Russian River Compunction

Growler carefully hauled back from California by Ken’s better half. Straw colored clear body from a first careful pour sits underneath a medium to large bubbled white head. Instant acidic nose of cider vinegar, honey, straw, and mild dried peach and apricot skin/rind. There’s a tremendously high level of acidity in this beer, sharp and vinegar-like, like a Flemish red, but without the typical cherry/cedar/nut Flemish red flavors. It’s prickly, bright, corrosive, assertive and then it shows it’s fruity side - dried peach skin, sweet and oily apricot and fruit cocktail juice, but then that’s once again destroyed in the next sip by a stinging acidity, and it’s really nice how both of these qualities, the acidity and the sweet fruit, stay nearly completely separate. It’s like drinking two beers one after another. Overall it’s a very, very nice beer, well-made and flawless in execution, if not the most deep or complex Belgian blonde/golden recipe used as a base, but the plouts certainly help. The sourness and acidity, though, is spectacularly executed.

Growler, courtesy of my wife. Thanks, Ali! Pours a hazy, orange-apricot color; thin white head with patchy lacing. Loads of tartness, funk (cobwebs; horseblanket, but mostly cobwebby more than anything too earthy and spicy), tart apricots / peaches, and pleasantly acidic aroma; some white wine grapes and lively, spritzy grapefruit; just a great, intricate aroma. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: loads of tart, zesty grapefruit and citrus rind and apricot; gorgeous fruit character at the core of things, not overshadowed by the tart, funky edges; solid levels of carbonation, clenching tartness, biting acidity, and surprisingly developed funk and brett. Just an excellent balance of tart apricots and lambic-like funk, brettiness, and acidity. I could drink a lot of this, and I think I will. Lengthy finish, showing pluots (apricots, really; no plumminess coming through), tart cherries, and funk.

Growler. Beer muled by Ali. Hazy golden/pale body with a medium sized, creamy white head. Funky, bretty nose with lactic acid, light acetic acid, dusty yeast. lots of cherry and peach. The flavor is moderately sour, lightly sweet with lots of peach, apple, some cherry, lactic and acetic acids, yogurt, melon and citrus. Medium body is round with moderate carbonation. Finish is long with a lasting acidity. Awesome.

Drank it on tap at the brewery. Pours cloudy, a light golden color with a lemony/yeasty aroma. Sour and spicy very well balanced.

Drank this from a 13 oz tulip glass at the brewpub. Color is a cloudy orange, with a small white head. Light lacing. Nose is tart and sour fruit. Mouthfeel is lively. Flavor are incredibly complex and while sour you can taste apricots. Long dry finish. Far and away the best fruit beer I have ever seen. Simply amazing stuff.

13 ounce sample on tap at the brewpub. Aroma is fruity, acidic, a little funky, and citric. Some floral notes are also present. All in all, this is a pretty good smelling beer. Mildly hazy orange body with a small, white head. Lacks significant lacing. Very sour, acetic start. Very dry, with lots of funk. Mildly fruity with some peach-like notes in the middle. Finishes intensely sour with some spiciness-almost ginger like. I am not a huge fan of this. One-dimensional sour onslaught on the palate.

A fantastically sour and surprising beer. On tap at RR. Oakey sour aroma, hint of that vanilla woody barrel. A siren of a brew that beckons you to consume more with each sip. Very digestible beer that will go well with any food. Dangerously tasty with a great balance of dry acidity and tartness-sweetness without a hint of syrupy feel or artificiality. Flavor is complex throughout. A real pleasure.

Golden hazy yellow with minimal head. Aroma is sour and barny with a touch of plum. Very sour up fruit with a nice fruity sweetness from the pluots. Finishes dry and sour begging you to sip for some more.