Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Grand Reserve

Brewed by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Style: Sour Ale
Dexter, Michigan USA

This poured a dark amber color with a small off white head. Aroma was very sour, some cherries maybe, and some funk. Flavor was jsut incredible, extremely sour from the bret on top of tart fruit flavors and a melding sweetness from the bourbon as well. Damn good stuff.

12oz bottle from heliosphann - thanks, Scott! Pours similar to the regular La Roja, but somewhat more cloudy and still, no doubt because of the 32 months (!!!) in the barrel. The nose is more tart and vinegary than the regular version, but the wood is also more pronounced. Carbonation has held up and the mouthfeel is relatively full, suiting the complexity of the beer. Oud bruin qualities blend with pleasant sours, for a nice blend of tannins and oak, even a bit of vanilla creeping in there for added barrel complexity. Extremely tart but with some soft floral notes at the margin. Really fine.

Bottle courtesy of artusory. Pours a deep amber, cloudy. Smells vinegary, sour, tart, funky, brett forward. Tastes of wine, acid, some wood, vinegar. Very dry. Amazing.

batch 48 shared by psprings... pours a cloudy cherry stained wood/reddish brown with barely an off white ring for a head. the smell is fairly intensely sour... fruity, malty, red wine vinegar and some jp stank. solidly fruity, malty an almost sweet flavors are counterbalanced by aged red wine vinegar, wood and it’s tannic structure. i don’t get bourbon but i do get a bunch of the dry parching effect that the barrels have. there is a big dose of florals which is followed by the usual jp funk only softer. the medium body has a bit of substance to it form the sugars. puckering mouth feel from tannins. neat little blend! 7/5/8/4/17/4.1

Big thanks to Northernbrews for bringing this mindbogglingly good sour to Redlight before the throwdown. Pours a reddish brown with a off white head. Nose is hugely sour but with some dark caramel creeping in. I don’t get any real bourbon. Taste doesn’t give any real bourbon either but there is huge lingering woody notes at the end of this beer that clearly denotes this as the barrel aged version.Immensely tart and sour up front with even a slight bit of vinegar. Cherry skins. Huge lingering notes of sour cherries stick around for long after the beer is gone. This is simply amazing. The best JP beer I’ve had.

Old bottle, no bourbon, 12 oz, says oak barrel aged on neck. Clearer reddish brown with a thin white head. Big fruity oak. A little sour, but not much. Really surprisingly little depth. Thin body, low carbonation. Thin nose, but fuller flavor. Sour, but not crazy. Oaky astringency, no vanilla. Lingering tannins. Fruit really lingers. 2007 standard release side by side was more sour, less oaky, but a hell of a lot fuller, and it was thinning out quite a bit too. The moral: drink sours sooner!

Poured murky brown with a white head. Aroma of apples. Some sour apple flavor which mellowed into a sweet caramel texture. Somewhat bland.

Sampled at hellbilly’s hellraiser 3 gathering. Bottle courtesy of psprings. Cloudt red-brown pour with a small foamy head. Funky, sour aroma of wine, cherry and wood. Nice fruity flavor as well, with the funk coming through nicely. Very nice. Thanks Paul!