Funk Metal
Jester King Brewery

 

 

 

Jester King Brewery 'Funk Metal' @ 9.5% , served from a 750 ml bottle
A-pour is cola brown from the bottle to almost black in the glass with a small tan head , dissipating into a spotty lace along the tulip
S-BA stout meets wild ale
T-sour , tart , complex
MF-fizzy carbonation , full bodied
Ov-interesting beer
prost LampertLand

 

Draft pour. Poured pitch black with a layer of brown head. Aroma was spectacular with notes of cherries, chocolate, oak, tannins, and red wine. The taste is just the same, lots of tart cherries, oak, chocolate, leather, and of course vinous notes of red wine. It’s sour but doesn’t distract from all the complex flavors I’m picking up. Mouthfeel is medium to full body. Not really any acidic harshness like other sours. Overall, surprised considering the rating. Much better than I expected!!

 

 

 

 

The beer pours a nice looking brown head that dissipates at a moderate pace but doesn't do so all the way and leaving some on the surface. The beer itself has a nice chocolate black color to it.

The smell is very good and enjoyable. It has a good funk note to it along with a decent cherry tartness to it. The stout notes are comparatively weaker compared to the wild ale notes since they are either covered or blended into. There is a good wood notes that mixes with wild ale notes while the roasted and chocolate notes barely come out.

The taste is also very good. The beer has a good tart note that mixes well with a light cherry and a good wood note. The stout notes are once again muted with a light sweet chocolate in the finish.

The feel is good. It has a medium body to and fairly fluffy carbonation. There is also a nice lightly acidic finish.

Overall, this is definitely a good. The blend of different notes that manage to stay distinct and noticeable while blending well and supporting each other.

 

Poured from 750ml bottle into glass. Identified on label as 'Blend #9 -March 2018'. Alc/Vol 9.5%.

"Down below heavy clouds, swollen and green with electric rain, the two-grinned snake waves at us in arrhythmic symphony. We dance up the leg of a star dusted mountain; from its summit, our souls are projected into the darkness of the universe as scattered laser light beams. We seek the taste of eternity. You dig?"

Dark cola colored body, no light leaks through. A finger of tan, creamy head forms upon pouring, and sticks around as thick cap. Leaves behind some irregular shapes of lacing.
Aroma has dark roasted malts and chocolate, with sour notes intruding.
Taste is a sour expression of tasty stout with dark roasted malts. Cherry in the sour and chocolate in the stout. Oak and slight char. Funk is minimal, but the finish is dry.
Has a bifurcated mouth feel, with the sour seeming to be cooler in temperature and flowing faster, and the stout seeming to be warmer in temperature and flowing slower. This must be a sensation based on the smell and flavors. Good carbonation. Smooth mouth feel but an abrupt dry finish.
This beer expresses as described on the label - as a sour barrel-aged stout. I like the beer a lot. The components blend so well together, even though the blend is perceived as two or more separate flows working together. The appearance looks like a stout but the head and slight garnet hint at something else, and the flavor and taste brings out all aspects of the differing active components.

Thanks to Daemose for sending this one! Reviewed from notes. 2013 vintage bottle, consumed 9.23.18. Poured from a 750 mL bottle into an El Catador Barrel-Aged glass.

A: Very dark brown, with maybe a reddish undertone. Nearly opaque. Forms a half-finger of dense tan head with good retention. Fairly low amount of visible carbonation.

S: Chocolate and dry tobacco. Milder malic acid and sour cherries. Some oak, and a touch of char that I wonder if from the barrel or the malts. Nice, not overly sour and I get no acetic character on the nose at all, which is a frequent interloper for the “sour stouts” in my experience.

T: Dark roasted malts, sour dark cherries and the malic tartness without coming across as overly acidic. Some citric lemony tart, dark chocolate malts, and the mild char. Oak tannin dryness in the back end. Maybe a mild Lactobacillus and Pediococcus funk – but it stays fairly low. Citric and malic acid tartness linger after the swallow.

M: A fairly light body for anything calling itself a stout – perhaps this would have been better labeled as a “dark sour”. The malts are roasted, but this just doesn’t have the body to be a stout. Low alcohol presence. Fairly low carbonation sensation, but certainly not flat.

O: This loses some points with me in regards to the body. Otherwise, this was pretty good. Not much funk to speak of – not in any significant manner anyway. But I enjoy the absence of the acetic acid, and the sour/tart flavors are well-balanced with the roasted malts, which is nice. Good, but not great.

 

 

 

I love Jester King but this is a bit of the pour man's Tart of Darkness, but maybe that is actually a complement as tart of darkness is amazing an unique and this is the only thing that has come close. A bit too much astringent bitterness from the dark chocolate malt which doesn't jive with the sour side.

 

Looks like a stout with the prettiest deep red head I’ve ever seen.

Decently sour and yet there is a stout feel.

Extremely unique and enjoyable