Russian River Supplication

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

Batch 001: Rusty orange. Dirty-white foam falls to a puffy ring. Cedary, sherbety, moldy, rounded sour cherry nose with rhubarb, barnyard, and acetic acid. Quite musty with minerals and “band-aid” phenols. Tongue tickling carbonation. Slickness mirrors the body’s grit. Tart cherry skin explosion greets a boisterous brett-accented accompaniment of soft bandage phenols which, along with the fruitiness, films the palate. Phenols persist to caress the tartness and reinforce the musty medley of oak and minerals. Subtler, but perpetually slick and juicy, sour cherry elements continue to buoy the body and, along with the funky yeast and dried leather astringency, generate stimulating flashes of puckering acidity that constantly come and go. Moderate huskiness and vanillin oak absorb much of the fruit-derived tannins, but enough acidity remains to hold your attention and to prolong the dryness. Finishes brightly oaky and earthily husky as brisk skin tannins pierce the lapsing wall of gritty oak that lingers on the tongue. Comprehending the timeless devotion and resilient passion that was poured into the making of this is simply unfathomable. Vinnie is such an inspiration.

Orange, long lasting off white head, good lacing. Aroma is lightly sour, good amount of citrus, some sweetness, cheese. Flavour is fairly sharp, acidic, lots of citrus, pink grapefruit tartness, good funk, sweetness lingers throughout. Tart mouthfeel, medium body, moderate carbonation. Finishes long, tart, high acidity, dry.

Pretty damn good. Each sip brings new flavours and even more complexity. Best American brewery.

375ml bottle obtained in a trade with TheCheeseMan, thanks Dan.
Opened on March 24, 2009.
Batch 003.

Thanks to stlwill for sharing this beauty (and probably a couple other I forgot about). Pours hazy amber with a minor white head. The aroma has lots of sour funk, lactic acid, oak, vinegar, tart cherries, wild yeast and barnyard. Medium body with some graininess and some sharp, but soft carbonation. The flavor starts off with berries, lactic sourness, some spiciness, oak, dryness for the style, vinegar, funkiness from the yeast and dry sour cherries. The finish is very tart and dry. This is an excellent beer in every way.

Bottle courtesy of pantanap: Gushed a cloudy copper orange with an off white head. Aroma is sour fruit along with wood. Taste is mouth puckering sour with a wood and tart cherry.

Dark orange body that produces a fleeting off-white head. The aroma is funky and fruity. Tart flavor with spicy cherries and oranges. Not really my style of beer and I’d love to try this again on a fesher palate.

ON tap at Belmont Station in Portland, OR--Glad I saved the bottle I brought back home from San Diego--Poured a murky hazy brown-orange body with a small whitish head. Sweet fruity (cherry) nose and flavor/palate. Sticky, sharp, carbonic, tart, sour (God, was it sour!) profile. tongue dazzling with liveliness. Not so terrible.

Pours clear orange amber with a lacy white head. Sour cherry aroma. Oaky sour cherry taste. I take back all the bad things I’ve said about aging beer in Pinot Noir barrels. This stuff is great!

GABF 2005. Samples tried: 3, ~3.75oz total. Absolutely incredible tart, fruity aroma, plenty of cherry and woodiness with abundant brett character and some faint malty sweetness. Medium golden-amber color, lightly hazy with a nicely lasting head. Instantly tart flavor, fruity and gently sweet, plenty of pear/apple fruitiness towards the finish along with notes of peach, red grape and cedar and more lightly farmy brett overlaying it all. Smooth, quenching palate, body is unusually full for a lambic-type creation. Very drinkable, flavorful and impressive, and seemingly fully Belgian at the time. 8/4/8/4/16

Bottled sample, Batch #002, thanks to JB for sharing this one! Incredible aroma, with notes of tannic oak, sour cherry, red grape, yeast funk, fruity sweetness, earthiness...very nice. Cloudy rusty red-orange color, head is fully dissipating. Flavor is a good balance of sweetness, winey touches here and there, sourness, tart fruit and oak, finishing semi-dry and lightly acidic with lingering cherry tones. Smooth and thin on the palate, body is medium. This is a really enjoyable and tasty creation.