Russian River Supplication

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

Had at Logan’s Oceanside beer tasting with AlohaC, and Hair, and Matt, and Ken, Jeff, Colleen, Bill, and others. A real pleasure to try this gem. I’ve been very eager to get a hold of a bottle. I’ve seen it at two other tastings, but didn’t get to try it for one reason or another. Very small sample. Great, great sour cherry aroma. Sourness is mild. Light red color. Tempted to bring my rating up, but 4.5 is pretty high.

2nd batch thanks to the Great Utah tasting. Pours a light orange/red with a decent thin head. The aroma is so unique; sour cherries, aged wine, and some sweet hints of fruit and malts. The taste does not let you down; a really rich sourness that dances in your mouth, a nice acidic/ alcohol burn that really adds a ton. The flavor is mostly sour cherries up front, but later leads to a yeasty flavor also with some oak barrel and sweet rich malts. High marks for uniqueness. Great!

Bottle tasted at the 7/5/08 Bock Bash locals tasting. Pours a clear amber with one finger off white head. Nose is sour cherries, vinegar, lemons and wood. Taste is sour green apples, yeast, malt, pickle juice, lemons and aspirin. Medium, prickly mouth feel. Very good.

Caged corked 375 ml. dark olive green bottle, description and serving suggestions on the back portion on the label, Batch 002, glassware recommendation on the cork, sampled in my Russian River tasting snifter. L: Poured carefully to keep the yeast sediment in the bottom of the bottle, hazy orangey amber with a compact beige head, fair amount of lace sticks to sides of the glass. A very impressive start. S: Caramel and brown bread, new leather, earth, wine soaked wood, a light herb spiciness, and, of course, tart, acidic sour cherries, I am really enjoying the nose on this. Everything comes through, the brown ale, the brett yeast, the barrel it was stored in, and incredibly fresh smelling sour cherries. F&T: Lightly creamy, pleasant rounded feeling in the mouth, smoothly tart and dry. Sorta of lambic like, but not really, the backbone of the brown ale is noticeable, tastes of brown bread and a pinch of caramelized sugar. Mildly tart sour cherries with a sharp, but balanced acidity. Just after the middle, tastes of carambola, oak nutty woodiness, earth and a soft spiciness emerges, giving some bite to the overall taste. Finishes with a nice tart arid dryness with lingering tastes of sour cherries and wood. Everything about this is a testament to how extremely well crafted it is, when I reach the end of the bottle, I long for more.

(on bottle batch 001)So, US flemish sour to dropkick, hahah. No really, this is my first try om the brewery(of witch I have heard nothing but praises) and north american efforts to make oud bruin-like-kind-of-beer, so let´s see. Has a fine nose, vanilla, gooseberries, raspberries, malts. the blend of malt and tatness is great. murky brown, with small, beige head. the taste starts great, zingy and with a good carbonation level. get´s more nutty and rounded. The finish bothers me. It´s like the wood gets too dry and earthy on me, I get a sandpaper feeling on the tounge. Also, the finish lacks the vineouros and fruityness of brown ales with sourness and the likes. RERATE AUG 08. Probaly batch 003. Amber, small, white head. Semi-tart cherry, wood, cherrykern nose. On-the-spot balance between tart, sour and sweetness here. Very well made this time, but a rather waterish mouth. The finish contains alot of what the aroma had, but more suttle, nutty ways too 4.2

Ok, simply my favorite RR brew I’ve had. I’m a fan of red wine, and the character of this one fits to a tee. Woody, tannic, along with a nice good old beer flavor. A bit acidic, but it fits perfectly. Fruit is there too, just a great beer, the future looks good for Russian River! Thanks Vinnie!

Bottle. Pours a cloudy amber with a decent sized head and aromas of funk, tart cherries and so forth. Flavor is similar with the cherry presence coming through a little subdued, but very nice. Thanks, Kan!

sampled with the phoenix crew... supplied by sparky27 (does it ever end?). beautiful orange pekoe iced tea color with a small white head which retains as a ring. it leaves behind light spotty lacing as it recedes. initial aroma of dill pickles (not unpleasant though), wood, earth, lots of minerals and some sweet malt hidden behind the vinegary tartness. it smells very fresh! the flavor is quite funky and dry but malty and well balanced.... wood, minerals, fruit/tart cherries and a similarity to red wine. medium body. prickly and well carbonated...