Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura

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

bottle at Ft Wayne tasting - Pours black with a long lasting tan head. The aroma is mainly dark roast malt. It tastes of that dark roast malt along with some sour dark fruitiness, coffee, and a touch of smoke. It’s lively on the palate and finishes with some bitterness and roast malts lingering on the palate.

Tasted @ Dieu du ciel brewery August 2008. Crisp nose full of roasted malts and a bit of hops. Champagne like thin bubbles that fill the mouth with a kind of lactic taste that chased away most of the aromas and made the whole mouth feel very short.

Bottle. High creamy and lasting light brown head. Hazy very dark brown body. Mild roasted barley malt aroma. Sour roasted malt flavor with caramel and coffee. Low carbonation. Long bitter aftertaste.

Bottle from Monument in Concord, CA. Batch 360/362. Pours dark brown with orange edges and a gigantic tan head. Aromas of really dark malt and chocolate. Hints of something spicey. Medium body with frothy carbonation. Flavor seems coffee/burnt malt with funk and chocolate. There’s dark fruit and a fair amount of bitter. Could be burnt malt, could be hop, could be both. There’re notes of funky fruit in the finish.

Pour is dark with a huge brown head. Aroma is chocolate, yeast and caramel malt. Flavor is tart fruit and chocolate. Sweet caramel after taste. A ton of barrel is found in this beer. Medium bodied and smooth. I never had this before, but now I can see why I like JP 4 so much.

Batch 266 - 2nd massive JP gusher in a week.... maybe beware the Foodery JPs (5.9.09)? Hefty tan head dotted w/the dark spots of the sediment. Aroma matches a typical export stout - plenty of roasty-ness. Roasted malt persists throughout with a hint of sweet at the end. The carbonation is nearly perfect. Something’s missing; I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s keeping this brew from being ri-donk-ulous. Nevertheless, one of the best export stouts I’ve had. Just as good as, if not better than the Podge.

Another major gusher, lost half the bottle. What remained was a highly roasty and substantial Imperial Stout. Slight acrid sourness from dark malts but Belgian character was either subdued, or hidden by bigger flavors.

Bottle pours black with monster pale head that laces and pillows. The aroma is roasted funk, wet leather, and sour chocolate. The flavor is leathery, damp, dank, sharp cheese, and some roasted character. The body is lively and medium rich. Overall, I love this.