Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura

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

Bottle. My 500th beer. Nice black pour with a brown head. Smell was of chocolate and sweet malt. Taste is very sweet and warming. Chocolate and dark sweet malt. Very tasty

[1039-20080112] 1pt9.4floz (c/o HogTownHarry, w/ him, garthicus, jerc, mds, Radek Kliber). Chocolate dipped bread aroma with an earthy base. Dark brown black body with a medium-lasting creamy light tan head. Sour base flavour is mostly earthy malt roast. Medium-full body. Really interesting texture, sour malt.

What a freaking beautiful beer. Perfect export stout. The funky JP aromas and flavors mixing with the sweetness of the stout is just brilliant. The nose is very roasty, with hints of bread, wine, funky cheese, molasses, brett, and loads of choclate and fresh roasted coffee. In the mouth it tastes practically identical to a Guinness Foreign Export Stout that I picked up in Bermuda and aged for 2 years. Super vinous and fruity, with tons of sweetness and a great sour funk. And to finish things off nicely, there is the perfect hint of an alcohol heat. Almost a marriage between a traditional Imperial Stout and an new school Oud Bruin, am I right? Sam Smith’s Imperial Stout meets Petrus Oud Bruin. And that is not a bad thing at all. I can not get enough Jolly Pumpkin. I’ll say it again, best Belgian themed brewery in the states, no question about it.

Bottle (750ml). Shared with garthicus, jerc, mabel, Radek Kliber and mds - my bottle. Poured dark, essentially black, with a large creamy/rocky mottled tan head. Dry aroma, heavy on the trademark JP sourish funk, with undertones of deep roast coffee and a bit of lactose. The taste - man, if you didn’t tell me this was a JP stout, I’d think it was a sub-par Québec stout that had "soured" like many seem to - but that’s what they’re going for, and I like the funk, so ... I got lemon sourness and acidic stale coffee, moderate booze and tart underripe fruit - quite a bitter/sour finish. I found the body a little thin, weak liveliness, but nice roast and acidity on the palate, with a quick finish. Overall, I really liked it, but like all their beers, I couldn’t drink this very often; it’s well-made, and I always go "good stuff" ---- but I don’t reach for it again.

750 ml bottle. Poured opaque black with a thick cappuccino head. Aroma was ashy, sour, and not so pleasant. It tasted like a stout at first and then got really sour at the end. It struck me as odd at first and then it really grew on me. I also tasted some kind of berry in it.

Deep, thick brown, large, fluffy brown head. Nose is sweet and sour, imfused with tart cherries, lambic-like... Very carbonated, with continuing sour smack on the palate. And there’s plentyof cocoa and coffee at play here, ....very interesting. And imagine, here we have an American microbrewery doing their take on the Belgian’s take on the Irish take on a British style. A bit big in the booze, but not deterrent in any way... Lip-smacking delicious. Good one!

750, thanks to shigadeyo, from a trade last year. It’s a good thing I hung onto this one. If I had rated it against the ’Foreign Stout’ category a year ago, I would have given it lower numbers. Now I understand this is simply a Belgian Stout tha has been dumped into the Foreign Stout category because there is no Ratebeer ’Belgian Stout’ category. This is a beer that not really is a designed to conform to the Foreign Stout style, but it suceeds nicely as a Belgian Stout. It’s one of the nook and cranny beer styles like Imperial Porter that hasn’t been officially recognized yet. OK, with the preamble out of the way, on to the rating... Sweet aroma of brown sugar as soon as I crack it. Pours opaque black with a firm dark tan head. Big aroma of brown sugar, chocolate, coffee, licorice. Medium-light body and light carbonation. Taste of brown sugar, prune, coffee, licorice with a lightly sour, dry coffee finish.

Bottle 750ml
Appearance: Dark brown going into black, creamy coffee top , fractional lacing 4-
Nose : Dry plums, mocha like aromatic nose, slight woody elements shown. Clean , solid aroma of dark strong ale.
Flavor/Palate : Plenty of tartness , alcohol with red berries , oak chips , short burst of carbonation. Alcohol dipped cherry at finish. Interesting play of roast elements with tartness. Good f-7+ , p-3+ OVA 15-