Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura

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

750 ml bottle

I’ve been meaning to crack this bottle open for a while now. With nobody to share it with though it has been hard to justify. I can handle most Jolly Pumpkin beers well on my own; this is not one of them. Thanks to chris_o for helping me finish off the bottle. Also thanks to whomever sent it to me in a trade.

Aroma / Appearance - The deep black body had all the typical hallmarks of a good stout. Only a trace of light was filtering through my St Bernardus glass. Thick lacing slid down the sides coating the interior in a thin film. The sourness is evident from the get go in the form of a vinous characteristic. Dark chocolate, bruwn sugar glazing and funk complete the nose which falls somewhere between a stout and Flemish sour in overall experience.

Flavor / Palate - The tart dryness screams Flemish sour from the first sip but then slowly the stoutiness takes over. An oakiness permeates the rich vinous texture. It tastes as if coffee somehow was spilled into a bottle of red wine and left to blend. The first half is all sour; the second all porter. Overall this is a rare and unique beer that you should make an effort to try.

This stuff is wild. Coffee and dark chocolate aroma. Flavor is funk and sourness with an espresso bitterness in the background.

Milky black with a medium tan head. Aromas of toasted malt, vanilla, alcohol, and a touch of coffee. Flavor is quite intense: burnt malt, bitter dark hops, coffee, and a hint of vanilla. While it is reasonably well balanced the alcohol makes a strong appearance in the finish, and roasted flavors endure on the palate.

This has a very dark brown, not black, body with a creamy, light umber head that shrinks to a film within a minute after the pour. The aroma is somehwat medicinal with the blending of lightly roasted malts, weak coffee, aniseed, and curdled cream. The lactic sourness keeps from from rating this very high, it disguising most of the other elements of the flavor. An interesting effort, but it falls short of my expectations.

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NorCal tasting July 07 - Another miss from Jolly Pumpkin. I give ’em props for doing something different though, I just didn’t care of a tart stout with funk. Aroma was sour milk, dark fruit, roasted malts with some floral hops. Appearance is black, with a one-finger beige head. Mouthfeel was a bit thin, minerally somehow. Flavor was tart/sour with the acrid over-roasted malts, dark fruits, and licorice. Honestly, this just didn’t do it for me. If/when I think of Jolly Pumpkin, La Roja is their best by far.

The beer came in a brown, 750 ml. Bomber, and I chose a tulip glass to pour it in. It looked quite good with a black, opaque body, and a three finger tall tan head. The smell was typical of a Stout with roasty smells of coffee, chocolate, as well as some toffee being detected. The taste was where big departure from the standard mold came, as the sourness was something I was not expecting here. Taste was something like a mixture of a Wild Ale and a Stout. The Brettanomyces funk, lactic sourness, and lightness of the former were somehow combined in this same beer with chocolate roastiness, bitter hops, and burnt grain astringency of the latter. The oaky and vanilla flavor common to the barrel aged versions of either was also present. It leaned more heavily towards a Wild Ale than a Stout, despite the way it looked. Big kudos to Jolly Pumpkin for pulling off this creative melding of these seemingly divergent styles. The body and the mouthfeel were very thin for a typical stout, but they did work well for this odd creation. Easy to drink after the initial shock wore off. This would have been right at home in a Fantôme lineups, as the creativity was astounding.

Didn’t like this for the first few sips but wow yum yum after that. Poured a dark brown black color with good head and good lacing. Aroma was souy just like jolly pumpkin likes to do floral hops and some spices. Flavor was sour grapes and floral, a light roasted malt to balance it out. Different but tasty.

on tap at Rich O’s. black with brown edges. fluffy brown head. aroma green apple coffee and vanilla. tart sour green apple currant light black pepper and horse blanket flavor. finish tart green apple currant bitter coffee with a splash of cream. finish sticks with you forever. mouth puckering tart coffee. medium to full body. moderate carbonation. one of the most interesting beers i have had this year. fantastic.