Russian River Temptation

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

375 mL Bottle - Batch 001 Pour of candy orange yellow, almost artificial, with a cusp of frothy off-white. Rich flemish aroma with wild woody notes and a hint of leather and fungus. Reserved, with pears and muscat. Bret creates an inviting vinegar like sourness over a fairly deep complex malt. Forefront not terribly exciting, with the acidic notes blending with a light watery alcohol. Finish is the real winner. A lingering of part fruity sweet cream malts, gentle white fins, pears and some pork fats. Real smooth and slick. Finishes out with dash of drying hops and herbs. A truly polished brew, with fantastic balance and great execution. Delicious! Thanks Andy!

Another outstanding sour from RR. Aroma was nice and funky with a hint of vinegar. Pour was a nice murky gold with a one finger off white head that left quickly. Taste was nice and sour, though not as mouth puckering as the Supplication. The oak comes out more in this one, though. Funk with a biting yeastiness in the front with the wood and sourness coming out and shining in the aftertaste. Great carbonation and acidic dry finish.

1.5 L bottle, shared by Kiel. Thanks dude! Pours hazy, light golden with a thin head. Definite bretta yeast aromas, sourish notes, young oak, a little funk and wet wool. Nice bitter, sour, astringent flavor, woody, green apple along with other sour fruits and old socks. Medium body, smooth mouthfeel and gentle carbonation.

Large white frothy head of fine bubbles. Big carbonation keeps a thin layer of foam on the surface. Fruity and sour aroma. Lots of pears, yeast and oak. Color is a dark gold. Wow, was not expecting this in the flavor. Very complex. Tart and sour flavor with green apples, vanilla, oak, alcohol, lime, etc. Pretty harsh and tart up front but mellows out and smooths out as it goes down. Nice alcohol warming. Finish is pretty clean and not as dry and as tart as expected. Pretty good and different brew.

Over a month later and now 5.0 again...fruit is not overly sweet or tart.

May 22nd, 2008 ---Batch 3’s fruitiness is out of this world, but it is too sweet at the moment. Lots of peach and nectarine skin flavor, very stony, and very good - just not quite perfect anymore (4.9).

Batch 2 and 1: 2 @ home and 1 @ DC at Cellar Clearing thanks to Ryan, March, 2008, on consecutive nights. Perfect beer, incredibly fruity. Just blended fruit and sour.

2 months later: A tiny bit unidimesional in it’s flatness, sourness, with just a bit of a reduction in fruitiness, brings this down a tiny bit from perfection. Original sampling: Update: By the way...I had no idea to expect this. Having had Mo Betta and lots of lambics I knew something about brett This was executed amazingly well. Original: 10 minutes earlier...This is unbelievable. Dry, smooth and catchy in the throat all at the same time. Mmm oh boy. Tinderbox dry. Balsawood chewing for half an hour dry. This is dry. Parching dryness. OK. The aroma is multiple strains of weirdness all at the same time wet rotting mushroom and wet wood and pale fruit like peach. And it just plays with your nose right there. The flavor is...well, there are some sweet parts, more like peach and canteloupe I guess. And some white wine maybe, not so sure except that it’s contributing to the entire experience. I think actually some of the flavor is like grape skins. Dry like that. Even the way the palate changes over the entire beer is amazing from too cold and thin to expansive. It looks luminescent. It begins to stink nicely by the midpoint of the beer. Wow. --- Not so much of a pop upon opening and a wet cork. The cork leaves tiny bits signal of a labor of love. I complain in my mind about beer prices sometimes of course this, like La Folie, is a peak beer experience and worth every penny. Who please will accept a shipment as I can’t get it in OH? Thanks to MilkmanDan for the gift.

Sampled more than on time at GABF 08, hazy yellow gold hue, with an off-white head, nice brett funky nose with some musty, barnyard, fruity green apple tart notes, with a wet oaky winey accent in the aroma follows through on -medium-bodied palate with a fruity, sour, citrusy, yeasty, funky character, with a light rhubarb, green apple sourness, with a musty wet winey, white wine oakiness, leading towards a fruity, citrusy sour finish.

Very good sour brett nose. Clear yellow with a lasting foamy head. Taste-sour brett (low-med brett characteristics), some yeast/dough flavors. It seems to me that the brett profile could be a little more agressive. The only real thinkg I taste is mild brett. Enjoyable but not spectacular.

Hazy amber with a large, fizzy champagne-like head. Aroma was sweet/sour, vinous, woodsy, citrusy. Thin and light bodied with big carbonation. Flavor was mouth-puckering sour. Didn’t do it for me.