Russian River Supplication

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

Preview bottle courtesy Vinnie Cilurzo. Vibrant reddish-amber colour, with clouds. Orange-peach esters share the aroma with brettanomyces, leather and big Pinot Noir character. The flavour is less voluptuous, but still pretty good with vinous notes and a hit of sweet cherry a la NGBR. Fruity, balanced and unique. Aging in wine barrels is definitely something I approve of - the flavours meld so naturally with estery beer styles. re-rate: I’d orignially given this beer a 4.0 but every time I’ve had it since I would have scored it higher. Drinking it this morning is yet another heavenly Supplication experience...time to elevate the score on this one.

GABF 2005. Hazy gold with a big, fluffy head. Very nice sour brett aroma, mixed with horseblanket, soft cheese. Lightly sour flavor, rather floral, with the finish being a tad more sour. Nice light carbonation. I love these sour, funky beers.

Bottled at RBESG. Cloudy amber, lively head. Striking Cantillon-like citric nose. The freshening citric acid dominates, but undrenath there is loads of flavours, like buttery malt, some red wine and toffee. Very drinkable despites it’s complexity with many lambic like aspects. An awesome beer, and my allround favourite at RBESG ’05.

Pours a deep ruby red with a lastine off white head. Aroma of sour cherries, vanilla, grapes and slight malt vinegar. The body is med-dry for such a beer with a moderate amount of CO2, could be higher. The flavors are OMG this is sour! Some vanilla and grape skins. Some sour cherries and vanilla. Some OMG TART!. What a lovely and complex brew. God it is beautiful to see the art coming out of American breweries these days.

Batch 2, rated March 2008
Hugely sour after so much time in the bottle, hugely dry and parched, as sour as a lot of lambic can get, the wood and cherry note is milder now, subdued, but still rich and delicious. Less vibrant fruit than at a younger age, more sour, more puckery, more dry, more tannins. Very, very good, and I drank it alongside Selins Grove Phoenix Kriek, and actually found a mixture of both of them the best.

Batch 1, originally rated in October 2005
Very tart and sweaty, perfumy wood scented. To me seems very close to a classic lambic. Light texture, sour fruit and wheat flavors, good creamy body and an almost oily finish. Very well made. I’m craving more.

375ml bottle, batch 1. Pours more like a De Dolle beer than a lambic style...massive frothy head, and it stays thick & creamy as I drink it...head almost seems to have a pinkish hue to its otherwise obvious tan color. Beer bubbles amber. Oak, must, cherry pit, butter...is this heaven or what? What does balance mean to a beer like this?? Cuz I want to say it might be the most balanced fruit lambic I’ve ever had. The butter dimension is low but apparent, but I don’t feel it detracts from the beer. Malt, cherry, funky acid & wild yeast character. Full bodied and lush for such a beer, like a Yo La Tengo or Nicola Conte track....yet no sweetness. Delicious, and Laura loved it too.

batch 002. Deep red beer with a sweet fresh cherry aroma, lovely fruit skin tannins and a bit of brettanomyces funkinss. Lots of tart acetic/lactic character as well. Soft sourness with a very well-integrated oakiness. Vanilla character behind the fruit and sweetness. Warming brings up a soft oaky earthiness with a light musky scent. Flavour is also amazing, sweet cherry, oak, vanilla and a soft lacto/pedio chewy acidity. Dank and dark with a heavy earthy vineousness throughout. Funk and barnyard wrapped in a blanket of cherries and woody tannins. Words don’t really do this one justice... this is wild ale at its best.

Bottle shared courtesy of egajdzis (thanks!). Batch 0001. Poured a darker and cloudy amber color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of tart cherries (not overpowering), vinous, and brett. Tastes of the same with the brett and wine lighter on the tongue than the nose. This one took me by surprise! Very good!