Russian River Consecration

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

This one even tops Stille Nacht Reserve ’96 as my all-time favorite beer...there is little I can say, other than to delineate its complexity thusly...Chocolate, coconut, currant, caramel, candied orange, coriander, celeriac, radish, the requisite horse blanket, and barnyard funk, rhubarb, lemon zest, lots of tobacco, black pepper, walnut, tangerine, acanthus leaf/bay leaf, cherry skin, strawberry, kiwi, balsamic vinegar, sweet cream butter, cigarette ash, kale, ginger, cardamom, Branston pickle, pineapple, and pink grapefruit are somehow all orchestrated meticulously, and even seamlessly, into the absolutely hands-down best beer I’ve ever had the delight to savor...the body is creamier than I’ve ever experienced in a sourale, and the 10% alcohol really allowed all those aforementioned flavors to blossom to their absolute fulles.t If any of you real beer aficionados get the chance to try this one, don’t let the $22 price tag scare you off. After all, it’s a 25.4 0z. dose, and, believe me, it’s cheap for what it is.

22oz bottle. This is a very special beer to me because I never expected that I would love this as much as I did. I mean I knew I would like it as I tend to like all Russian River stuff but this beer is in a class all its own and it marks 2 firsts for me, my first score above 4.8 and my first time rating an overall impression of 20. Pours a darkish red remiscent of a fine wine with a small quickly collapsing head. Lovely color. The head releases a intoxicating aroma of black currants, oak, wine and sourness (subdued). However after the head collapses which happens quickly this aroma goes away and some of the complexity is lost, the lone blemish on this astonishing beer. The flavor profile is simply amazing. Oaky sourness opens up but remains tart and not acidic nor balsamic, its a very balanced sourness. Alcohol is non existant, making this dangerously easy to drink. Like a fine with moderate acidity and balanced tartness. A slow oaky finished followed by absolutely mind blowing notes of black currant and cherry skins. This beer is a marvel. I had this at a tasting of about 10 people. Everyone agreed this was the best of the night even though only 3 of us like sours and several of them hate them. This is a very accesible sour ale. And this beer was up against class competition in Port Old Viscoscity and Dark Island Reserve. This one blew everyone’s minds.

Update: the most recent batch is much not quite as good as the first batch, less oak, a bit more harshness, still and absolutely amazing beer. No head, but surprisingly effervescent. Thinner mouthfeel than anticipated. The oak and Cabernet taste is quite strong and is a good counterpart to the sourness. Cherry tastes from the brett sing through. This one is very dry! Completely blurs the line with wine. Even better the second time I had it. A fantastic beer.

This is batch 001x3. Appearance - Pours a beautiful dark mahogany color that absolutely shines when held up to the light. A light cream colored head rises up about half a finger and recedes to a small ringaround the edge. Smell - Tart dark cherry, definitely a lot of wine coming through in a big way. It has a real, clean smell to it, like its, perfect? It is just an amazing smell, hard to describe with the right words. Taste - This is my first real sour, so the fact that it is sour comes out the most first. It didn’t hit me like a freight train though, it was, refreshing! This is hard to explain, like the smell. Whatever those Bretts and other bacterias and yeasts are contributing is something completely foreign and completely amazing at the same time to me. This tastes like a tart berry picked fresh from the bush. What kind of berry is that though? I am guessing it would have to be black currants, another new taste for me. Mouthfeel - Wow, it is light, and it is perfectly carbonated. This is the kind of brew that I have been waiting for. It tickles the end of your tongue with every sip. It feels like it coats the mouth without giving you that feeling that it just won’t go away. Drinkability - I am glad this is a 750ml bottle, I will gladly drink this entire bottle to myself and wish I had more. This has opened new doors for me and I will be searching out sours in the very near future. This beer is amazing, and it is very much worth the hype. Wow. This will have to suffer from the fact I wouldn’t be able to drink another bottle if I wanted to, not really looking to get krunked over here!

On tap at the brewpub in Santa Rosa. Clear, dark reddish brown-bronze with a superfine, almost non-existant off-white head. A dark garnet highlight might appear when the light hits it right. The aroma first comes across as dark sour fruit with a sweet grapeyness to it. Earthy and woody undertones emerge,combined with a softly tannic vionous character. The currants come through, not directly, but as a general fruity sweet-tartness that adds another layer to the already enormous complexity present here. The flavor begins with prominient yet restrained sourness in the attack that leads into a deep, multi-layered fruit profile that is surrounded by wonderful secondary fermentation flavors, barrel-aged oxidadtion notes, and subtle oak influences. The body is amazingly bright and refreshing and completely hides the alcohol. Its force is instead delivered through the amazing variety of sensations on the palate--good weight, bright sourness, pure sweet fruit, dark wood and earth. It is simultaneously juicy, rounded, edgy, firm, and voluptuous. The is one of the most amazing beers I’ve ever tasted.

Bottle from lb4lb, you the man Deniz! Aroma has notes of berries, oak, dried dark fruits, and cobwebs. Very deep amber brown hue with a small off white foamy head that mostly diminished and left no lace. Flavor is sweet, tart, woody, earthy and funky! Very nice!! Palate is medium bodied and lively. Holy shit balls we have a winner!! The best sour I’ve had to date and I can only imagine what some age would do on it. Bravo!! Out of this world!!

(DC Local Gathering, 750ml bottle, Major Thank You to CaptainCougar) - Dark ruby brown, fluffy white head. Huge vinous dark currant aromas ride swells of funked black cherry and peppered oak. Ultra complex sour berry, old wood, and currant flavors balance extremely well on a funky crisp red grape and cheese- like foundation. Medium bodied, medium carbonation, sour fruity finish. This was an absolute showstopper…

Dark brown with very thin head. Cherries, very sweet with donuts and lightly musty wood. There was a pleasing vinous note throughout. Taste was funky tart with currants. Woody with some hints of cocoa behind the tartness. Well balanced with enough tartness to keep it interesting. It also has a sweet note that keeps it easy to drink at the same time it is being complex. This is a sour more along the lines of Rodenbach and I get why some that want mouthpuckering sourness find that to be a turn off. Everything about this beer hit me the right way. I would love to try it again. Awesome.