Russian River Damnation Batch 23/46 (Oak Aged)

Brewed by Russian River Brewing
Style: Abbey Tripel
Santa Rosa, California USA

sampled at the San Diego Strong Ale Festival Nov 2008, an event shared with what seemed liked hundreds of ratebeerians and enjoyed mostly through a straw, since my face was a bloody mess of scabs and stitches. this came from the RB table full of bottles. This was another of the amazing ice chest from John C. the aroma was very yeasty with hints of sweet fruit. the alcohol was very subtle and there was hints of cloves and fruit, it finished sweet smooth and clean. awesome!

Hazy pale yellow color. The aroma was malty sweet with lemon notes. The taste was sweet and spicy with yeast and banana flavors. Light wood in the after taste. Good stuff here.

Two ratings of this one: First time I had a bit of the bottom of the bottle, and I guess it was yeast-heavy because it was cloudy and the funk of the nose was fairly prominent. It had a gassy funk to it, a really nice woody farmhouse scent along with some of the more expected clove, lemon, banana and candy sugar notes. I was amazed by the dryness and tartness, but after sampling from another bottle a few months later, I could see that what I got was muddled by the yeast. It was delectable, mind you, but it was still muddled. So on to the second time I got to try this, thanks to eclectic for sharing a bottle. The funk wasn’t there, I was so surprised, and instead it was some lightly sweet hay and lemon scents, very similar to the standard Damnation, with only a small wet/green wood note in the nose to indicate the use of oak chips. Flavor-wise it was also a surprise, with some light dryness but nearly none of the funk or tartness that the yeast contained. Rather, it was clean, crisp, and leaning slightly to the sweeter side of things, with a somewhat bland finish, and it left me a little deflated.

Bottle aquired from Goldtwins (Thanks) and cracked at YEHA. Poured a cloudy straw yellow color body with a small white head. The aroma is funky yeast, light citrus and bananas. Flavors are sweet fruits, bananas, spices, barnyard, and a dry oak finish.

Bottle cbus-x shared by bdburdman, thanks again Brian. Yellow-orange pour with a white head. Aroma of oak, yeast, sweet malt, light fruits, subtle sour, lemon/lemonzest. Flavors of oak, lemon/light fruits, sweet pale malt. Medium-light body, woody/malty/sweet with a woody/sweet/dry/tart finish.

Cloudy straw color with no head. Aroma of banana, yeast, and spice. Taste-fruit, yeast, and wood. Nice beer.

Bottle shared at C-bus 10 by bgburdman!! Pours golden color with a thinnish white head. Aroma is caramel, oak, yeast, some citrus. Flavor is candi sugar, oak, vanilla, yeasty, spice. Palate is medium to light, medium carboantion, finishes tart. Nice.

750 ml bottle shared with toncatcher. Hazy dark yellow with big head. Some spice and citrus on the aroma. Wood from the barrel in there too. Flavor was similar with wood touches in the finish. Spice up front with vanilla and hints of lemon. Pretty tasty