Russian River Temptation

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

Bottle at O’Briens. This was a side by side comparrison with Suplication. Temptation wins. Sour apple, with pears, and apricotts. More acidic then RR Suplication, but it works for this style. Russian River does a good job creating strong tasting beers, that continues to impress.

The bottle overflowed. Slightly sour, fruity aroma. Hazy golden color with a little white head (and a few yeast chunks). Starts with apple, immediately hits strong sour notes. The wood is present, and seems to be the predominate element in the finish. Tart, dry ending. Like life.

This beer had a head that just would not quit. Lovely to look at. Taste was mildly sour with great belgian characteristics. Those Russian River brewers really know how to make beer that is like nothing else available.

Huge thanks to Beerdrenched for sharing this great beer, my first Russian River. Pours moderate yellow with a small white head. The aroma is fruity and tart (very brett) with pepper, white grapes and sharp citric lemon - very sweet / tart flavors. Medium / light body with minor sharp carbonation. The taste starts with sharp citric lemon, lots of sour / tart traits, bits of wood and grainy spice. The finish is wonderfully sour and refreshing. Lots of tart goodness. Thumbs up for this fantastic beer.

this did have quite the win-o feel to it. like it was soaked with white grape seeds and oak. flavor is largely consistant of the oak, the grapes/wine flavor, rye or sourdough bread yeast, with twinges of sour cherry and wine-soaked pears and apricots. a slight astringent character to this, but love the funky flavors.

Batch 2. Soft golden yellow colored body underneath a soft, billowy white head that dies rather quickly into a nice thin film. Just a wonderful aroma of white grapes, soft honey and lavender, the brettonomyces are smooth and pungent, soft and prickly on the nose, everything about this beer smells divine, and the oak blends so perfectly with the light fruit and wine scents it’s almost too much to handle. There’s a soft doughiness and medicinal quality that I think adds to the experience, it’s better than if it were strictly all oak, like La Folie. The aroma alone absolutely rivals some of the best Belgian made sour ales around. Prickly and sharp up front, fizzy, vinuous, oily and sour. Over the middle it turns sour with a distinct bandaid (medicinal) smell mingling with grapes and pears. Frothy and full on the back of the palate, it leaves the mouth slightly numb, tingling with fruit (lemon) and sourdough. Awesome beer. Batch 1 on draft on Jan 31, 2008, had faded a little bit, but was still wonderously complex. Smooth, silky, but with a stale paper flavor from the mellowing. Batch 2 bumped by score up to 4.7 last year, and I think this Batch 1 on draft would garner a 4.1-4.4.

The aroma was strongly fruity and vinous with a citrusy grapeskin and grapeseed character. A definite tartness was exhibited in the aroma which was acidic and a bit lactic as well. A light sweetness hid just behind the tart characteristics. The beer poured into the chalice clear yellow with a white low head which traced just enough to lace at the glass. The flavor was tart with a bit of a bready brett character and with a farmhouse presence. Despite the tart nature the beer was lightly sweet on the palate and had a peppery and citrusy character. The beer also exhibited a definite oak presence and even a hint of vanilla near the end of the flavor. The body was medium and with a decent level of carbonation the beer was creamy in the mouthfeel but the tartness quickly ended that impression. The finish was tart and citrusy with lasting tartness which lessened into the aftertaste. A very complex beer, I enjoyed the first batch (001)a bit more. 12.7 ounce corked and bailed bottle. Batch 002.

I found this one confusing. The bret yeast gives it a wonderful sourness. The nose is Belgian sour plus tart fruit. The appearance is hazy gold, almost opaque, with a white head ... what I callthe lemon merengue pie look. Taste confused me. Starts with a Belgian sour, adds notes of chardonnay and oak, finishes sour.