Mad River Serious Madness Black Ale
Part of our limited release high gravity series
celebrating our twentieth anniversary (1989 to 2009)
Serious Madness Black Ale (An American Strong Ale) is a high gravity black beer built on a foundation of our house Two-Row Pale Malt augmented with North American Specialty Malts & German Carafa, fermented with our signature ale yeast.
This black ale is bittered with Magnum hops, flavor and aromatics are enhanced by Hallertau and Tettnanger with Willamette hops utilized for added aroma in the hop back.
This beer is inky black with amber edges, light bodied, silky smooth, complex and delicious...
Not for the meek and timid. Best served at 45 degrees in a snifter.
celebrating our twentieth anniversary (1989 to 2009)
Serious Madness Black Ale (An American Strong Ale) is a high gravity black beer built on a foundation of our house Two-Row Pale Malt augmented with North American Specialty Malts & German Carafa, fermented with our signature ale yeast.
This black ale is bittered with Magnum hops, flavor and aromatics are enhanced by Hallertau and Tettnanger with Willamette hops utilized for added aroma in the hop back.
This beer is inky black with amber edges, light bodied, silky smooth, complex and delicious...
Not for the meek and timid. Best served at 45 degrees in a snifter.
3.6
259 reviews
Blue Lake, United States
Community reviews
OK, another faddish beer like IPA, black IPA, heheh, none the less. This stuff is a tort feazor. Bigblack beer with a weird strong malty aroma. This stuff rototills over any girlie or baby taste buds you thought you may have, mulls them rightover, wew. Big fricken hairy deal. Strong ass kicken beer that does not hide from its purpose; to make you dizzy. Surprizingly large amount off sediment in the bottom of this bottle. Strong rude and nasty, terribly on style for an imperial black ipa. Long nasty bitter finish augmented by some burnt roastiness. Mouth coating oily thing makes me think of old used 50w shovelhead oil, heheh.
Bottle thanks to somebody, rating from my backlog. The smell is malts, roast, and burnt toast. The look is brown in color, clear, with a beige colored head. The taste is caramel, malts, burnt, and toast.
Bottle from 16 Tons Taphouse, Eugene. Pours a murky dark brown, lots of particulate, slight amount of tan head. Aroma is nice, rich, roasty, maybe some chocolate. Body thick, rich, and slippery. Finish is a bit roasty, a bit of bitterness, dark chocolate notes. My kind of beer.
BBOTMC. Pours dark clear brown with a huge fluffy tan head, aroma of chocolate, nuts, fruity tones, marmalade, flavor is roasted with some toast, chocolate, slightly smoky, orange, medium bodied, nice
Black pour, though clear enough to see floaties, under a thick foamy light tan head. Nose of toasted malt, a little molasses, and a faint roasty caramalt. Flavor is smooth while being a mix of roasty and creamy. Lots of black malt with a little caramel sweetness and toasted grains, with some noble european hop bitterness. Subtle, yet bold. A bit simplistic, but magnificent in its simplicity of roasty darkness.
Pours black with a medium tan head. Aroma is a perfect blend of molasses and dark malts with a faint peppery spice. Taste is an awesome blend of hops and dark malts - really balanced. Hops and milk chocolate hit you first in the palate followed by a light maple syrup and slowly fading to a bitter finish. Impressive flavor profile!
Bottle. Better Beer Of The Month Club. Black-colored with a big, somewhat creamy, tan head. Roasty aroma with dark chocolate, dark fruits notes and some piney hops, a bit subdued. Bittersweet roasty flavor with chocolate, cocoa, fruity notes, and a moderately bitter finish with coffee, some piney and herbal hops and a light ashy touch afterwards. Medium-bodied. Nice.
Ah, the big debate raging: to what extent is it a stout/porter? Well, it’s different, but one can be forgiven for the comparison. The pour shows it to be as thick as a stout--quite rich in the body and head. I had a lot of floaties in there, which was the only thing that detracted from the appearance. The aroma is very rich with chocolate, coffee, and a bit of toffee, and in the flavor there were some distinctive licorice notes. There was a bitter, slightly astringent, metallic edge to it, mid-finish. Interesting German hops. Quite good. I would like to have this on draft, assuming they didn’t keep it too cold. Bottle.
Just had one of these. Not exactly a stout or porter but pretty tasty. Mad River hasn’t disappointed me yet. Lots of darkness in this one. Taste of roasted malt, maybe some coffee and chocolate, and cherry and/or figs. They recommend serving at 45f but I enjoyed it more on the warmer side. Having said all that, I prefer their stout and porter over this one.
My Bottom Line :
Cafe latte, chocolate and rising resins converge in this smooth and wealthy strong ale.
