Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura

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

A tough chore that JP has set for themselves, achieving the complexity of a nice dry foreign stout with the rich sours of Belgians ales and stouts. While it’s not exactly to my taste, they’ve struck a pretty good balance. You can smell the crisp roasts right away and this impression lingers in the initial tastes. But what tends to overwhelm is the rich yeasty and dark sour fruits. Somewhat thin palate as well. Not my fave JP brew, but a worthy effort.

Bottle sampled with Beerded_one. Pours dark with a large tan head. Aroma of roasted chocolate, coffee, tart fruit. The flavor is mostly coffee and tart fruit, light chocolate, and finishes tart and bitter. Good brew.

Sampled at the Mondial, deep black color, with a tan-colored head, leaving laces, with a fruity, coffeeish nose, with some roasted malts, notes of mocha and vanilla, with a fruity wild yeasty brettanomyces oakiness, with hint of tartness, and wildberry sourness in the aroma, follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a mellow, sour, winey fruity character with some roasted coffee beans, burnt toast, with a wild yeast, winey, oaky mouthfeel, within a hint of fruity mustiness, leading towards a fruity sourness finish. My first impression of this beer, it was like GonZoBeer, an infected sout, but with a brewery using some wild yeast, you never know.

Verre de dégustation, provenant d’une bouteille de 750 ml, dégusté au Mondial de la Bière 2007 (Montréal, QC). Arôme: Odeur de café et de caramel avec une pointe de chocolat. Apparence: La couleur est noire opaque. Présence d’un mince col beige mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de café avec une pointe de petits fruits foncés. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture vineuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Présence de torréfaction en arrière goût. (Rating #1079)

Pours opaque black with a beautiful, thick, creamy head that is light tan with swirls of dark tan. The foam fades quickly, but not completely, and leaves very little lace on the glass. The aroma is grassy, musty, acidic, and fruity (dark sour cherries) with notes of chocolate and alcohol, too. The flavor starts acidic and astringent. Roasted grains and burnt toast fight through more sour, acidic fruit. Dark chocolate is also evident. The front of the tongue picks up a mustiness (reminds me of drinking beer with cobwebs in it). The middle of the tongue detects lots of sour and chocolate flavors. The beer finish full-bodied with a strong zing of carbonation on the back of the tongue and flavors of chocolate with a dash of vinegar. The mouthfeel is full-bodied with a creamy carbonation. The bite of acidity lulls the tongue into thinking it is lighter than it is. Overall this is a very strange stout - but about what I expected of it based on my experiences with other Jolly Pumpkin brews (though I was hoping the JP quirks would manifest themselves in a different form...).

Pour was very dark brown with a small frothy beige head. Aroma is sweet chocolate and mild oak. Not a very pwerful aroma but plesent nonetheless. Flavor is exactly what I’d expect from a J.P. stout. I detect some vanilla coffe flavors in the background with a dominating sour grape taste taking over in the finish. A very interesting stout that only(?) J.P. could pull off.

Bottled. Dark brown coloured with a small head. Roasted and malted with notes of coffee, bitter chocolate and wood. Powerfull flavour - somewhat dry and slightly sour. Nice balance.

Taste at the mondial de la biere 2007..Mtl... This is a bad stout with a lot of infection probleme,,But is a jolly pumpkin and is made with the jolly pumpkin style..so its ok....