Russian River Beatification (Batch 001)

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.

Bottle at Chris_O’s 19th April 2008 tasting, courtesy of Phil_L. Murky blonde with a sour white wine aroma. The flavour is woody, sour, tart yet with hop bitterness too. An interesting beer that I was very glad to try, but I won’t profess to being a fan of the style. Yet.