Mad River Serious Madness Black Ale

Brewed by Mad River Brewery
Style: American Strong Ale
Blue Lake, California USA

12oz bottle courtesy of Nick3. Pours almost completely black in the glass with only the smallest amount of light coming through the edges. There is a big creamy tan head that shows very good retention and lacing. The aroma is very good for me, but that’s because I love coffee and chocolate, which are the most dominant aromas in there. There are some toasted malts as well as a hint of citrus hops. The taste is a slightly sweeter version of the nose. The big roasted coffee taste is still the most dominant aspect of the taste, but there is a more noticeable sweet caramel malt and molasses backbone behind the coffee bitterness. The dry bakers chocolate taste is fairly prominent as well. The mouthfeel is extremely smooth with a soft carbonation and fairly full body. As a coffee lover, I really like this beer. It seems pretty one-dimensional in that respect, but when you love that dimension, you can’t help but like the beer.

Bottle poured a clear dark brown with a lasting tan head. Aromas of roasted malt, dark chocolate, light vanilla and hints of dark fruit and licorice. Palate was medium bodied and crisp with a smooth finish. Flavors of roasted malt, bitter chocolate, light vanilla and hints oif dark fruit and smoke with a smooth lingering chocolatey finish.

Interesting strong ale with an assertive roasted malt character. The beer pours nearly uniformly black. There are dark brown-mahogany highlights around the edges of the glass. The head is close fitting but relatively dense. The aroma is mostly a rich chocolate malt with a great roasted quality. There are some mild hops, providing a bit of bite. The flavor is roasty, chocolatey with malt with significant hop and fruit flavors. It’s a nice mix of strong notes. The beer gets a bit sticky in feel, but it’s not too bad. Ultimately, Serious Madness is a fine beer.

Tried this one out of the bottle. Poured a dark brown body with a tan head that stuck around for a while. The smell on this is of dark malts and the taste completely backs it up. Very good beer, happy I picked this one up.

12oz. Bottle: Aroma of coffee, slight roasting, and chocolate. Poured dark brown in color with a tiny, off-white head that barely lasted around the edges. Cloudy. Not sparkling. Full of tiny particles throughout. Flavor is lightly sweet and light to medium bitter. Tastes of chocolate, coffee, roasting, light hops, slight smoke, and some pine. Medium body. Average texture. Average carbonation. Chocolate, light piney hops, and roasted finish is lightly sticky. 8.6%ABV is undetectable.

Bottle. Poured perfectly black with just a hint of ruby when held to light in the bottom of my snifter. The dense khaki head stuck around for a while. A strong nose of chocolate covered oranges and green wood. There was also some dry cocoa. The taste was rich coffee and dark chocolate. There was definite plum in the finish, mixed with more of the cocoa. Just some light notes of alcohol, help to make this very drinkable. A solid brew that I would like to try again with a little age.

12 oz. bottle. Pours a dark brown color (ruby tinted when held to the light) with a larger foamy beige head. The aroma is nicely roasted, black coffee, earthy, with hints of dark chocolate. The flavor is again roasted malt, black coffee, and a bit of dark chocolate. The roast is more pronounced in the beginning. The finish is dry with a lingering bitterness. I can definitely see the 75 IBU’s. Medium bodied. I wouldn’t go out of my way to get this again, but it is a solid beer that met expectations.

Pours brown. Nose is earthy, dirt, some dark fruits and roasted malts. Flavor is heavy chocolate and coffee, roasted grain and floral hops. Fairly full bodied.