Russian River Deviation (Bottleworks IX)

Formerly brewed at Russian River Brewing
Style: Sour Ale
Santa Rosa, California USA

750 ml bottle courtesy of after4ever. Pour is golden ruby orange, with an off white head that falls fast. Aroma is sour tart and a lot of the Bretty yeastiness. The tartness is very fruity, cherries, pineapples, acidic for sure. Much complexity in the nose. Taste is like drinking an entire cherry - fruit, sour, pit, stems, dirt. All is well blended and melded together. Really nice sour character to it. The aftertaste features a lot of natural earthiness. Palate is solid, light enough to feature the sour - bulky enough to carry the big earth and funkiness. Drying finish. Some of the oak woodiness is present in the aftertaste, I hadn’t noticed much of the wood prior to that. Huge thanks for this one Tom!

Tasted at PP bottle shop. Tim cracked this rare gem. Tuesdays are always better when Tim is around. Had side-by-side with Temptation batch 3, which I love, but this was better. Possibly partly because the Temptation was warmish, and the Deviation was coolish. Cloudy yellow color with a hint of amber. Mild sourness. An illusion of sweetness, possibly because of the fruity aroma and mild sourness reminds me of peaches. Certainly sweeter than Temptation, which was very dry (and delicious, which is hard for someone with a sweet tooth, like myself, to say). Nice mild funky and hay aroma. I like this better than Beatification batch 2, which I had a few days ago. Highly quaffable. Easy to keep filling my glass.

Big thanks to 5K (apparently almost everyone has to). Pours with an orange shade of amber colored body with a small head that quickly fades. There is a nice ring of bubbly lacing left. The body glows but does not allow one to see through it. Aroma starts with a nice sour twang. It’s an earthy - faintly musky and sweaty - citric lemon, sort of sourness; presently strong sourness. Taste is a bit grapefruit skin-esque bretty sour. There is a short burst of the sourness and then very light acidity and a drying light rubber and leather. It is very smooth for a sour beer, the acidity is barely there. I am surprised that it does not come off obviously blended like the Tornado. It seems to be very dominated by the Sonambic part, which is awesome.
750mL bottle, Derlirium Tremens snifter.

Bottle from bitbucket. Thanks so much Bob! Pours orange and hazy with a thin white lace. Nose is very tart and bretty with a good but of oak. Flavor is a very nice tart and sour treat. Slightly acidic mouthfeel that keeps begging me for another sip. Its impossible for me not to love ever russian river sour that touches my lips. Simply Awesome.

750ml bottle shared by BOLTZ7555 at hellbilly’s holiday tasting. Pours hazy amber with a thin white head that fades quickly. The nose is malt, honey and sweet vinegar. The taste is tart apple, balsamic vinegar, lemon and malt. Medium mouthfeel. Very good – not an in your face sour, a nice enjoyable sipper. Thanks Jason!

big thanks to jason for letting us have a crack at this! hazy burnt orange color with a fleeting white head. it smells a lot sweeter than i was expecting... along with cement, tart orange, cinnamon, malty richness and flowers. the palate is incredibly dry yet not overly sour... very tannic, bitter and dry with a big ol’ dose of maltiness thrown in... orange, spice, flowers, a bunch of stink and tart unripened grapes. prickly sharp feeling cuts through a lux body. 8/4/8/4/18/4.2

Courtesy Oakes and Beershine. Murky dark orange-grey color, thin sparse white foamy head. Soft acetic nose, oak, lemons, the acidity relatively soft, and gains a more barnyard note as it warms. A lot of citrus and oak on the taste, the acidity not aggressive, but has a nice mild dusty component to it. Nice long dry finish.

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.