Jolly Pumpkin La Roja

La Roja Batch 2, 2009 from Siciliano’s Market, Grand Rapids, MI. Clear red with small to medium beige head and some lacing. Aroma is slightly oaky, sour, cherry. Flavor is oaky, cherry, some tannins, some chalk, earthy, bitternes. Medium to light body with light carbonation. Tasty, but needs age.

Bottle at Stone Sour Fest 09. Pours a clear copper color with no head. Aroma is fruity and spicy with some vinegar and funk. Flavor is not as complex as expected. Somewhat malty and fairly sour with some berries. Medium bodied with low carbonation.

Bottle. Pours deep copper coloured with a small but lasting light brown head. Tart cherry aroma with notes of wood, raspberries and spice. Tart flavour with notes of balsamic vinegar, cherries, spice, wood and caramel.

Bottle. Pours a deep cider brown to amber with a large pale brown head. Vinegar, spice, caramel, malty, oak, nice little tart funk, a bit of breadyness. A nice sour amber, different then most the Flanders styles I have had.

Clear amber of color with a foamy beige head. An aroma of earth, spice, sour, sweets and weak caramel. A flavor of spice, earth, weak sweets, sour and caramel.

Pours a mahogany amber with thick off-white head. Aroma strong of tart fruit, lots of dried fruit, strong malt, and spice. Flavor matches well and has a good puckering to it with a good vinegar feeling. Lies somewhere between rodenbach and grand cru in my book.

Bottle shared by plovmand. It pours an amber colour with a beige head. Nose is a little acidic with raisin, prune, and caramel notes. Flavour is bitter/sour with notes of caramel, raisins and somewhat rennet. It has a nice prune after taste with a tart hint.

Pours a murky amber with a nice head that settles thin. It smells winey/oaky and hints at sour fruit and I actually smell a bit of "unlit cigar" aroma. It is sour but not harshly so balanced with a slight sweetness; I taste lemon and cherry. Very enjoyable and a nice transition for a wine drinker like the rest of the Jolly Pumpkins!