Jolly Pumpkin La Roja

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

cloudy copper/amber pour. Huge head. Overcarbonated a bit. Aroma is tart and quite funky. Some tart apples in the aroma too. Flavor is fruity and very tart with some vinegar notes and woody notes. Good stuff.

750mL bottle (Blend 15, 2008) poured into a tulip glass. The aroma on this is so familiar, but I just can’t quite put my finger on it. There’s phenolics, tannis, wood, a hint of chocolate, and more. The flavor begins with champagne and chocolate, flows into spice, malt, wood, and vanilla, and ends with a sour kick and a lingering dryness.

750ml bottle from 16th St. Liquor in West Van. Blend 2, 2009. Let’s start by saying I’ve traditionally been hit or miss with sours. But this is certainly one of the most balanced and approachable ones I’ve ever had. I too get the sour apple aroma in the glass. Pours a murky copper with foamy head. Certainly tart and sour on the tongue with a hard to identify (for me) fruit note (cherry?). Finish is complex and chewy with a woody note just noticeable amongst the earthiness. Very complex and lingering. This gives me more reason to re-examine sours. Delicious and very drinkable!

Blend 6, 2009. 25.4 oz. bottle. Nice dark brown color with a nice little head. Nice sour apple aroma. Fairly pungent beer. Nice sweet fruit aroma. Subtle oak aroma. Wish the oak came through a bit more, but the aroma is still fairly nice. Nice tart apple flavor. Nice fruit flavor as well. Has a nice subtle wood flavor as well. Fairly smooth beer. Not an overly impressive sour, but this beer is fairly decent. A little sour apple, fruit, and wood says it all.

La Roja (blend 9, 2008, bottle) This one’s a gusher, and even after pouring out some of it in the mega snifter, it still gushed. Pours a muddy reddish brown with an off white/cream colored head, which retains nicely and leaves a lot of lacing. Aroma of cinnamon, a bunch of oak, tart cherry, a light caramel sweetness, green apple, earth (gets more so as it warms), leather, clean mint. Taste is lightly sour, with some tart cherry, unripe plum skin, sweet caramel, red wine, light acetone, and a lot of barrel, cinnamon, and dry yeastiness on the finish. A bit of fresh mint is perceived upon exhalation. The red wine flavor really starts to dominate as this warms up, and it begins to taste as if I’m drinking carbonated red wine which certainly isn’t a bad thing. I was underwhelmed by the flavor when this was cold, but I’m really starting to dig it now. Mouthfeel is medium, and the carbonation is very lively. The taste is not as sharp and sour as I thought it would be after having had the Krieked version, but it’s still a good beer nonetheless. Let this one warm up a bit, it’s worth the wait.

I first experienced La Roja at the 2008 GABF and had to get more of it. I scored a bottle from Monument wines and Spirits. Blend 14 2008. The aroma is intoxicating and complex. Just by the smell, you can tell the complexity and depth. One of the great things about this ale is that it is not so extreme that people with less sophisticated palates can enjoy it. Very nice sour component that you look for and nice balance between the beer and barrel. Excellent quality!

Poured from a 750ml. Amber with a quickly discipating head. Aroma is complex Brett and sweet malt. Tasting the sweetness from the young beer in the blend with the dryness of the much older Brettier beer. Very interesting juxtaposition between the two. The dryness of the older beer gives the illusion of bitterness in its astringency. The Bretty funk comes in at the end of the astringently dry after taste. I really like this beer. Well done.

750ml Blend 13, 2008. Pours a copper haze with a orangery head. A highly carbonated brew with fruit notes. This one gets a lot better as it breaths, but still retains a dry finish. Not as "white wine-ish" as sours from the left coast.