Russian River Damnation

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

Bottle from the brewpub. Uncorked beautifully, lots of carbonation and aroma fragrantly bouqueted all about. Definitely got some grass and cloves in the aroma and you can almost make those flavors out among the banana and brown sugar flavors that this delicious ale serves up. Palate is so smooth and full. Overall, loved this beer, but probably won’t get a chance to try it again soon.

Batch 44. Bottle from Hi-Time Wine Cellars. Does Russian River make a bad beer? This pours a golden color with a big fluffy white head. The aroma at first is hay, some spices, grassy malt and barnyard. After it breathes a bit I get some fruit added to the scent. The flavors consist of banana and cloves with an assortment of spices that give it just a little kick with a touch of barnyard funk. This is smooth and drinkable but also quite tasty. Another terrific beer from Russian River. Re-rate 9/18/09. Batch 49. An extra in a trade from cloudskipper. Thanks Chris! Golden color and pours with a nice fluffy off-white head. Good retention. Banana, clove, apples, and some horseblanket. Crisp and clean with some yeasty spiciness and a little alcohol bite.

Yeasty and dry, the way I like my BSA. The mouthfeel is the most memorable of all the beers I’ve had to date

Crushed with Jakebra. Nice nose. Some good, sour yeast and light fruits. Flavor is awesome. Dry finish. Very smooth, reminiscent of Orval, but I like this one better.

Bottle from Southbay. Batch 045. This was the first RR I tried a couple years ago but I never entered a rating for some odd reason. Nice to have another bottle and reconnect with this nice brew. Pours a slightly hazy golden with a large, fluffy white head. Nose is nicely sweet, crisp and dry--all at once. Banana, pear, apple, sweet belgian malts, spices highlight the flavor. Mouthfeel is incredibly crisp and dry, I wish all belgian strongs were like this. I tried to find flaws, but damn(ation), vinnie does it all.

Pours very clear golden with a white lacy head. Aroma is crisp with hints of citrus, vanilla, with a touch of banana. The taste is smooth mildly bitter that lingers long on the tongue. Very satisfying and well made.

Batch 003, served from a 750 ml bottle. When I took the cage off the bottles, the cork flew out of the bottle neck without any agitation. Nice presentation. The beer poured a golden yellow color with a thick white head, good lacing. The beer had an aroma of of citrus and bananas, a bit acidic. The taste is a good balance of spice, citrus and carbonation. As with most RR beers, there is a good balance in the beer so that the higher ABV is not overally noticable.

Bottle, batch 39. Pours a light gold body with thick, white foam head. Aroma of belgian malts, clove, banana, citrus, sugar, and light hops. Flavor is mainly belgian malts at first then finishing with a sweet honey, spice, and light pine hop taste. Medium bodied with a light carbonation and a somewhat creamy and dry mouthfeel.