Russian River Deviation (Bottleworks IX)

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

750ml bottle....poor notes. drank well into the night and after going to the cubs game..... pours a clear and transparent orange brown with a moderate slighly-off white head that quickly dissipates and turns thin.... aroma was tart and funky with lots of oaky notes and some citrus.... flavors of smooth oak, tart, sour apple and cherry combination that sits quite nice in the mouth. very smooth all around and extremely drinkable. finishes a little dry, lively carbonation, and very nice mouthfeel.

Rating #999. Bottle, thanks to 5000. Hazt brown/amber, with a fast disappearing white head. Aroma is sour, with peaches, funk, lemons, and oak. Flavor is sour fruit, peaches, lemons, and cherries. Also some funk, oak, and a tart finish. Another interesting sour ale, which I am slowly appreciating.

light bodied, restrained pucker. glad to have had this. delicate and tender.

Big thanks to Drewbeerme for sharing this beer and being so patient for me to enter my rating of it. Hazy orange-red with a small beige head. Aroma is dirty sour red with cherry but mostly all I can say about this beer is it is really in your face with all parts of the aroma. Dirty strong green apple, cherry, strong acidic fruit, very nice. Medium body but very acidic. What a tasty beer to celebrate bottleworks 9th.

From a 750mL Bottle. Mostly hazy, honey tinged gold colored pour with a finger of small bubbled white head. Complex nose that combines fruit, acidity, funk, and barrel characters harmoniously. Fruity suggestions of late harvest apples, bosc pears, and grapefruit. Notes of peppery oak, restrained vanilla, coconut, and nutty pecans. Hints of dusty brett and moldy cherry skins are also present. Medium-light bodied, briskly carbonated mouthfeel with a bold acidity. Very lactic with lots of aged oak. The sourness is bold up front, with a musty lactic quality that melds well in to the barrel qualities that begin to peek out mid-palate. Initial flavors of aged gouda rind followed by some biting grapefruit rind. I expected there to be more of an acetic character judging by the fruitiness/cider-like qualities found in the aroma, but this doesn’t seem to translate to the palate. Grape-skin tannins and leathery brett add additional complexity, that with the oak, contributes to the perception of dryness that lingers long into the finish. The latter half of the palate seems to be dominated by the woody/leathery brett and oak flavors, which are tasty, but not quite as complex as the fruity acidity from the nose. Still, a beautiful beer overall.

Bottle from miketd’s tasting

Thanks to Mike for cracking this open. I was going to bring a bottle of my own until I found out he already had acquired it (as usual). Now that I’ve had a chance to try it I will be sitting on my bottle for some time. This is one of those one time releases that you should save for a special occasion. Since it is gueuze like it should be great for years to come.

Aroma / Appearance - A thin white head was all that was visible above the clear golden body. Looking just like most top notch lambics it smelled of lemon, citrus and tartness. It doesn’t need to very complex at all to convey its intention of setting the bar high. It does a fine job of conveying its acidity already.

Flavor / Palate - Lemon, oak and citrus alternate on the tip of the tongue. An acidic dry finish attacks the throat lining pushing this very near some of the most sour beers in the world. This is even better than the Isabelle Proximus though I have to confess I wouldn’t turn down either if offered them again. Consider yourself fortunate if you find this on tap around Seattle.

bottle. thanks glkaiser. hazy copper/golden pour with bubbled head. sour apple/oak aroma.bret, apple, oak. sourness. nice body. moderately carbonated.

Bottle.

Before I begin: when I saw the 6.83% ABV printed on the label I thought "wow, all this for a low alcohol beer." If 6.83% is low alcohol, I don’t know what that says about the state of American craft brewing.

In any case: The beer pours a hazy maize with a small head of microbubbles. Before I even pour I can smell beautiful ripe peaches in the air, enough to make laugh aloud. I pour the beer, and inhaling get all those peaches along with a lovely tart aroma, lime peel and brett, not a richly funky beer so much as a bretty one. Considerable spiciness as well, like a pumpkin pie doused in lime juice. Glorious flavor. Richly sour, tons of brett, spice, all of that peach, plenty of lemon, not too aggressively sour just splendidly drinkable. A lovely smoothness on the mouth, lactic, melted sorbet. Beautiful beer, plenty of brett character, enjoyable and rich through the full 22oz.