Russian River Supplication

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

Aroma is sour cherry with a lot of oak and all those wonderful Barrel bacteria,taste is as dry a sour as I’ve ever tasted,dry fruity tart cherry, lots of oak all dryed out by that fantastic lactobacillus sourness. Pretty special stuff

Bottle courtesy IrishBoy, Batch 002. Murky orange with red hues, pretty weak head, diminishing to nothing, no lacing, yet not that surprising for the style, especially aged 15mos. Aroma is wonderful, lots of cherries, oak, funky horesblankets and other brett nuances. Flavor smacks ya right in the fact with stronger than expected tartness, sour lemons, tart cherries, all supported by a leathery horesblanket and oaky base. Pretty solid stuff, RR proving itself quite wonderful again. Thanks, Richard, a great brew, a wonderful opportunity (beats my one other experience with La Folie). Re-rate, 11/08 on draft at Monks. Gentler than the first experience, certainly tart, but not as sour as my first experience seemed to have been recorded. Love the Cherry and Bret balance. Re-rate as beer number 8 in a killer July 09 Super Secret Sour State Line Tasting (SSSSLT) featuring (first to last by my counts): Supplication, Consecration, La Folie, Dissident, Cuvee de Castleton, Red Poppy, Lambic de Hill, Festina Lente, Panil. The top of this run, great tart, sour, vinous, action, rubbery notes, strong assertive leathery flavors and horseblankets with barnyards character. A little kick and some shivering with the finish of each one. Thanks, Wolf, for including this one in the run. A very well done brew for sure. One of my favorite brews out there.

375mL Bottle, Batch #2. Pours a hazy pinkish light brown with quickly disappearing bubbly foam. Aroma is huge and oaky with more dimensions than Lawnmower Man. Flavor is a bit harsh at first but settles into it’s own as it warms up, tart fruity and dry dry dry. Good stuff.

Bottle. Oh man, did I love this one! Hazy amber with a ring of a white head. Sour cherries, model glue, leather and red wine. Big, bretty sour cherry flavors, pleasantly tart, mild woodiness. Awesome.

Bottle. Hazy, cloudy, orange, light borwn. Wine-barrel, Gruyere-cheese aroma. Incredibly tart, sour-apple, grassy. A sour patch kid in a bottle. Very nice.

Thanks to Immy. 375ml bottle batch 002. Pours amber in color with white head. Aroma sweet cherries. Taste of sweet and tart cherries.

Bottle from bu11zeye or odeed? Pours red with traces of off white bubbles. Smells of strong cherries, oak, sugar, some perfumy hints. Tastes vinegary and very tarte with a strong oaky quality. Somewhat bitter on the finish. Mouthfeel is on the thin side with some dry tanginess.

37.5 cL bottle. Aroma of sour cherries. Sure, it’s more complicated than that, but reductio ad absurdum! How many ales can be inhaled rather than quaffed? Beautiful cherry amber color with a ring of tiny head bubbles. Medium bodied. Starts with woody sour cherries. Then it gets seriously sour. Tannic might apply. Like sucking fresh cut oak. The finish is simply sour. With cherry pits, wood, bark, all sorts of whatever. Would it be wrong to consider this infected ale? Where are the lines to be drawn? If anyone has used this as a marinade for lamb or beef, let me know how it turned out.