have an email list that is sent out whenever new batches come in.
 
Jaymo said:
Al makes his East Coast Yeast strains/blends available through Princeton Homebrew in New Jersey. They have an email list that is sent out whenever new batches come in.
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Where can I sign up for the list? I am only able to find the shops phone number.

Thanks!
 
I actually had a La Roja for the first time the other night. I thought it was quite nice, a little drier than a Rodenbach, perhaps a little less acetic too. In general though I love the Jolly Pumpkin blend of bugs and love the flavor and aroma it contributes to all of their beers that I have had.
 

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