Russian River Beatification (Batch 002 +)

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

Bottle: Poured a bright golden color ale with some white hue and a generous pure white bubbly head with average retention and minimal lacing. Aroma of oak with some lactic sourness and some funky barnyard notes. Taste is quite complex with mix of sour lactic notes, some oak notes and some funky barnyard notes as well. I must admit that this is pretty close to some Lambic brewed in Belgium while lacking some complexity. Full body with great carbonation. I would love to have access to this on a regular basis.

37,5cl. Bright hazy golden, totally disappearing pale head. Tart, woody nose with urine, appley fruitiness, white currants, funk. Tart, acidic flavor with fresh apples and fruitiness, thou not as much as on the nose, not as exciting, little white vine in there too. Almost medium bodied, pretty low carbonation, puckering tartness. A great lambic styled beer, complex and refreshing.

Thanks to Odeed! I had fun figuring out what kind of crazy aromas and flavors are in this thing... Pours cloudy yellow with white head. Aromas and flavors of lemon, horse, mustard, peach, sweat, leather, musty barn, and sharp cheddar cheese. The mouthfeel is acidic and refreshing. Overall this is a nice rather crazy sour beer from RR!

Bottle. Pours a cloudy muted gold. Small, but foamy head. Aroma of lemon, grapefruit, slight spice, and urine. Flavor very tart. Starts with a lemon zing and progresses into a funky brett finish. Very good sour... but not my favorite.

Bottle at RnH Drink for Charity. Thanks to everyone who brought great beer to this. Pale yellow with head and alce. Horse balls hay lemon grass green grape aroma. Sweaty horse balls hay lemon melon hop tart funky dry finish. Effervescent yet soft mouthfeel. Incredible.

Thanks to Kevin and Karen for sharing this one. Really tart with a nice lemony zest to it. The citric undertones go beautifully with the pungent funky/sour thing. Me likey.

375mL bottle, batch 2, poured into a tulip. Pours an ever-so-slightly hazy golden orange with a creamy white head that settles in as a small cap fed by the bubbles continually streaming up from the bottom. Lacing is good. The aroma is a great mixture of tart and sweet fruits with a hint of funk. The tartness comes from lemons up front before the sweetness of pears and maybe apples come in as well as a hint of light malts. The funk is present but very, very faint. The taste turns the tartness and funk up a notch over the aroma. The initial blast on the tongue is a combination of tart lemons and vinegar acidity. The sweet fruits are there but it takes the beer warming up a bit before I can pick out the sweeter aspects with pears again coming through. The finish brings back the acidity and funk and leaves a puckering aftertaste. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with lots of carbonation and extremely crisp, clean and dry in the finish. Very white wine-like on the palate. This is another great sour from Russian River and while I probably don’t like it quite as much as some of their others, it’s still a solid beer.

Batch 002. I love Beatification! Straw colored pour with a nice white head. Really looks great in the glass. The aroma is lemon zest, earth notes, and definite woodiness. The flavor is much the same. This baby is fairly dry, with a great Brett presence. The sourness is up there--but not too over the top.