Mad River Serious Madness Black Ale
Mad River Serious Madness Black Ale
Rated 3.385 by BeerPals
Brewed by Mad River Brewing Company
Blue Lake, CA, United States Style: American Black Ale
8.6% Alcohol by Volume
75 International Bittering Units
Availability of this beer is unknown
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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 this beer ferments out at a gratifying 8.6% ABV and 74.7 IBU’s. Best served at 45 degrees in a snifter.
ID: 35410 Last updated 1 month ago Added to database 15 years agoKey Stats
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Drunk10
Reviews0
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Statistics
| Overall Rank | 8855 |
| Overall Percentile | 91.9 |
| Style Rank | 137 of 1001 |
| Style Percentile | 86.3 |
| Lowest Score | 2.6 |
| Highest Score | 4.0 |
| Average Score | 3.500 |
| Weighted Score | 3.385 |
| Standard Deviation | 0.427 |
Rating Distribution
Beer vs Style
10 Member Reviews
Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8
Fair amount of carbonation. Reminded me of root beer once it was poured into my glass. Roasty malt flavor with a backbone of alcohol. Roastyness lasts in palate for a bit after drinking. Not necessarily something I’m going to search out, but still enjoyed it nonetheless.
Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8
On tap at Toronado
Appearance: Pours a dark brown, almost black, with a nice tan head and some lacing
Aroma: Roasted malts, pine & grassy
Taste: Roasted malts, coffee, bittering hops
Very nice.Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8
Pours dark brown with amber edges and tan head. The modest aroma has roasted malts mixing with a bit of dark fruitiness and more malts. The taste is big and malty starting with both malty sweetness and several layers of robust roasty malts. After a moment of roasty malt contemplation notes of caramel and molasses come to the surface. It gets thick with malts that grow even stronger into the finish with an assist from burnt maltiness. One malty brew.
Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8
Jet blackness in color. Bif tan frothy head rises above. There's excellant hang time on this one. Settles eventually into thick ringlet and splotches of film. The nose is a singular dimension of roasted malt. More complex in the tasting is a nice dance of roasted malt and earthy hops. Thick bodied and creamy. It is what I enjoy.
Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6
12oz bottle. Pours a dark brown black with a thick creamy tan head that foes to a thin film and leaves some lacing.
The aroma is subdued - roasted chocolate malts with some dark fruits.
The flavor is a lot of roast - some chocolate and coffee, with a big acidic bitter roast finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and slightly watery.
Overall, it's an OK, very roasty black ale.Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8
I never had any beef with Mad River. Actually only sampled a few times....so when I saw this on clearance for $1 figured it was a "no lose" proposition....especialy for 8.6%. It probably is a little past the best buy date. Tastes decent though. Good malty flavors with some bitterness at the end. The balance isn't the greatest...good enough though to get an 8 rating on flavor. Not as thick as a stout or porter. I've been getting into black ales lately, and this is one that I would try again.
Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 3
Bought two 4 packs around New Year up in Oregon. I like the brewery, and had some high hopes. Looked fine, smelled right,went down hill on the mouth feel. Black, nasty, and loaded for a bad next day. All who drank this black barf said never again. I agree.
Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7
Dark brown body with a creamy tan cap. Aroma is roasted malts, black walnuts, and creamed coffee. Light coffee/cocoa on the palate with a earthy hop finish. Dark fruits and some Red Ropes come out as well. Hops defnitely takes a back seat to the malts and alcohol.
Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7
leaves an impression like an imperial black lager. pours lighter than a stout, like a black ale should. aroma is lots of roasted malt and hops. feel is medium-full...fuller than i thought it would be, but a little too much carbonation. goes down warm. the flavor is pretty stinkin good. loads of roasted choclate malt, coffee, hops...dry bittersweet finish. nice beer.
Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7
Tasted during the Nor Cal Beer Geek Tasting on 3/11/2009. This ASA pours a deep black color from a 12oz bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head. The aroma is roasted malt, a touch of chocolate and some hops. A medium bodied Strong Ale. The malts are roasty and dark. The hops are spicy and floral. Nice carbonation. Nice chocolate flavors. It reminds me of a schwartzbier on steroids. Hides the alcohol very well. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.
