Opinions on Jagged Mountain

Totally agree with this... they all taste like hoppy water... which is why I generally steer clear

 

you guys all say hoppy water like that's a bad thing. ISO hop water

 

Went about 2-3 weeks ago and despite their great location and nice taproom set-up I was unimpressed with the beer. The saisons tasted like lagers and their "big" beer on tap was fairly unremarkable. Will probably try again in a few weeks to see if it takes them a few months to figure their shit out like some of the others in town had to go through.

 

Only problem is that I think they've been open since November.

 

I've had a some pretty mixed impressions of them. First time I went in it was not so great, and I was treated as if I didn't understand beer... not exactly a great first impression. The black IPA was cloudy and tasted very very muddled lots of strange esters and bad clashes with the hops. The others that I tried were also sub par.

The second time it was pretty average, nothing exciting, but I was happy to see progress. The third time I was very impressed with everything that I tried. Had a fantastic IPA, can't remember off the top of my head the other two I had, but remember them being very good.

Then I just had them again at a festival (slue foot sue) and both beers were drain pours... really, really bad. I was pretty let down after my third experience I had figured they'd turned things around. Maybe it's a QC thing?? They seem very capable of putting out some amazing beers from my third experience, so I hope it's still just smoothing out the kinks.

 

I actually don't like it. Nothing I have tried was up to par. I think some people are dancing around it. They had issues when they first opened releasing beers too early, and it hasn't really gotten any better. We keep waiting for it to get better and it just isn't. And consistently everyone we talk to about it isn't impressed either. It's unfortunate because they are insanely nice people. But I don't recommend it. There are just far better offerings in Denver that are more worthy. Denver's beer game is so on point right now that there really isn't much room or time for this kind of mediocrity. I hope things change for them, but so far it's still blah.

 

Anyone have the BA First Descent?

 

How long has it been aging?

 

No clue, I'm not actually sure if it's BA or if they used oak staves, but they just tapped it yesterday and was one of Westword's (COBeerMan) favorite beers from last year.

 

I don't like that JM only have one beer under 6-7% abv every time I go. When I first visited them last year every beer was cloudy and honestly not very good. Mind you, they had maybe 4-5 beers on tap at that time and the majority were some sort of IPA. The second time I went back the beers cleared up, and things seemed to be better. I liked the saison and the people in my party seemed pleased with the rest of the lineup. My third visit was ok. I had their AIPA and it wasn't bad at all. I don't particularly like IPA's but there were certainly no off flavors or anything. I may visit again but it will definitely be for one beer. I can't have two beers there and except to go to another place or two w/o passing out. Yes, I'm a wimp. But I hate having the option of 4 IPA's out of a line up 5.

 

Just had it today. I have to say I'm pretty disappointed.
It was weak tasting and a bit bland.
For a 15+% ABV beer it was pretty smooth, it went down easy. But there was no real barrel presence. It did taste different than the standard FD, but I wouldn't have pegged it as the same beer but with a whiskey influence.

Another thing they did today that they didn't do the last time I was there, they denied a 2oz taster option for the FD and BA FD. You had to commit to 6oz or nothing.

So they decided it was a responsible idea to try and force 6oz of a 13-15+ ABV beer on someone instead of allowing them to just do a 2oz version. So if someone says "Hey 6oz is too much, but I still want to try it" ... too bad. Poor business sense. And poor cusomer relations.

I'm - unfortunately - coming around to the negative side of JM. I've only had 1 beer that I thought was great, GK. Regular FD was good, BA FD was good but not really much better than the regular. The lack of a small taster option for a high ABV beer is just plain stupid. Not to mention their newly released stout, Verglas was more hoppy than advertised. I hate hoppy stouts and my wife hates them more. That left nothing for us that was actually pleasurable at JM.

GL JM, you're gonna need it. I should have saved my Kickstarter donation.

 

I just got a message back from the JM guys and they at least seem open to constructive criticism. Maybe drop them a FB message with some specifics about what has turned you away from them.
If Genghis Khan wasn't so great, I probably wouldn't bother. But that one beer shows me they have a very high potential and they might just need to hear some constructive feedback from people who aren't "yes-ing" them to death.

 

What did they say?

 

Here's my initial message to them with their reply. I replied back with a big long rambling message, but I won't bore anyone with that.

From JM:

Sorry to hear you've been disappointed in our beer so far.
We've received some pretty high compliments since we've been open, and reviews/ratings of our place are consistent with other breweries in Denver - despite us being open not quite seven months - so we are a little befuddled on your comment that the "overall view isn't looking good" (occasional negative threads notwithstanding). We believe in continuous improvement, and our taproom, our beer, and our customer experience is something we strive to make better...so if something isn't right, we'd like to see if there is something we can do to make it right.

On that note, we have always been willing and open to have people sit down with us and discuss anything about our place or our beer with them. You - and anyone else - are invited to set up a time to sit down with us and talk about our beers in real time. All the beers are on us, and we'd really love to hear direct/specific feedback. If you hate something, let us know why. (Criticism on online forums like the one you linked tends to be general and does not often provide meaningful feedback.)

Anyway, let's please find a time to meet, and see if we can turn this into something positive!

Cheers, RJ, Randy, and Wayne

 

I feel like most of the comments in this thread were constructive feedback on WHY we think this way about JM. I'm sure they have received pretty high compliments since they've been open, but there are a lot of people that enjoy basic, not full-flavor or well done beer. I'd say that most people posting on this forum care about quality, well crafted beer. It sounds like we all had high expectations for them and are starting to lose faith in them. Maybe I held the Kuhnhenn/Bell's connection a little too high in my mind. But it sounds like they're willing to sit down with people and talk about our feedback…maybe we can set something up with them to talk. I find it kind of sad/scary that they aren't aware or more in tune with what we're seeing.