Russian River Deviation (Bottleworks IX)

A huge thanks to psprings for bringing this out to hellbillys tasting. Poura a hazy buddy brown with a small white head. Aroma is sour, yeast, fruits. Flavor is sour acidic dusty citrus, oak, apple. Nice sour, thanks Paul!

Draft at Sourfest 2009 at Brouwer’s. Pours a nice amber orange with a bubbly white head that fades quickly. Aroma hits with sour bread and gewurtztraminer with citrus becoming more pronounced with warming. Initally sour but sweet citruis comes through as it warms. Medium boddy with good carbonation and a tasty lingering sourness. Great beer.

Not quite sure why so many consider this the ultimate sour--it’s not even my favorite RR sour. Tasted at SWB’s Sour Fest along with 15 others. Pours orange amber with thin head. Aromas of brown sugar, citrus, peach, wood. It definitely smells better than it tastes, with sour apple and citrus. Sour bubbles linger. It’s refreshing, and a fine sour, but not the best. I expected a bit more complexity at the very least.

Bottle courtesy of goldtwins (HUGE THANKS!). Poured a very hazy orange color, very little carbonation and nice sour apple funk aroma. Flavor was yeast, then rolled into acidic lemon and then finished with a nice sour funk that lingered on and on. Just amazing, probably one of the best sours I’ve had so far.

Aroma is lactic-sour, some eggs (sulphur), and an ineffable presence of "yellow". Okay, I really don’t want to give this a weird rating, but.... Taste is slightly sour, lemony, tart citric.... Finish is oaky-sweet. Some cherry. Lingers. Lots of salty sweat and weirdness. Overall, not as complex as I would have liked. Good, but not amazing.

God made this, an amazing beer.... How could you?! Haven’t you learned anything from that guy who gives those sermons at church? Captain Whatshisname? We live in a society of laws! Why do you think I took you to all those Police Academy movies? For fun? Well, I didn’t hear anybody laughing, did you?.. Where was I? Oh yeah! Stay out of my booze.

This has to be one of my favorite RR beers so far. So much complexity. Aroma is huge sourness and tart fruit, wood, alcohol and some sour apple and grapes. Taste is amazing. Sourness upfront and throughout. Puckering goodness and not too dry but enough. Sweet tart and some barrel. Delicious.

Nose: Hard cider, lemon, cherry with a hint of oak and a bit of funk. Flavor: Big citrus/lemon up front. Medium bodied, super acidic with a touch of tannins in the finish. After warming up a bit we got some spices (cinnamon, clove) and a nice green apple jolly rancher tartness. Great beer! Might be able to take the place of a dry white wine for food pairing.