Russian River Beatification (Batch 001)

Eric... what else can I possibly say but thanks! I am ever grateful for this, one of my most sought after beers. Thanks.

375ml. Batch 001. Gentile first pour yields a glowing and absolutely radiant clear, bright, copper/gold liquid with virtually no head and just the smallest appearance of carbonation. Aroma yields loads of tart acicity. Moldy tropical fruit. Wet dog. Foot and BO. Aged cheesy stank. Very light barnyard impression. Musty, acidic basement? The citrus component and funk of the brett and wood really play off each other wonderfully. Doughy, champagne-like yeasty malt quality. Wet rocks and gravel. Shit, I could smell this all day. Acidic, tart and rather minerally on the palate. Tart pineapple, plenty of wood tannin. Acidic, horsey, funky and damn near gueuze-like. As with the nose, the citrus, barrel and yeast aspects all melt together rather seamlessly. The malt component really reminds me of a doughy and bready Champagne, a la Bollinger. Plenty of spritzy carbonation all leading to a fantastically dry, funky, earthy, acidic and rocky finish.

With the yeast added the nose becomes a lot more musty and dank, losing a lot of the citrus component and adding a wholly wonderful layer of cheesy, animal, barnyard funk. Cheesier and moldier on the palate as well. The wood seems to come out more as well. Acidity is toned down on the finish, but the flavor and tangy yeast linger on the tongue for quite a while. Most excellent, but I prefer the bright tang and acidity of the top half of the bottle. Regardless, this a true world class example of the sour ale style and ranks up there with the best of them. Thanks again Eric!

GABF 2007. My first notes: "wow, sour bomb." And that’s a good thing. Notes of apple, pear, and sweet oak in the finish after the rush of mouthwatering acid. Smell is pretty straightforward for a sour beer, but me likey. Needs carbonation, so the feel suffers a bit, but the flavor is out of this world.

001, PH1. Light orange color with ample foam. Smells of bugs and critters, cobweb, damp barn, horse blanket, lemon and soaked wood. Flavor is strongly sour, super intense and woody, funky, wild and loaded with lemon and other fruits notes. Obviously a terrific and expertly crafted beer, but not one I’d like to collect. Supplication will always be my favorite Russian River brew.

Batch 001, not the PH1 though. Poured out a yellow orange color with a white head that quickly dissipated, but left bits of lacing. Smell was sour and vinegar-like; it had barnyard funk as well, but not as powerful, full of pleasant sour aromas. The taste seems to have a bit of lemon and oak beneath the strong sour flavors. I’m not real experienced with Wild Ales, but this one just tasted awesome. It also had tastes of vinegar and ends up with a dry, sour finish. Lighter side of medium body with a dry finish; carbonation is rather high. This is definately one of the better beers I’ve had and has changed my mind on what sour beers can be. I would definitely drink this again, unfortunately I’ll have to wait until the next batch comes out.

batch ph1. huge thanks to KP who sent this to me as part of the perfect 10 swap from awhile back....been waiting awhile to try this and decided to bust this one out side by side with batch 2....poured a cloudy orange brown considerably darker than batch 2. a thin soapy white head topped it off....a woody, musty really smoothened out aroma with a lot of splendid oak qualities and the perfect degree of balance between tart and dryness..... wood, mustiness with fair amounts of oak goes well with the tartness and remains perfectly balanced. age has done this one some good.