Russian River Supplication

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

Smooth, yet vibrant and spritzy. Hazy yellow-orange with a frothy, lasting head. Incredible nose -- yeasty and woody. Nice element of sour cherries throughout. Balancing bitterness.

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.

37.5 cL bottle. Aroma of sour cherries. Sure, it’s more complicated than that, but reductio ad absurdum! How many ales can be inhaled rather than quaffed? Beautiful cherry amber color with a ring of tiny head bubbles. Medium bodied. Starts with woody sour cherries. Then it gets seriously sour. Tannic might apply. Like sucking fresh cut oak. The finish is simply sour. With cherry pits, wood, bark, all sorts of whatever. Would it be wrong to consider this infected ale? Where are the lines to be drawn? If anyone has used this as a marinade for lamb or beef, let me know how it turned out.

Murky reddish brown brew. Sour cherry nose. Really nice beer. Sour cherry, some over ripe plum. One of RR’s best imo.

Bottle, at various locations during the Zythos weekend, March 2006. Golden orange with a slight haze, thin off white head and good condition. Big barleywine malt and toffee sweetness with a gentle barnyardy tartness in the nose, quite thin and alcoholic in the mouth with a gentle fruity tartness that lingers long into the finish before becoming dry.

Lightly hazy copper orange color has a thin, wispy, yet frothy, white head. Aroma is tart, yeasty and complex with some light cherry fruitiness and lots of brett. Body starts tart, earthy and fruity with lots of complex Belgian yeasty character. Nice wine flavor and cherry tartness throughout. An enjoyable, unique and authentic brew.

GABF 2005: aroma of sour cherry with nice wood notes. Flavor is brett and cherry that is sour with a light sweetness. I love Russian River and this is another reason why.

bottle-sampled at the brickskeller in DC. pours orange with a small white head that was fizzy. really didn’t look all that special. noce of sour and oaky cherries, vineous wine, cocanut and dark cherries. soft palat with light carbonation for the style. long sour and oaky flavors with a touch of vinegar and lots of cherries. palate is very nice i must say. nice and truely unique. very complex and im very happy to have been able to try this fine brew.