Russian River Consecration

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

8oz Snifter – Eastside Club Tavern – Olympia, WA
Aroma: Great sour aroma that adds to the excitement to try this nectar.
Appearance: Dark Amber in color, clear with a thin head.
Flavor: Tart flavor from the start to the finish with a great explosion of fruit flavors through out. This was a very well brewed beer.
Palate: Deep Dry finish, fruit flavor even in the finish and Mouthfeel.
Overall: Huge sour beer this was treat to try glad I got a glass and will savor this for along time.

750, corked and baled. Pours a crystal clear but staggeringly dark ruby red--almost black, way beyond burgundy. Dense, tightly foamy off-white head that lasts and lasts past several sips. Gorgeous right around.
Big sour nose. Got that lacto balsamic thwack as soon as you pull the cork, and definitely lights up your sinuses when you get your nose in the glass. I’m guessing there’s a currant thing happening, not that I can remember smelling a currant. But somewhere between a berry-skin tannic note and a bit of dark pitted tree fruit, there’s a sweet, fruity note complementing the lacto. Nicely combined.
The body’s clean and tight, lower than medium, maybe, and very little carb. Refreshing like fruit juice, especially when cool. If this weren’t the incredible beer that it is, something that tasted exactly like it would probably be widely popular as a mixer for cocktails. So, yeah, it’s not crazy sharply tart--mixed well, lots of people would drink a cocktail that contained one or two parts of something like this. Not sure where this metaphor’s going, so let’s just cut it off here.
The mid-palate is rather less complex than some of the RR sours, which of course gives it plenty of room to operate. Lacto/balsamic, dark berry skins, dark pitted tree fruit, some dense oak notes. This is a very pleasant and drinkable sour all the way through for sure.

750ml bottle, batch 001x2. Pours a clear brownish amber with a one finger tan head. Aroma is light funk, grape and dark fruit skins, fresh wet oak, and some Pinot qualities; very nice on the nose and continues to strengthen and develop nicely as it warms. As expected, the flavor is sour, tart, and slightly acidic, but well balanced and just enough to be interesting and enjoyable without going over the edge. Another excellent barrel aged sour from RR, and always amazed to see how Vinnie can pull off something so unique and special that the beer geeks love it, but not so intense as to be inaccessible to those new to the style.

Bottle from Hollingshead. The color is great - a bland, faded maroon that suggests depth. Aroma is oaky, funky, berrylike and vinous. Flavor is very like red wine and while the currants enhance, they are indistinct. I think the alcohol content is impressively well-handled, but was hoping for something more complex.

Bottles thanks to toncatcher & Monk’s Cafe. This one is from batch 001x2 at Monk’s & has a wonderful looking reddish color with a medium size head. Aroma is a fantastic woody/oaky mix of Cab Sauv, Currants, cherries, loads of sour funk - it just goes right through you. Flavor is an amazing mix of sour black currants, rich sour cherries, well oaked Cab Sauv, wet wood, and a raw dark fruit flavor that is pretty damn nice. Mouthfeel is amazing with sour & tart tannic goodness that crawls up the tongue. A little more heat than I would like (probably my only criticism) but this has a good deal more alcohol than most RR sours (it works by the way). This is the best of the sour world mixed with tasty black currants and given the proper treatment in Cabernet Sauvingon Barrels (my favorite wine vareital when done properly). Russian River is already beyond awesome, but Vinny outdid himself here - another 1-2 years in the bottle and this is probably a full "5" for me. Wow.

750mL, batch 001x2. Pours a deep ruby color with a bit of a brownish hue, capped with a medium-sized khaki head. Very enticing aroma, with notes of oak, currants, leather, sour cherry, earth, and mild citrus. Flavor of dark fruit, oak, red wine, cherry pits, and mild lactic acid, with vinous character. Dry, woody finish with minimal tartness. Deserves the hype.

750ml bottle. Batch 001X3. Very vinous with plenty of underlying funky fruit skin initially on the nose. Maybe some molasses and brown sugar. Not as sour as I’d though it’d be. Fruit and barrel really up front with the funk taking a backseat. That being said, it’s still a pretty aroma. Pours a very attractive dark, dark amber/brown with some ruby around the edges. A thick light khaki head eventually settles. Flavor starts out rather soft and restrained but ends up finishing rather acidic. The currants really come through mid-palate. Woodsy funk throughout. Fruit and wood tannin toward the backend. The fruit runs deep through the entire flavor, but never becomes overly sweet... a tartness more akin to pomegranates. Medium to full bodied. Creamy carbonation with a rather aggressive finish. No way in hell this is 10%. Another excellent offering from Russian River, but falls short of the newest batch of Supplication. I think time will treat this one well.

Bottle split like a champ by ajm. Pours a murky amber color with a soft beige head. Smells and tastes predominantly of lemon and unripe strawberries with oak in the aroma. Very agressive. I felt as though the acid in this was rotting my teeth like having them sit in Coke. Highly drinkable as far as sours go, but consumed in proximity to Temptation, this comes off a little brutish. Rerated after a bottle shared by hellbilly -- have to say this mellows quite a bit over time and the currants really shine.