Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura

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

Bottled. Beer is very dark brown, nearly opaque with a small, light brown, frothy/creamy, diminishing head. Small morsels of lacing attached to the snifter.The aroma is reminiscent of a wild, Belgian stout—like a FSA collided with a stout. The aroma is roasty, fruity, sour and deep. It’s malty with moderate-to-heavy notes of chocolate and roasted grain, light notes of molasses and caramel, traces of toasted bread crust and creamy toasted nuts; Hoppy with moderate notes of resin/pine, lemon zest; Yeasty with moderate notes of damp basement; Miscellaneous notes include moderate vinous stone fruit, dried currents and raisin, light hints of oak and balsamic vinegar. The flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter with a long, lightly bitter, lightly -to-moderately acidic, lightly sweet finish. Blooms into a light-to-moderate roasty/bitter parting flash—redolent with roast coffee. The body is medium-to-full, the texture is velvety and the carbonation is average. Enoyable, but not quaffable.

Bottle. Head is initially average sized, frothy, brown, mostly lasting. Body is dark brown to black, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (chocolate/cocoa, roasted grain), lightly yeasty (barnyard), with notes of cherry, oak, blackberry. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery/velvety texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. Not a stout of course, being as strongly sour as all the other JP beers, and more like a Flemish Sour than anything else (more chocolatey/roasty, yes, but the usual other characteristics). JP is probably the most similar to Fantome wrt the aroma (this one is like Black Ghost). And although one may wonder if the sourness is stronger than designed, JP brews are always fun.

Bottle. Sour, lactose stout aroma. Opaque body with excellent lace and a tan head. Sour flavor. Dry. Not bad. Actually quite good. An acquired taste. I loved the first few JP beers I had about 2 years ago: Oro de Calabaza, Maracaibo Especial, La Roja, but haven’t really been crazy for the last few.

Bottle from Capone’s. Pours deep blackish with a huge head that quickly dissipated but reappeared with every repour. The aroma is roasty maly, tart cherry, chocoff. Tastes tart, with a Bing cherry flavor matched by dark malt and some chocoff hints. Lively palate that stays tart and malty, with the richness of the malt matching well with the funky cherry tartness of the wild organisms.

Pour was totally ridiculous, the most head of any beer I’ve ever seen. Wet, fruity, hay, yeasty aroma, toasted oak notes. Flavor definitely covers that dark fruity malts thing well that foreign stouts usually display, an odd lagered sort of taste. Bitter undertones were there, and oak was a good compliment. Low carbonation despite the out of control head.

CRAZY...Upon first pour, I swore I detected a toasted sesame aroma that seems to have yielded to a funky (in a good way), fruit, sour aroma. Flavor is initially sour, giving way to a rich and lasting roasted bitterness. JP never fails to deliver.

Jolly Pumpkin has some badass labels. I just wanted to put that out there. Pours very dark brown with a large, foamy tan head that sticks around. Aroma is potent, roasted malts, chocolate, wild yeasts, fruity, tart, and sour. Amazingly complex aroma. Taste is very bitter and roasty then comes a tart explosion. This thing does very interesting things in my mouth. Carbonated taste with a long, bitter roasty aftertaste. Very interesting beer. This is great.

Really dark thick black as night type of appearance.. Chunky off white head. Stays around quite a bit. Tastes really tangy. It tastes like coffee really really cold left over coffee sitting in a cup for a couple of days. Nose of really huge roasted malts and oats. Yep, the tang and bitterness really takes over. Quite crazy. After drinking this, I still can’t quite get a handle on this. Good? Hmm... I’d need another bottle to judge.