Russian River Salvation

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

Deep maple brown, creamy tan head. Soft rich nose of spiced pear and banana, fig, grape, toasted milk chocolate, and hints of apple. Flavor was tangy with plum, pear, and grape undertones. Well balanced throughout with a touch of carmel and earthy bitterness rounding the edges nicely. Medium bodied, moderate carbonation, drying, soft bittersweet finish. Glad to have tried this. A very well done rendidtion...

750 ml bottle Pours a slightly hazy deep amber color with a small off white head. Has a yeasty (banana) aroma. Flavor is full of esters (banana & raisin). Medium body. A good beer.

C&C 750 courtesy of Eyedrinkale, thanks Mike! Pours a dark burgundy with tan head. Nose is fruity, with grapes up front, followed by oranges, cherries, vinegar and brown sugar. Flavor is tangy fruits, some bitter in the finish. Really nice nose that doesn’t quite make it all to the flavor.

Murky amber color with a good sized rocky head. Pine hops and dried fruit sweetness in the nose. There is something sour in the background of this beer that I don’t like. Light brown sugar, pit fruit, apple and soured orange juice. The sour threw this one off for me.

750, props to gputty! Dark, slightly hazy orange with a film of a tan head. Sweet, spicy fruit nose. Sweet flavor, spicy, plum and toffee with hints of orange. A bit yeasty. Interesting...

Looks and smells good, I didn’t get the bananas. The taste really isn’t that heavy. It’s almost a little light and seems overcarbonated. Decent, but not up to par for the day, or for the brewery. Sample 30.

Well, I was digging through my cellar to find something that was good enough to be rated for #1600. I didn’t want to drink something so good that people I normally share beers with would be angry. So, I put those back. I also decided that even though this is a more difficult beer to acquire in Wisconsin since it’s Russian River, I recalled that I saw it for sale online. So, screw it, this is #1600. Batch 001. The cork popped out with a loud bang. A carbonation haze slowly crept up out of the bottle. I poured the beer into my glass and it was gorgeous. A nice dark glowing orange body with a tall and lasting fizzy/foamy tan head. The aroma is banana peels, dry soapy hops, lots of yeast, some hints of sweet milk chocolate. The flavor is superseded by the palate as it hits my tongue. A really creamy texture sticks to my tongue. Almost slick. The flavor is extremely yeasty with hints of chocolate, banana, pencil lead and pencil shavings, and black pepper. The pencil flavors really pop out on this one. I guess I can thank scotch for initially making this an apparent flavor in my mind. I recall the Peat Monster that had pencil shavings in the flavor. All in all, too bad I have to drink a 750 of this.

750. pretty dark brown with some reddish hues. aroma is spices, touch of chocolate, caramel, a bit of estery fruit also. Taste is not quite as pronounced as the aroma, dark malts, some tart dark fruit, some metallic notes, with a lightly sour finish. seems a little bit weird, and muddled...hmmmm....