Russian River Supplication

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

Batch 003. Pours lighter than I expected, for a supposed brown ale. A cloudy orangish color with a small but very well retained white head. The head never goes down. Looks fairly carbonated with a continuous stream of bubbles ascending. Impressive sheets of lace coat the entire glass. Aroma is mild peppery funk, soft and subtle, reminiscent of a lambic. Slight cherry aromas akin to a Kriek are also apparent, though they don’t pop out. Warmer temperatures do this beer good, bringing out some acetic qualities that add a pleasant dimension and increase overall complexity. This is the same quality I enjoyed in Compunction, the only other Russian River sour beer I’ve had to this point. Some light vinegar notes are buried deep down that remind me of a more traditional Flemish Sour though they are quite subtle. Warmer temperatures also increase the cherry aroma, thankfully. Can’t detect any wine characteristics in the aroma. Taste is immediately tart, wow, yeah, with some sourness mid-palate coupled with intense ripe fruit notes then finished with an even more acidic sourness. While the aroma is quite subtle and soft the taste is really full blown on this one. The huge cherry taste is really remarkable. It makes the tartness much more tasty and multi-dimensional than just straight-forward sourness, though this is plenty sour. Very dry finish, the beer seems to evaporate from your mouth though the lingering tartness and fruit notes can still be detected on the tongue. I’m certainly a fan.

big thanks to tom for letting me in this wonderous tasting, - pours cloudy golden brown, very beautiful creamy head nose is sour milk, slightly spicy, and biscuit. raisins are abound as well. taste is gorgeous, full berry fruits, sour, but not overpoweringly so. sour cherry, brown sugar very full bodied, grapefruit rind slight lemon, rasberries- a beer to sit, sip and think about. grapefruit and spice on the finish.

Bottle thanks to wetherell! Aroma is sour, dusty funky yeast, cherry character is subtle and as it warms the oxidisation kicks in and is awsome. Taste is similar, very lambic like, perhaps this woul be perfect if there wasnt so much bitterness(of which there is very little) but the bitterness that is there is slightly falts the finish. But im just being pernicity, its an amazing beer, and probably beer of the month.

My favorite sour beer at the moment. Batch 003. Sour aroma, funky, but slightly sweet as well. Taste is not quite as sour as Beatification but slightly more so than Temptation. Pucker-up at the front, slightly sweet at the finish with the sour cherries. My favorite of the three.

batch 003. Brown pour with a thin off white head. Aroma was mild cherry and a bit of funk. Flavor had more cherry, lemon, funk. not nearly as acidic as I thought it would be. UPDATE, old score fresh = 3.6. Opened one recently and it had gotten nice and sour, and the lemon had really started coming out. The funk was spot on, not dominating but making itself known. REscored 4/2/09

I keep trying to like sours but I can’t do it. This is no exception. VERY tart and front loaded. Subtle cherry finish followed by a mouth pucker.

Holy crap. A near perfect score for me. Amazing sour and on such a different level than what I was expecting. Strong funky, sour cherry aroma. Pour was a nice medium brown with a one finger off white head. The taste was so full and strong I literally said "holy shit" out loud and I am here by myself. Strong almost lambic like sourness with a lot of funk in the front. Then the sour cherry and acidity kick in and bite the sides of the tongue. Aftertaste is mouth puckering sour and very full. Must get more!

Finally getting used to sours. The aroma is all Brettanomyces. Pours a copperish red with lots of initial head, which recedes quickly. Flavor is sour with a sour apples flavor, with the Brettanomyces yeast permeating the flavor completely. Not as sour as Beatification, mellower than most sours. A good starter sour.