Jolly Pumpkin - Madrugada Obscura, Dark Dawn Stout

Madrugada Obscura, Dark Dawn Stout
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Dexter, Michigan
8.10% ABV

C. Super Dark
H. Black
N. Really has the nose of a sour beer, very light stout qualities

Eduardo: First a warning for those of you that have never opened a Jolly Pumpkin. There is a very high probably of getting a gusher. I don't remember opening one of their bottles that didn't overflow on me.
This is a Belgian style stout which is unusual for them. All of their stuff is more or less sour, barrel aged, bottle conditioned beers. Their labels and artwork are great. Their beers are reasonably priced. I am disappointed with the lack of product making it to South Florida through Shelton Brothers and Fresh Beer.
The beer poured black with a massive head. The nose on this beer had similar characteristics to other Jolly Pumpkin beers. I get light smoke and a medium roastiness on the palate. It interplays nicely with the sour notes. Nice complexity. It is a medium body beer due to the high carbonation. I like the mouth feel.
This beer works for me. I'm digging. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to the traditional Russian imperial stout fan. I'd buy it again. I'd like to see Jolly Pumpkin follow this up with some more darker style beer. Maybe something like a Belgian IPA.
Score: 3.71

The Ferm: This bottle and just about every other bottle of Jolly Pumpkin I have ever had needs to be recategorized as an "explosive". I opened the bottle ever so slightly and this is what it did for about five minutes.....

Well once I got past the frustration of the 4th grade volcano project in my sink we dug into the beer. This was an AMAZING stout. The flavor of this beer was crazy, it had the sour punch at the attack and then followed through with stout qualities. While I expected the carbonation to be off it actually wasn't, perfect carbonation led to the beer dancing a little on your tongue but it didn't take away from the enjoyment of the beer. This beer is listed a "stout" on several sites, and according to that I would have to say it is my favorite stout to this day. I will definitely buy and share this bottle again!
Score: 4.881

Overall: 4.2955