Russian River Temptation

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

Sampled at Hellbilly’s Hellraiser II. Pours a hazy gold color with a medium foamy whit head. Aroma of lemons and sour apples. Funky sour lemon flavor. Last pour from the bottle has a great yeasty flavor that compliments the sourness very well. Fantastic brew.

I loved this beer. Poured a beige 1 inch head, with little orange spore thingys in the head. Sweet tarts up front with funk in the back. this is one of the best beers I’ve ever had.

I’m a selfish man. I secretly wanted my wife to hate this beer, and she did. Its sour-Belgian intensity drove her away. And it drove me in. Another amazing beer that I cannot find enough fancy words for. Sour and flavorful. Fantastic. Sorry, honey. I drank it all.

Shared with Miketd. Thanks for sharing this bottle Mike! Bottle batch #3 pours golden with a white head. Has a funky smell to it. The sour smells are wonderful. Musty. Mouthfeel is light with a lof of carbonation. Has a sour, tart, and yet sweet taste to it. All rolled into one. I like this one a little better than the depuration I just tried. Its a really nice brew. Thanks again.

This one floored me, big thanks to Mike for sharing at WSF. Pours a hazy yellow-orange with fading off-white head. Big apricots and tangerines, bright fruits like that coming off in the nose, with some wet wood aspects too. Lemon and grapefruit and tropical stuff too. Awesome. Flavor resembles more of a classic gueuze, with tart grapefruit, woody and bone-dry, dry dry. Incredibly complex, easily delicious, interesting. She has it all.

375 ml bottle. Poured a medium blonde cloudy color, almost looked like unfiltered apple juice. In the nose I could really smell the chardonnay barrel. First sip shocked me, so bubbly, so sour, oops, sour is not really my flavor. I found it sweet, sour, and almost chalky, and super carbonated. Deep in the finish a dry malt backbone came through. No doubt a quality product, and maybe When I grow up, I will love this.

Re-Rate. GABF 2007. I don’t remember if it was at the fest itself, or if someone brought a bottle to one of the private tastings. Big foamy white head. Smells of gueuze-y brett surrounding a blossom of big round lemony orange. The acid is pretty subdued in the mouth, but it lasts for a long time. Vanilla oak and lime rind are the main notes I can pick out of the flavor. Great beer, elegant and subtle. 8/5/8/4/16 = 4.1

Original Rating. GABF 2004; rating from the festival, enterred from old notes. Smells are intense and wonderful, very sour and elegant. Pours with a large head, even in small tasting glass; looks wonderful. Taste is tart with some "swill notes" (I don’t remember what I meant by that, but judging from the rest of the notes, I think there was some funkiness that didn’t agree with me). After getting used to the acidity, body seems a bit watery. I had originally written a 17 for the overall, but I dropped it down to 16 and then 15, probably because I wasn’t liking the funkiness of the yeast. I would love to have this again, since now I believe it would not react badly with me. 9/5/8/5/15 = 4.2

A Mes rate: Bottle at weekend of tarts.
Semi hazy gold colour with a very well behaved head. Lovely wooden notes in the aroma. Flavour is dry and sour with some pineapple, fairly obvious but far from offensive alcohol, fanbloodytastic balance of sweet and tart, plenty yeasty notes and a refreshing hit of funky citrus at the finish. Mouthfeel is utterly stunning. Almost mellow but still quite big in the body. A stunning beer.

MASSIVE thanks Mike.