Russian River Beatification (Batch 002 +)

Brewed by Russian River Brewing
Style: Sour Ale
Santa Rosa, California USA

Bottle: Thanks SQNFan! Pours a hazy light golden with a bubbly white head. Aroma is funky and musty with sharp brett notes, lemon rind, oak, leather, sharp cheese, just tons of funk. Creamy/frothy feel with a sharp acidity. Lots of lactic sharpness and lemony acidity. Acetic/ vinegar notes, sour apple skins, earthy oak tannins and a very subtle brief sweet note, followed by a solid dry finish. Complex and funky. Good stuff.

Hazy straw colored with a white short lived head. Woody horse blanket aroma with apple, pear and loose leaf paper. Extremely tart with juicy grapefruit and citrus rind. Has some eucalyptus. Maybe a little thin in body. Dry puckeringly sour finish. Great beer, though I liked the 001 a little better. Really an amazing accomplishment.

(Bottle 37,5 cl) Courtesy of WeeHeavySD. Slightly hazy pale golden with a small creamy white head. Distinct sour Brett aroma - it really hits you. Medium body, a little low in carbonation, quite fruity and then again distinct Brett with the usual notes of horse blanket and fart. Astringent sour finish. 220608

Poured a hazed yellow with a medium white head. The aroma has a citrus tartness and a mild leathery funk. The flavor matched but with some woody notes. Dry finish on a light body. Nice carbonation on the tongue. Tasty stuff.

A well-aged batch 003, courtesy JMFG, confirms everything I rated below and then some. This is, without a doybt, one of the best American-made sour brews out there, and as worthy an attempt at Belgian style lambic as you will find. Fantastic beer. Original rating follows.

Rating #1100. Batch 002. Pours a hazy, glowing, golden tangerine color. The head is small and quickly fleeting, leaving just a tiny, bubbly, pure white ring around the edge. Minimal, sudsy spotting noted. The aroma comes as close to a true Belgian gueuze lambic as anything I’ve ever encountered here in the U.S. Sour notes of lemon, grapefruit, and tangelo hit first, followed immediately by funky barnyard notes, dust, and oak. Flavors are mouth puckering and downright sour, perhaps the most sour of Vinnie’s creations that I’ve tasted to date. Grapefruit and lemon dominate, with wild must and screeching acetic acids simply lighting the palate up. Medium bodied, lightly carbonated, and nearly bone dry, this is a refreshing, yet powerful beer. Clean. Intense. Fantastic.

Bottle thanks to gunhaver: Pours a transparent deep golden yellow with a wispy-lacing white head. Aroma of lightly sweet biscuity malts and funky leathery tartness complexity. Body starts with good fullness and carbonation with nice sour funky cheesy complexity before a crisp, tart puckering finish. Nicely balanced and quite complex. Another good brew from Russian River.

Bottle sampled at Ebenezer, generously offered by Chris Lively. Cloudy yellow color with a sparkling white head. The aroma has a strong presence of brett, fruits, sourness and there’s a musty feeling, it feels very close to a lambic. Excellent flavor of brett, sourness, fruits, again it feels musty and this is as close to a lambic a beer can be without having been brewed in the Payottenland. The body is light with a creamy texture and lively carbonation. Awesome.

sampled with the phoenix crew...

hazy golden straw color with a small white head which fades quickly to nothing. immediately smells very dry and tart... dusty, yeast, black pepper numbing, some savory woodiness and country time lemonade mix? i assume this to be lemon/grapefruit pith and some mineral-y notes. there is little to no malt sweetness on the palate... mmm. VERY dry, lemon, yeast, grass, a slight bitterness and herbaceous qualities in the flavor. once again, very tart and dry. medium body with a parching mouth feel.

even the water used to rinse the glass is tart and dry...