Russian River Salvation

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

Thanks to MikeTD. Murky dark brown pour, medium white head. Aroma is nutty and perfumy. Flavor is big caramel sweetness, very sweet, candy sugar, brown sugar, nutty and toffee. Floral aftertaste. Lot’s of floral and caramel the whole time with a hint of chocolate. A touch of banana and coffee as it warms.

Batch 002. Notes from 1/2007. Pours a clear dark ruby brown with a tan head. Massive lacing. Nose is slightly sweet with a touch of yeast influence. Also heavy amounts of caramel as well. Flavor is tart and tangy. There is a pungent sweet flavor mixed with a slight citric/fruity one. Caramel tones very present. On the end you get an almost bitter edge which seems odd to me off this style. Feel is decent. Not a ton of carbonation and bubble over your tongue, but it is thick with character from ingredients. It is drinkable, yes. In a blind taste test, I doubt anyone would be able to tell that this one came from the U.S. (and not Belgium). However, I feel as if it lacks a level of maturity and oomph that would ever send me back to drinking it again. In the back of my mind, I do wonder if it needed some more age on it.

Date: 04/08/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Mail Order

dark clear ruby, big beige head, sweet ripe fruit aroma with light spicy esters, sweet ripe fruit flavor, light tartness, well balanced
-------- /> Date: 06/30/2007
Mode: bottle
Source: tasting

same wonderful rich fruity malt flavor,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.8/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **4

corked and caged 750ml from Irishboy, thank you! Wow, the aroma is amazing. Ripe fruits such as plums, figs, apples, cherries, lots of malt, and loads of sweet caramel. Carbonation is very nice, and the flavour is out of the world! So much nice caramel/malty sweetness, laced with wondrful fruitiness. Wow. best belgian strong i have ever had, hands down.

Poured a dark brown with massive head and great lacing. Aroma was of spices and yeast. Flavor was much the same with bananas the coriander was a little overpowering. Beer was good but a little to sticky in the mouthfeel.

Bottle. Dark burgundy. Thin head. Light woody dark brown aroma. Delicious chewy, woody, coffee and brown sugar with alcohol traces. AND hen gave it almost the same rating on tap at Falling Rock!

Bottle (750ml) shared with HogTownHarry and biegaman -- courtesy of HogTownHarry. Batch 003. Pours a clear amber-orange with a large mostly-lasting creamy off-white head. Aroma’s yeasty along with dark fruit, sweet malt, brown sugar and spices. Flavour of dark fruit, caramel malt, brown sugar, wood, a touch of funk, spices and a little bit of alcohol -- very nice, there’s lots going on here and it’s very flavourful! Alcohol’s failry well hidden, it’s there but not not overly so. Medium to full bodied. This is a fantastic Belgian Strong, well done!

Bottle sampled. Pours red/brown with a good size off-white head. Aroma of Caramel, fruit, spices, and sweetness. The flavor is sweet, fruit, spices, smooth, caramel, and finishes dry. Very nice.