Russian River Temptation

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

~RBSG ’08~

Batch 1 bottle at Grand Tasting. Pours an orangish mango color, with creamy head and nice lacing. Funky cider nose, tart, apples, some cherries, wheat. Tart flavors, sweet fruit, noticeable hops, some sticky malts. Yum. Dry mouthfeel, very good, tartness is fantastically balanced with hops.

Cloudy yellow in color with a thin head (once it dissipated). The nose leads the way with a tart/sour/funky citric aromas. The palate is tart and sour but also incredibly balanced with yellow fruit dominating.

003 batch from 375. Aroma is captavating. Chardonnay influences come thru making this femenin, something tough to do with beer’s I’ve had lately. Oak is noticable but not with vanilla or smoke, but the texture is valvet for a sour. Sour gives lift and cleans the palate for a seemless and long finish. Could see how this can miss out on the WOW factor as it’s subtle and deserves to be aged a couple years. No real sweetness to note. Some yeast has settled but not much. Really amazing assuming you get it for the $12 per bottle or so retail price. World class brew. Chardonnay flavors meld well with beer. Great weight and texture. Silky, very easy to drink. Fun to drink. O’Briens 15th annv keg. Outstanding length to this beer. Distinct flavors and beautiful. The most femenin beer I’ve had. Also improves with age though the keg was a recent batch I believe. My #1 best RR beer aged in oak. Exceptional!

Pours golden with thin white head. Aroma has nice funky kick to it. Taste is light and refreshing. Mild sour notes that make this a good starter beer for 9am. Not too sour and very good.

Batch 003. A gusher. Pours with a small white head covering a hazy gold body with small particles. Some lacing. Aroma of grape skins, light fruit, oak, some spicyness and dryness. Taste is chardonnay, oak, sourness and dryness. Light big bubbles and a dry puckering mouthfeel. Enjoyed by me more than Supplication (but my girlfriend thought the opposite). 8,4,7,4,16, 3.9
Rerate from batch 3. Pours with a huge, creamy white head that stays for a while and leaves great lacing. Hazy golden color. Aroma is nice and subdued with notes of spicy chardonnay oak barrel. Taste is champagne like with chardonnay elements and fruit. Very subtle. Touches of caramel and hay as well. Obviously quite sour as well. Champagne quality small, biting bubbles, dry and well hidden alcohol.

bottle thanks to bhops. nice golden yellow pour with a thick white head. sweet almost wine like scent along with some nice sour/fruity notes. easy on the palate with a great tart/sour flavor that is quite good. the finish is awesome as well. no real sourness that goes down just a nice smooth sweet flavor. i must be crazy to rate this so high too.

pours lightly golden, good effercesence, not much head. aroma of grass, white wine, sour wine, parsnip. light an d silky in the mouth. I’m not a big fan of sour brews, so I appreciated that the sourest taste was the first, the tongue didn’t get numbed relentlessly, After teh first hit of lemon rind comes a less harsh version, with notes of honey and juniper. very well done.

It’s not wine, certainly. And that’s a good thing. Pours hazy gold. Aroma of sout fruit and chardonney.Flavor is sour, similar to a gueze, though less tart. No sour finish, just kind of fades away. Delightful beer.