Russian River Beatification (Batch 001)

Formerly brewed at Russian River Brewing
Style: Sour Ale
Santa Rosa, California USA

375 ml bottle of Batch 001. Blonde/copper color with a small head. The aroma is musty like a cellar with plenty of funky, sourness going on as well. Some fruit comes through in the aroma...a bit of ruby red grapefruit perhaps. The flavor has a pleasant degree of sourness and tartness with a bit of pithy lemon. It is light bodied and very refreshing. Delicious beer. Great work Vinnie, as usual.

From a bottle that hey_kevin shared at a tasting. The body was dark orange with a slightly off white head. The aroma was beautiful balsamic vinegar with some grass and hay. There was also a nice floral note. The taste is fairly tart with some floral notes and definite medicinal or band aid phenols. The finish was very dry and clean. The mouthfeel was soft and that made this refreshing. I have only had a few from RR, but all have depely impressed me with originality and quality.

Documenting my Beatification journey:

Day 1: Checked out the RR website for the first time in ages. See something called "beatification." What the hell is that, I think. $10 a bottle + shipping, screw that.

Day 5: Beatification all gone. Didn’t even bat an eyelid.

Day 30: Beatification hits top 50.

Day 40: People notice Beatification in top 50. ISOs begin to pour in. People offer arm, leg in trade. Arm, leg accepted.

Day 60: Stragglers still begging. Feeling stupid for not ordering it when I had the chance. Never even bothered posting an ISO, due to the hard times and ridiculous hauls others were offering.

Day 120: Long since given up.

Day 200: Footbalm posts "ISO Weyerbacher Heresy." I respond saying hey, is that Beatification actually for trade?

Day 220: Beatification batch PH1 sits in front of me, ready to be rating #700. Time to open it.

First Impressions: Very fizzy-headed pour. Lively. Loud pop of the cork. The first real American lambic, it seems... actually has full, unadulterated sour and barnyard qualities, and not really sweetish, mellow, or smooth like most flemish sours. Perhaps maybe I’d put it at the halfway point between a lambic and a sour.

notes: Complex, sour and fruity aroma. Oak, strawberry, hay, green apple, a touch of minerals. The head is quickly gone, with not even a ring left. Pour is very murky, even more so with the slight dregs from the bottom of the bottle. Flavor is a bit softer on the palate, peaches and cream underlaying potent rice vinegar, young white wine, vanilla bean ice cream. Fizzy up front, mellow in the finish. Extremely pleasant, and can stand ground with some of the world’s classic Gueuzes. Thanks, footbalm!

Thanks Tom! This was batch PH1. Pouring this beer it sure dont look like much, golden color, white head blah blah. Then you smell it, from across the room. Cherries, lots of sour cherries. Oak, wine like acidity to the nose, funk, brett. Drinking this the sour hits first, its not mixed with the brett, but are present in different stages. The brett seems to hit after the sour, and finishes with just a small bit of sweetness at the end, like a sweet wine perhaps.

Bottle at the Milwaukee YeHA provided by CaptainCougar! Batch PH1. Poured a clear medium-golden with a short cap of white head. Nose picked up sour, funky barnyard notes with airy cherries, light fruits, oak, and some dust. Very sour in the flavor department with Brett funkiness, mild cherry, and barnyard notes.. left a sweetness at the finish.. intriguing. Sour and huge on the palate!.. funky and long-lived.. couldn’t feel much better. Thanks Tom!

(Bottle 37,5 cl) Courtesy of Sliffy. Very unclear amber golden with a small, off-white head. Distincly sour and somewhat rotten (in a positive sense!) aroma. Medium body with a distinct Brett-like sourness with noble rot. Not really any bitterness but acidic all the way through. Much closer to a Gueuze than to a Flemish Sour. Interesting indeed. 191206

An unclear orange beer with a thin off-white head. The aroma is sweet yet at the same time acidic with primary notes of wood. The flavor is acidic with notes of wood and grapefruit. Leading to a dry acidic end, where the notes of wood still lingers around.

Ph1. Hazed, opaque and murky, pale sun-kissed orange in color with beady pin points lining the wrung. Tenderly tart aroma is accented by lemon juice seeping into lime cobbler, with the oils oozing into oak. Fruit chews are in aromatic mastery, and mandarin saturating into wood keeps the smile pasted on the lips as they press onward. Sweet, mulled lemon juice flavor slips down the oak, previously saturated with chardonnay grape drippings. A flavor pedestal stands in the middle of a heartland prairie with just enough tart grease on it for piping pinot grapes to cling to it in the wind. Balsamic is segmented for its altruistically sweet and sourdough christened traits. Charming, medium-bodied and naturally lemon spirited greetings on their way out. Beautiful. Many thanks, Tom!