Further Personal Perceptions :
-A sheet of foam settles atop the darkness.
-Hazelnut oil evokes a creature in the Imperial Brown Ale range.
-The finish is rather easygoing (for a strong brew of this ilk, mind you).
-Alcohol is well hidden.
Bottle.
Clear black with ruby highlights and a big tan head. Aroma of roast, caramel, red wine, plums in syrup, cherries. Taste of roast, coffee, and cherries. Roasty and very coffee-y finish. Despite all the roast and coffee going on, this is very much not a stout/porter. It IS, however, quite good.
This one is good, really good. Think hoppy porter or stout. Or a porter/stout-IPA hybrid. Fabulous coffee-centric melt base, with a good dollop of hoppy bitterness. Just splendid. A-
Bottle from South Bay Drugs: Created a large pillow of fluffy head while the liquid is a solid black color. The aroma has plenty of fragrant roasted malt with a coffee bean and chocolate scented presence. Flavor is strong in freshly ground coffee bean and has a resemblance to Arabic coffee, but there are also note worthy flavors of nicely roasted malts that allow the drinker to cherish them more then other black ales. Good idea about putting this into a four pack because I was on my third one and really felt the alcohol kick in.
Bottle at Papsø.
Clear red-brown coloured with a medium sized beige head.
Sweet amnd fruity aroma of caramel, dried fruits, hops and chocolate.
Fruity flavour of caramel, hops and grass with notes of chocolate.
Fruity finish.
12 fl oz bottle. Pours clear and golden deep amber with a small tan head. Aroma is hoppy, light soapy and grapefruity. Bitter, soapy and dry grapefruity finish.
Bottle at Papsoe.
Dark brown colour with a small beige head. Aroma and flavour of malt, chocolate, vanilla, caramel and dried fruit.
Bottle 35,5 cl. Pours a dark brown with a reddish hue and a small, off-white head. Lightly roasty nose. Rich body, fairly sweet malts, soft carbonation, subtle roast and a little hops. Decent if not exactly overly challenging. 260713
A great black ale. Pours a muddy brown-black with a thick tan head. Smells like chocolate covered fruit, mainly cherries. Taste is he same upfront, lots of chocolate covered fruit, very creamy, some hops in the end, and an ice cream aftertaste, almost like a Guinness float. Love the finish. Very nice! Had on tap it East Side Club Tavern in Olympia, Washington.
Acquired from hayduke. Thanks Ron! It poured a dark brown color with a brown head. The aroma was of roasted malt and burnt molasses. The taste was of sweet maltiness with caramel, toffee, vanilla and hints of raisins and some figs. Very well done.
Pours a four finger dark cream head that fades slowly leaving traces of lace. Black color, no highlights. Light-medium carbonation and medium bodied. Baked chocolate nose and flavor is baked chocolate with some roasted coffee, almost a porter. Higher ABV hidden. 12oz bottle, from Gift Specialists Oceanside, California.
Rated in 2010 (Backlog) - Brown in color with an average sized beige head. Aroma is of roasted malt. Taste is the same.
Brown pour. Small tan head. No lacing. Roasty aroma of malt. Taste is pretty much the same. Nice and roasty. Very good.
Bottle at home. Pours lightly particulate black with a medium, frothy tan head, short retention with good lacing. Aroma is earthy, minty, and pine hops, roast and caramel malt with plums and dates. Flavor is heavy hops and bitterness with dark bitter malt, dark fruits and a dry finish. Full body and medium carbonation.
A rich dark brown color. Light smells of soft chocolate. Rich chocolate taste with a light nut and cream flavors adding in, Very enjoyable and smooth. Palate left with a slight chocolate residue.
Poured brown black with a beige head. Aroma of sweet citrus piney hops. The taset is classic black IPA fullness of flavor of roasty pine. Better than average. Would easily grab another bottle if I had one.
Pours an opaque brownish black from the bottle with thin cap of lacy tan head that leaves moderate webbing. Aroma of roasted malts and a nice bitter citrus back. Taste follows, bitterness falls off quickly and a nice piney back end. Pretty solid, kind of like a black IPA.
Okay, I mostly like what is going on here. Sort of like a black ipa with a little extra malt. Smooth as hell and full of sediment. Pretty spot on for Mad River--not great, certainly not terrible.
Not a bad dark beer, smooth, sweet, decent dark ale but no thing to brag about, los angeles
black color, aroma of roasted malts, caramel, pine hops, same flavors, chocolate, smoke, med to full body, smooth texture, pretty good
Pours nearly black with a quick brown head.
Aroma of dark fruit, licorice, coffee.
Flavour is roasty, espresso bitter.
Slight herbal hoppiness....rough smoke...
Strong flavours, not quite as smooth as I’d prefer.