Day 51 (9/13/2011): La Roja by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales

A very tasty, if entirely different sour ale. It pours much darker than I'm used to for a sour, with an off white head. You can see how lively this is from the bubbles streaming from bottom to top like sparkling wine.

It actually smells more funk than sour, with notes of cherry, oak, wild yeast, with the malt present in a bread scent. The taste is pretty darn sour up front, but transitions into a slightly sweeter cherry/malt middle and end. As it warms, the carbonation fades a little bit and fruit and oak emerges. My bottle was very, very highly carbonated. When I opened it I lost a bit to gushing. The body is maybe a tad lighter than medium and you can't taste the booze in this at all.

This is a very, very good beer. It is widely available in Cincinnati and is relatively affordable (at least for a sour ale) at $12-13 a 750ml bottle. I can not wait to try some other Jolly Pumpkin beers. I give La Roja by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales an A-.

Style: Sour/wild ale
Beer Advocate: B+
Ratebeer: 98/87