Russian River Compunction

12oz hand bottle acquired in trade with tytoanderso (thanks!). Poured a medium and slightly hazy golden color with a smaller sized head. Aromas of mustiness, dusty, funky, tart fruitiness, and some citrus. Tastes of funky tartness, green apples, plums, tart cherries, fruity, and some citrus. Nice tartness.

Many thanks go to <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?UserID=25902>JoMama for making sure that I didn’t miss this one.
It poured a slightly hazed golden body with a dinkus head, mainly bubbles. The aroma was funky and tart, had a healthy dose of pluots (Yeah - like that’s a real word!) and young crabapples, and a soft citrus sweetness. It had a face puckering mouthfeel and caused much salivation, but the actual flavor relected the sensations from the nose fairly truly. Nice sour/tart/fruity finish. When is RR coming to the Chicago area?

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eventID=6824>Dark Lord Day 2008 at Three Floyds, Munster, IN, 4/26/2008.<font size=-1>

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.

DLD guest tap: Glowing deep golden hue with a lasting frothy white head and left excellent lace upon the glass. The aroma has notes of plum, tangerine, spicy white wine (Gewurtztraminer?), grass, wild yeast funk, some clean oak, and dusty yeast esters.

Starts with and mostly ends with a dry acidic tartness, sour fruits and funked up yeast all over the place. YEP, it is a Russian River beer alright! Some light biscuity pale malt and wood as well with a touch of white pepper to round out the palate. The mouth feel is highly refreshing and sprite. Outstanding offering and something I wish I had a bottle of the enjoy in the future. Every bit the equal of the Supplication IMO!

On draught as guest beer during Dark Lord Days ’08. Pours a hazy golden yellow sour brew with a thick white head that has excellent retention and lacing. Aroma of barnyard funk, sour citrus or oranges, lemon and a touch of lime, with yeast galore. Taste is medium bodied, spritzy with flavors of sour fruit, lemon and grapefruit. Finish remained sour that lingered after the finish. I was unaware that Russian River has some outstanding sour ales.