Russian River Damnation

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

750, corked and caged. This is one of the great highlights of my California road trip from the summer of 07, but it’s bittersweet. It was a cheap and mandatory grab at City Beer in SF, for sure. We got to RR in Santa Rosa later that afternoon, and the bartender patiently answered my question about Batch 23: "Naw, that was real popular. It sold really fast." For a second, I was sincerely convinced that, despite the tattoos, dude was gonna say "Gosh." Oh, well. Better luck next batch.
Pours crystal clear light amber with a hard-to-manage fluffy platinum blonde head. Lots of peaked egg white for lacing, and lots of patience goes into awaiting that first sip. Smells awesome while you wait, though--huge bouquet of spice, lemon zest, and some hay and grass. Just a pleasant little burrow of Belgian glee.
Medium-bodied, somewhat fizzy attack. Definitely a pleasant fizz, with very tight carb. The spice, lemon, hay, and grass come roaring back around the mountain when they come for the mid-palate, and a little bit of honey joins them. Almost tangy. Clean herbal finish.
Gosh, this is a lovely little beer.

Bottle, at various locations during the Zythos weekend, March 2006. Gold, thin off white head and moderate condition. Pleasantly spicy honeyed tripel maltiness in the nose, yeasty sweet predominantly in the mouth with a low bitterness and some traces of the honey from the aroma, lingering spicy dry finish with a touch of yeasty bitterness.

I did a side by side tasting with this and Damnation. They both had the same amber straw colored body with a bit of white head. The aroma on the Damnation has a bit more hop profile than the Redemption. There is also a good malt profile and a slight yeast funk. It has a good malty slightly sweet taste with good hop bitterness and some flavor as well. Perhaps slighly sweeter than the Redemption. Both are good beers though and I can’t choose a favorite.

Bottle. Batch # 25. Pours a hazy, golden orange. Huge, creamy white head that lasted. Aroma is citrus and a touch of hops. Flavor is sweet, almost champagne like, orange / citrus notes, malt. Very soft and mellow on the palate, again, very champagne like.

Pours an amber color with a white head. Aroma is orange peel, coriander, banana, and some clove. Flavor is malt, orange, coriander, and a bitter spicy finish.

750ml bottle from Bevmo. Beer poured a hazy, light golden color. Head was big, fizzy and white. Aroma of banana, citrus fruits and yeast. On the palet I felt it was a bit doughy, very clean and refreshing. A great beer from the folks up @ Russian River.

bottle. smells like a belgian, looks like a belgian. tastes are spice, citrus, and banana. Large white head disappeared quickly. drank this one while packing for a scuba trip - hope I didnt forget anything.

750 Ml Bottle-Trade w/Snojerk321-Pours a cloudy golden color w/a moderate white foamy head. Classic Belgian aroma. Full Belgian flavor w/traces of cane sugar, banana, & bread dough. Had some hop bitterness to it, but not a lot of spice. Very fresh, good effervescence. Kind of jumps out at you. Long, smooth, finish. Easy drinking brew. Thanks for this one Torry!