Russian River Supplication

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

375 mL bottle courtesy of cdumler. Thanks Chris! Clear dark amber pour with a small head. Clean and crisp aroma, tart and slightly funky with sour cherry notes. Very dry taste with sour cherry, funk and caramel.

This is VERY good stuff. Pours a cloudy orange brown. In the aroma there’s a bit of horse blanket, hay and sour cherries. The flavor is a bit sweet and is a bit cherry vanilla. Very good.

Poured a slightly murky amber brown, medium head. Nice sour cherry aroma with some vinegar. Palate wasn’t thick, but there was plenty of flavor - sweet fruits, raisins, sour cherries - a little puckering tartness, and all encased in an oakey layer. Finishes dry and then you want some more.

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.

Bottle: Poured a hazy deep red color ale with a medium foamy slightly off-white head with average retention. Aroma of sour cherries and oak are clearly detectable. Taste has a clear sour cherries feel to it with some distinctive note of acidity and oak. Tartness was delectable but could have been more present. Even though this is an excellent Flemish sour, I though it could have had more tart and more complexity in general (i.e. De Dolle Oerbier Reserva). I’d definitely take more RR Temptation over this any day.

Pours with a bright amber body topped by a thin, fizzy head with little lacing left on the glass. It’s sour, tart and vinious with a sour cherry note and an underlying chocolate note that compiments the cherry very nicely. Light bodied, crisp and dry.

350 mL bottle. Reddish orange with light tan fizzy head. Aroma of sour fruit and oak. Very bright palate. Taste of sour cherries and oak with an exceptionally crisp and dry finish and a lingering sourness. Quite good.

Update, fresh batch 003. Courtesy SoLan. Not significantly different from batch 002, except to say that this beer is slightly better when fresh. Striking sourness is balanced by a lactic creaminess that just makes this brew so incredibly easy to drink. Both batches were excellent. Russian River kicks ass.

Batch 002. Pours a cloudy, blood red color. A minimal, foamy tan head slowly dissipates, leaving just a thin ring behind. The aroma features pure, fresh, sour cherries as the backbone. Soft oak and moderate lactic funk emerge, as do hints of Concord grape juice. The flavor is again based on sour cherries, but the grape element really surprises. The use of Pinot Noir barrels (my favorite red grape) is nothing short of genius. The softness of the Pinot lends itself perfectly to a sour ale, and the oak is subtle enough to impart its signature vanilla note without overpowering things. Slightly more substantial than an average sour, the mouthfeel is highly carbonated, yet smooth and silky. Finishes bone dry, with the mouth begging for the next sip. As I stare at my empty glass, I am saddened, and that is the sign of a fantastic brew. Russian River is simply incredible.