Jolly Pumpkin La Roja

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

Slowly sipped on a couple glasses of this fine treat. Pours a cloudy amber color and holds a pencil thin off white head along with a few spots of lacing from time to time. Vinous and tart, it awakens the palate quickly. Great aroma of earthy yeast and funky, fermented fruits. Sweet and sour mouth feel with a drawn out and pleasant finish. Tastes wonderful with an abundance of sour fruits coupled by a caramel and toffee malt backbone. Lively and mildly sour compared to some others in the same genre. All around fantastic beer.

Pours a murky ruby red with a nice-sized cream-colored bubbly head. Retention is fair, and the sour fruitiness starts to waft out right away. The nose is strong with acids, grapefruit, and vinegar. Things started to go downhill at this point, once the eyes and nose took a backseat to the sense of taste. This was my first true sour and despite the warnings in the aroma, I wasn’t prepared for the assault on my tongue. Acrid tartness, tons of vinegar, and funky citrus. If I didn’t have a problem with the style itself, I think this would score much higher, as I’m pretty sure this is everything a sour is supposed to be!

Bottle. Pours a very dark ruby red color. Smells tart and a little malty. It starts tart but it fades a little to quickly for me.

Enjoyed from a one pint nine ounce bottle in a whiskey snifter. The beer pours a a dark red color with a slight white head. Wonderful notes of tartness come through in the nose, as does just a touch of malt. The palate begins in a promising manner, showing a complex tartness in the beginning of the palate. However, the flavor of the beer quickly falls away, leading to an almost insipid character toward the middle and finish. No malt character was noticeable. While the beer is an impressive feat of fermentation control and blending, to be honest, I was a bit disappointed in the finished product.

muddy orange brown, yellowish soapy head. flemish malt vinegar aroma, but milder than usual, with more caramel. sweet and sour flavor is fairly fruity -- cherries, citrus, and a bit of kiwi. nice bittersweet finish, somewhat thin body.

750 bottle-2007 version. Nice light brown color with an amber head. Wonderful funky, tart, lemony, vinuous nose. Taste is very funky, tart, citrusy, horseblanket. Alcohol is very evident but does not intrude in the flavor. Palate is carbonated and fluffy. Very good beer and eminently drinkable. This has aged well.

#783 for this beer, 750ml bottle. Thick,murky brown pour with a light tan head. Citrusy orange/lemon aroma, a little sweet and just a slight tartness. Tart apple flavor, a bit of sweetness and little woody character, not too shabby.

Bottle. Pours a deep reddish amber with a small beige ring that left some nice lacing. Nose of oak, vinegar, cherries and some deep earthiness. Flavor held some light dylacital qualities with oak and some tart red fruits. Finish was a little thin but a great beer for the price.