Russian River Supplication

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

Sampled at Bocky Bash on 7-5-08. Had a funky aroma just couldn’t think of it till someone mentioned dill weed. Thought he was tarlking about me but no he dill you would smell cannng pickles. Orange body with off white head. Flavor of lemon zest, sweet sour and tart. Another good sour for you sour fans.

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.

375 ml bottle, batch 001. Pours a clear orangish dark copper colored body under a small very fizzy beige head that receded to a thin ring. Aroma is quite sharply acidic with some tart sour cherries, oak, and a moderate bretty funkiness. Flavor is quite dry with lots of crisp cherry up front, light acidity, light green apple. Finishes very dry with a lingering but restrained bretty funk combined with oak tannins. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, very dry, with active efforvescent carbonation. The carbonation is extremely fine, like pinpoint fireworks bursting on my tongue. Pretty frickin awesome. This beer had it all. I didn’t like this quite as much as the Beatification, but still very good.

Nice deep brown coloured body with a thinnish tan head and a ruby tint. Sour aroma of cherries, grapes and yeast. Very nice and sour! Medium-bodied; Very acidic flavour of cherries, nuts, yeast, malt, grapes and vinegar. Aftertaste shows more sour flavours - but some good sweetness as well. Overall, a really good flemish sour - definitely one to try! I sampled this split 37 cL bottle purchased from Norm’s in Vienna, Virginia on 25-December-2007.

Bottle, Batch 001. Light reddish-brown appearance; off-white head with decent lacing; nothing remarkable in the appearance. Aroma shows tart cherries, horse blanket, perhaps a bit of lemony citrus. Nice, vanilla-tinged tartness upfront, tart cherries, a pleasant toasty oakiness around the edges. Long finish, showing cherries, lemons, and oak.

12.7 oz bottle via trade with the very generous alanC - Thanks Alan! - Pours a deep amber with a fizzy tan head that laces very well on the trappist glass. Aroma is cherries, sharply sour with some yeast as well. Flavor is very tart cherries mostly as well but I also got some yeast and a touch of grapefruit also along with some definite barnyard funk. Very much like a lambic. Palate is somewhat light and very carbonated. Quite unique and I can certainly appreciate this even though it was a bit sour for my tastes.

Batch 002; Sampled January 2008
A careful, persistent pour yields a fat-one-finger thick, dingy, tan colored head. The beer is a brilliantly clear, light cherry red color. Tart aromatics of acetic acid, lactic acid and moldy cheese are the first thing I notice in the nose. Quite fruity, but it is a sort of non-descript, perhaps berry-like, sweet fruitiness. The barrel character is present, but held well in check by the other aromatic components; touches of vanillin, a backdrop of spicy oak, some hints of butterscotch around the edges and a tannic character that is definitely noticed. The nose is quite funky, teetering on the edge of being off; over-ripe cheese, penicillin and buttery oak notes all contribute to this. Compared to a Lambic, this has quite a bit of acetic acid character to it, which is something I always enjoy if kept to a reasonable level.

Tart tasting, in fact very tart tasting; this is a nice mix of lactic and acetic notes. The lactic acid is the more prevalent not, but I am not sure that the lesser amount of acetic acid is not the most noticed part of the acidity. Flavors of tart cherries, tamarind and star fruit are all noticeable in this exceedingly dry beer. The body actually has a bit of heft to it though, which should be attributed to the barrel contribution and touches of residual malt character. Dry cherry notes, rich (though diluted) balsamic character, . A tannic, tongue coating note in the finish adds spicy almost piquant oak flavors that coat the tongue in a long finish. The barrel adds notes of buttery oak, spicy wood, some soft, creamy vanillin and probably even some berry flavors (assuming that the noticed berry flavors are coming from the Pinot Noir part of the barrel). As the beer warms it really starts to come into its own; the fruit & malt seem to balance the sour notes all that much more and make this even more enjoyable.

This is quite a bit more acetic in character than batch one. This is actually quite hard for a red / brown styled sour beer. An aggressive, but enjoyable, experience if you are into that sort of thing. I like that the oak character is much more integrated (though it still plays a significant role) than it was in batch one, but it still has a little ways to go before it hits that perfect balance between malt and funk / oak. This is still a fantastic beer, but I can’t wait to see if Vinnie can dial this in a bit more over the next couple batches.

Batch 001: Sampled July 2005
4.3 7/4/9/4/19
Pours a hazy ruby red color when held up to the light, an amber color otherwise. The head is thin and tan in color. The aroma is dominated by a fresh oakiness, but, especially when I was pouring this, there is a nice acetic acid note to this that reminds me of a Rodenbach. The nose has notes of buttery oak, hints of cherries, balsamic, and a certain tannic woodiness. The aroma is quite well integrated with a great balance to it, though it does lean toward the acidity, which I am partial to.

The taste is fairly dry, much drier than the pasteurized Flemish beers, but still strikes a malty balance with a bit of caramel complexity to it. The finish is pleasingly acidic, with a leaning towards the acetic side of things. This beer is really well done, I am quite impressed, this is quite a bit farther along than the temptation. The finish has notes of a tannic woodiness, plus a long sour note that lingers along with the woodiness. This beer certainly reminds me of cherries, with a nice fruitiness to it. The more I drink it the more I become enamored of this beer, an authentic Flemish style sour beer that has not been pasteurized. This is quite a bit better, and much more balanced than New Belgium’s La Folie. There is a wonderful interplay between the oak, maltiness, and acid character; this is superb and I can’t wait to get more vintages of this.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.russianriverbrewing.com>Russ River Brewing

Bottle from Zinister at February Houston Tasting. Thanks, Mike! Pours an average reddish orange with an aroma of sour cherry. Flavor is a sour cherry bomb, plain and simple. Average mouthfeel. Not bad at all; I definitely would have this again.