Russian River Supplication

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

Sampled at RBESG 2005.
Unclear dark orange colored, small off-white head. Sour woody aroma, notes of orange, grapefruit and berries. Different and very nice. Tart grapefruity, lemony and woody in the flavor with an orangy middel. Flavorfull and sharp. Very special and simply excellent!! I believe this was my favorite beer of the RBESG! (I wish I had taken better notes.....)

Bottle on 11/30/2008 at the 3rd Annual Richmond Industry Gathering. Cloudy orange body with a medium frothy off-white head. Sour fruity aroma, with some funkiness. Big sour flavor, light fruit and more funk. Medium light body with high carbonation. 8/3/9/4/17 - 4.1 11/29/2006: Sampled at the Richmond Beer Industry Gathering 2006. Batch 001. Hazy amber body with a small white head. Pungent sour aroma. Sweet oaked flavor with some sour kick, and some gentle caramel notes. 9/4/9/4/18 - 4.4

A fabulous aroma that I just kept sniffing and sniffing... starts offer very sour, but there is great cherry and strawberry, hay, crisp malt, apple, cinnamon, vinegar, even a slight alcohol singe. It all finishes with just a touch of perfect sweetness. Pours is a slightly red brown with a nice, fizzy head and a nice bit of floaties from the sediment. Taste is not as strong, though there are nice sour, red wine, cinnamon, plum notes. A fabulous beer, though the $10 price for an 11 ounce bottle is a bit steep.

Bottle Batch 3: (Thanks golubj!) Pours a deep hazy copper with the slightest pink hue and a pillowy off white head that retains perfectly. Aroma is amazingly complex. Oak, dust, vinous qualities, touch of leather, currant, almond notes, acetic/vinegar, earthy old wood, and some tart kriek-like qualities. The mouthfeel is crisp and creamy with a sharp cleansing character. The flavor has a powerful, Lambic-like acidity, as well as vast funkiness of cork, dried oak, sharp rind-like sourness, and a subtle almond note comes through under all the complex dryness. There is also red wine tannins, currant, leather, acetic vinous notes, cherry skin tannins, more woody character, and just a myriad of enigmatic layers of complexity into the dry, delicious finish. An unbelievable Sour Ale!

Bottle shared with Blankboy, biegaman, and Hogtown Harry, Harry’s bottle. Thanks for letting me crash your little tasting guys! Neat orange rust pour - thin slick white head. Love that colour! Really strong aroma - sour, cherry, cherry skin, vanilla, leather - complex and stunning. Taste is sour, acidic, almost a little wine like. Very quenching. No alcohol. Complex. Maybe just a tad too acidic after a while. A pretty stunning beer.

Bottle: Great aroma. Sour/tart lambic-like aromas with a nice cherry balance. Pours a cloudy brownish-orange with a small off-white head. Flavors start tart but not as tart as I was expecting after the aroma. Light caramel hides in the background. Strong woodiness in the finish. Very nice.

Batch 001 bottle. Pours to a murky amber body with a foamy white head that all but disapates. The aroma is huge. Cherries, Pinot Noir wine, some yeasts, oak. The palate is sweet, tart, fizzy, and acidic all at the same time. Medium-light body. The flavor is heavily winey. This tastes pretty much like a Pinot Noir or a Merlot. Slightly earthy. Vinous. Sweet. Oak, sour cherries, light yeasts. I’m surprised the Brett isn’t overpowering this beer. +1 overall for what I can only assume was a difficult beer to brew given the ingredient list. This is pretty good. 8, 3, 8, 3, 17 = 3.9

Batch 002 bottle. Sour cherries! Aromas of New Belgium La Folie. Nice yeasts. Very sour cherry and nice brown ale meets to become a perfectly balanced beer. Sour, tart, and not as acidic as La Folie.

Smells funky. Very malty and cherry-flavored. Much better than the last RR beer I had, the temptation, which I’m beginning to think from all the others from them and other people’s ratings, must have been a bad bottle.