Russian River Beatification (Batch 002)

Sour funky aroma of cheese & feet came off the bronze fluid. Flavors of pure solid funk with relentless sourness. Riding alongside was notes of white grape and cheese. This beer is superbly clean and full blown sour...Its nice to have some funkiness for a change, though I think the funk needs to be a little more chunky to make this beer perfect.

Batch 002. Pours a slightly hazy gold with hardly any head or lacing. Aroma of pineapple, citrus, tangerine, sourness, some sort of caramalized sweetness and a bit of oak. Taste is a bit buttery and woody, with wuite a bit of lemon sour tartness. Puckeringly dry. Like a much less complex Belle Proximous.

Bottle, Batch 002. Head is initially small, fizzy, white, mostly diminishing. Body is hazy dark yellow, bottle conditioned. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain), moderately yeasty (barnyard, horseblanket), with notes of sour apple, lemon zest. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately to heavily acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately to heavily acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Much closer to a gueuze than batch 1...in fact, in a blind tasting I might even guess it *was* a gueuze. Excellent stuff.

Rating # 400! Thanks kmweaver. What an unusual, unique and delightful beer. My first taste of a Russian River product. Hazy yellow ale with a small, creamy, white head. Aroma of barnyard funk, brett, with a little lemony citrus. The flavors are oustanding - the grapefruit is incredibly bold and up front. Very sour, but it comes across as predominately citric and lactic with minimal acetic qualities. More grape skins and peppery oak. Leathery brett comes through in the finish, as well as some sharp, aged cheese. The finish is extremely long and complex. Just gotta finish by saying WOW!

Rating #1100! Enjoyed out on the boulevards. I’ve been holding onto this one for awhile. Pours a cloudy mustard color yellow with a white head that lingers. What a nose on this sour. Sour sour. Oak, lemons, cherries are the first elements with earth and an almost wheaty funk coming through. Within a short time this becomes rich and winey to balance out all of that sourness. Green grapes, grape skins and a sugary sweetness. The sourness on the tongue exceeds that of the nose and isn’t quite as balanced in richness. Crazy lactic acid, funky, oak, lemons, tart cherries, cherry pits, oranges, and grapes with an earthy herbal note. The fruit, earthiness, and oak together come off as leathery, which I’d like to taste a little more above the sourness. Finishes with a sour earthiness and slight funkiness. This is almost a geuze, and almost too sour and lemony to reach the mind blowing territory that this yearns for. None the less, an really damn good beer.