Jolly Pumpkin La Roja

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

I’ve been trying to like Flanders Sour Ales and finally found one I really like. Very nice beer. Perfect level of sour.

Nice sour amber ale. Reddish brown pour. Very oaky on the nose, and a little sour. Tart fruits and sweetness... a little more sweet than sour, and the oak overshadows (but doesn’t dominate) all. I had this waaay too far into a tasting so I don’t have a lot of language for it, but I did write down "3.9," so I obviously liked it quite a bit.

Bottle, blend 12. Aroma starts off light when chilled, but slowly grows from vague sourness to sour fruitiness to sour woodiness and ultimately leads into flavor characteristics by hinting of a sour, green (in a good way) earthiness. This earthiness is where the flavor takes off with an almost gritty nature to the ever-present sourness, including the wood, very tart, dry coffee (especially in the finish), and rotten fruits (but again, in a good way, I apologize if rotten fruits in a good way doesn’t make sense, but so it goes). Very, very interesting, very, very good, and certainly a brew to be revisited.

Bottle, blend 12, 2007. Pours a cloudy brown with a small white head. Aroma of tart, sour fruits, some alcohol. Initial flavor of sour fruits, then in the aftertaste I got crackers, coffee, roasted meat. Certainly an interesting beer. It lacks the sweetness I’ve seen in other sours (not that this was a negative, just an observation). Tasty.

Bottle, blend 10, 2007. Cloudy reddish-brown with a thin white head that dissipates quickly. Sweet and sour aroma of malt, brandy, and sour fruits. Taste is quite sour, of underripe fruit, with woodsy hints. Lingering sourness. Very tasty sour ale.

Bottle, from the BSF at the GBBF, shared with Fin, Loz and Traci at our American beer tasting night. Deep amber, off-white layer of head--not much of it, but what’s there is nice and sticky. Soft brown sugar aroma, ginger, wool and leaf mould, old wine. Just a touch of vanilla. First sip rather tart, but very quickly the tartness fades, and there is leather and peppery spice along with the sort of warm fruity quality of muscovado sugar but without the sweetness. Prickly fine carbonation, dry and very moorish. First beer of the night, and maybe my favorite of the tasting.

Bottle shared with Casey, Tracey and Loz at a great American tasting evening 11-04-08 hosted by Casey and Tracey, cheers mate! This beer has some old wine characteristics on the nose (noticed by Loz) and aroma wise was really quite like an vintage red classy wine. Pours deep amber with a white head and a tiny speck of orangey yeast sat on top of that head, slowly the aroma changes to that of an old forest with slightly wet and musty leaves being kicked up by each footfall. Lovely gentle fizzical thing going on in the mouth, with a good sourness there as well. Tingly tangy sweet and sour fruitiness with a gentle rush of wild bitter cherries. At the edges there is a bittersweet toffee thing starting to show and a nice earthiness to it continues to impress and fizzess gently on the tongue, lovely beer. Great start to the evening!

Seriously infected bottle. Pours reddish brown with little or no head. 10% fizzed out upon opening. Smells like a sour with minimal funkiness. Smells a little "off" Tastes a lot "off.’ Very metallic taste, which, when combined with the sourness, comes close to putrid. Really watery with no carbonation. Drain pour. This bottle should never have been sold. I’ll rerate when I get another bottle, but since this is the bottle I got, this is what I’ll rate. Worst beer experience I’ve had in a long, long time.