Russian River Deviation (Bottleworks IX)

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

Huge thanks to tertons for sharing this speacial treat. Pours yellow hazy orange gold with a small white head. Aroma is tart with apples and citrus. Flavor is hugely tart, but with noticeable woody notes. Huge finish to this one, and it lasts. It has the very nice quality of being both very funky, and very clean.

Huge thanks to largadeer on BA for picking up this awesome rarity! Nice hazy copper color with just a small amount of white foam and great lacing. Aroma is bretty funk, honey, wild tartness, and oak. Flavor is fairly tart, but not overly so, with dry white wine, oak, lemon, and brown sugar. Incredibly well-balanced and tasty. Great sharp yet smooth palate with long finish and an biting acidic sensation lingering on the palate. This is another awesome sour beer from Vinnie at RR.

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.

This one pours a hazy cloudy light color with a nice white head on top. Aromas of wild yeast and sweet citrusy fruits as well. It simply smells like a fresh farm, clean air, and delicious fresh foods. The flavor has characteristics of vinegar, a bit of that brett funk coming through, and surprisingly, some sweet browned sugars. Finish was dry and most definitely sour.

Poured a hazy copper color with a thin off-white head. Bretty yeast aroma with a mild sweetness. Light leather notes. Citrus and tart flavor with a mild acidity. Bretty bitter finish. Light body with a dry finish. Very nice beer that I hope will keep evolving.

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.

Lots of sour on the nose with some grape and a tad bit of yeasty fruit. For a quick second, there is a bit of fruit up front but then a lot of sourness sets in making it a bit difficult to pick out some of the nice subtleties that are peeking out. Finishes with a dry wine like feel with grape and a strange chewing of raw ingredients kind of feel. I really like this, big sour with a nice balance.

Bottle: The aroma consists of light sour cherry, yeast, and wood. It pours a hazy dark amber with some sediment and a half inch off white head. The flavor starts with light sour cherry, yeast, and faint caramel. The finish has strong lemon tartness. Medium bodied with soft carbonation.