Russian River Consecration

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

Tap @ O’Briens TION night. Was easily the best beer of the night. Poured deep mahogany with a thick, creamy off-white pillow for a head. Light lacing. Delicious tart cherries-and-red wine aroma blended with more currants, tobacco, and a nice funky wood. Smooth, slightly carbonated mouthfeel. The taste really follows through on the aroma. Vinuous, red-wine overtone with tart cherries and the funky yeast flow throughout the beer. Slight white wine vinegar with Granny Smith apples. A pleasant rich, oaky flavor in the finish gives the brett and cherry/currant flavors a subtle sweetness. Awesome beer.

Bottle at Craig’s bit tasting, Edinburgh, 21-03-09 thanks to Craig for hosting and for getting hold of some great beers. Pours a murky brown colour with very little or indeed maybe no head at all. The aroma is a little woody with some aged port in there, dark fruits and even a bit of dusty old furniture from your grans. There is a lovely funky sourness in the mouth little cherrylike at times, but quite sharp. Underpinning the sharpness there is some dark sweet mollasses and even a salty dash of soy sauce and balsamic or a dark salad dressing. Its a lovely and intriguing beer I’m not sure that my description is really selling it, but lets just say its one of favourite of the evening thus far, next.. A9 A3 F9 P4 OV16

Draught at the brewpub. Brown color with a red tint and white head. Darkly vinous, tart, and oaky aroma. The flavor is quite sour with lots of oak and sour fruit. Malty underneath, with a less alcohol that I was expecting. Richly smooth and medium-full body. High-gravity sours are new to me, and I sort of miss the light, refreshing quality that you get in a lighter option, but this is really great stuff regardless.

Wooden brown-burgundy hue. Red apple, currant, pear aroma. Some vanilla. Sawdust. Big and tangy, for the most part, hugely jammy and sweet, with mild funky qualities. Sometimes the sweetness is very earthy and almost like an autumn root vegetable.

Fulsome malts and bold acids in the flavor. Sometimes it seems simple. Like a temporanillo spritzer. Other times it’s enormously complex; malt layers of brown sugars and molasses packed together with the brightness of currants. Super tight.

Clean and acidic palate; full, dry, drinkable. Extraordinary balance; extremely pleasant to drink. Thanks Tyler!

Bottle courtesy if iowaherkeye – thanks Joey! Pours very dark amber with a small tan head. The nose is red wine vinegar, currants, vanilla and brown sugar. The taste is white grapes, black currants, light balsamic vinegar, caramel, and light funk but the sweeter flavors overpowers it. Medium prickly mouthfeel. This is my favorite so far of the RR regular release sours. I really enjoyed this one.

Has a nice murky brown/red colour. A b it of acetic acid on the nose. Flavour is filled with a lot of fruit flavours. Semi sweet with a bit of an over riding cherry. A hint of sour in there, but its not very tart, and it doesn’t linger. Does this need more time to develop? Everything in here is pretty subdued and balanced. It’s good but it’s not quite what I had hoped it would be.

Bottle from a trade. Pours dark brown with a fizzy tan head. Aroma of cherries and some funky sourness. The flavor was mainly sour cherries. It is a really smooth beer. It actually wasn’t as sour as I thought it would be. Finishes dry.

Strong nose of cherries and apples. Pours a deep coppery brown with an extreme amount of fizz. Good notes of cherries and brown sugar with maybe some caramel and wood in there as well. Finish is dry and crisp. Well worth the money spent.