Russian River Temptation

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

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.

June 2007. Batch 002. Glowing, almost the color of sunrise on water. Letting shadows through and retaining a constant sipping crown of foam. Wet leather and farmhouse aromas, peat and cayenne pepper, pungent vinegar. Fades softly into a kind of pistachio-crème white cake sweetness. The sourness here is soft and balanced, while the Chardonnay barrel lends a rich almond-butter depth. Wild notes of sea mist and wet oak rafts. An acidic pulse of lemon seed blossoms with a confident, imposing strength upon swallowing. Ringing with crystal clarity, sour but bright, complicated but melodic. One to savor and treasure. Thanks Ernest! 9/5/9/4/18 4.5

July 2008. Batch 003, thanks to Steve. Sunshine blonde pour and a wispy cream of meringue. Almond cake batter, leathery brett and lemon juice, hay must and attic dried spice in the aroma. The sunshine of the orchard and the evocative calm of the farmhouse dusts. Acetic acids and a range of tangy spice effects a jagged edge, while the Chardonnay barrel maintains its cool and reservation, lending polish. Far out horseblanket salt, sweat and grimy earth.

The restraint of the sourness, the pristine shimmer of pale malts in the glow of chardonnay oak, and the bittering calm of floral earthiness sleep gracefully together in the flavor. The essence of morning in the meadows. The angular impartation of wild yeasts is somewhat submerged, and integrates itself with ease into oak and white grape tannins. This makes for a truly spectacular drinkability; while marked with the distinctive sour flair of bret and pedio, the lactic yeasts seem more prominent in lending a silky, soft tartness; wholly perfect to accentuate that Chardonnay presence that already works so well.

Yeast dropped lends a pit of stone fruit quality throughout alongside a sharpened and more detailed sourness. The gravelly character of the white wine is pronounced, again just exaggerating how perfect the blend of these yeasts with this barrel actually is.

Sparkly palate is medium in body and maintains a gorgeous balance of velvet texture and diamond-sharp acidity. Pineapple and a distant doughiness alongside the drying leather of animal yeasts in a long but understated finish. AGAIN, it’s the amazing balance of the elements here that’s truly breathtaking; it’s one of those moments when art grabs hold of you and simply demands to be revered. 10/5/10/5/20 5.0

Bottle via Vinnie from RR comping me due to my mistake (yep Vinnie frakkin’ rules!). Batch 001.Been saving this for 6 months. Pours a crystal clear gold with a large white head that leaves more than enough lace on my Pilsner glass. Nose is unique-sort of a cross between a champaigne and a fine red wine. Taste is quite unique. Like most RR beers, it starts with an explosion of fruit. THis one starts with my favorite apples;pink ladies, then some peach & strawberries, and then the pink lady finishes again. Dry clean finish. Medium body. I do not care for this style, but honestly this is great stuff. I liken it to a punk rocker that recognizes the best C & W band he has ever heard.....and knows it is good..and that all is well! I hate the style but love this beer, what more can u seay?! Get it & try it if u know whats good 4 u?!

Orange pale, pleinement brouillée et opaque, peu de dégagement gazeux lors du service à partir du fut. Ananas et fruits exotique, lotion après rasage, un brin de cuir jeune, caractéristiques pleinement sauvages, signature mielleuse et presque vineuse fidèle et de connivence à la bonté d’un vieux chardonnay en début de madérisation. Pleinement reminiscente d’une gueuze authentique pour plusieurs de ces aspects, sauvage, couverture de cheval, grange. Acide et pleinement tartrique, finale très sèche faisant grincher les dents. Corps pleinement atténué, se rapprochant de la densité de l’eau sans ne sembler aqueux pour autant. Douce carbonatation offrant le parfait support à ce nectar divin. Lorsque art et science s’harmonisent parfaitement, je sors mes souliers du Dimanche avec enthousiasme. Plusieurs échantillons au Amerian Beer Fest, Boston, 18 Juin 2005.

Batch 002. Slightly hazy, pale body with medium sized off-white head. The aroma is heavy brett, pineapple, cobwebs, light horseblanket, some peach and honey. The flavor is slightly sweet, mildly tart, pineapple, peach, pear, green apple and slightly herbal. Medium body with soft carbonation and a soft and smooth texture, just a touch tannic on the finish. Lovely.

The Lure:
Lone raindrops delicately falling into a puddle. That is how the tintinnabulation of single piano notes sound in me, as percipient pears nobly take the hand of recipient honey. Their first step forward is the epitome of togetherness. White wine and bread are handed to them, and the violin trembles in, supported by long cello murmurs. A spiritual communion to the eternity of their fraternity. The surrounding wilderness blends into the scenery admirably, eyes close, unable to cope with the depth of the rising melody. The courting begins.

The Festivities:
Eyelids open gradually to the elevating orchestra punctuations. White grapes and honey plot the course of the bretty polyglot. Piano chords intelligently ring in the fully-developed musicality, and lambic tartness soars like soundscapes. Drums resonate quickly, to stop immediately, as silence and wooden dryness gently hover. The single piano notes reappear like haphazard raindrops, a citrus fruit amorously squeezed for some of its precious juice. Eyes close once again, softly, in total serenity.

Transcendence:
Worlds reside in silences.

375mL Batch 1 bottle, from The_Beer_God, thanks so much, Mike! Consumed all to myself on 7/15/2005. Served in a lambic flute (why the hell not!) starting at about 48 degrees and progressively warmer from there.

How about a top 10 reasons why I love this beer so much?
1. American but not Americanized
2. A beautiful and tempting sourness can be sensed from the nose.
3. Warm, light fruity tones, and very soft, approachable barrel character, with a delicate yet vibrant yeastiness. Not to mention a wonderful, permeating strength to the aroma.
4. No foaming when opened, unfiltered, unpasteurized, moderate head, with perfect retention and tons of lacing. Brilliant, tiny bubbles.
5. Another one of those beers you don’t want to stop sniffing. Funky and charming, it takes a mountain to remove the glass from your nose.
6. Such a deliciously seductive acidity.
7. Though I don’t even care much for Chardonnay, and am generally skeptical of barrel-aging, this is superbly done and most importantly, nowhere near overdone.
8. Perfect mouthfeel, to my taste, with delicate, tiny bubbles, tingly and bursting all over the palate to provide wood, apricots, peaches, nectarines, white pepper and light apples.
9. The brettanomyces are noticeable but do not dominate the beer, an awesome accomplishment for American brewing.
10. A 375mL bottle goes down WAY too fast. At my last sip, it seems like I just took my first.

Great stuff, Vinnie! Cant’ wait to see how this ages, and if it ages anything like I think it will, I’ve got to get me some more.

Big thanks to DaveCooks for this one. The pour is hazy layered dark straw/deep golden color with a great 2-finger white fluffy head. The aroma is Bretty, with that oaky funk common to gueuzes, plus some citrus (orange zest, lemon) and honey malts, plus floral dry spices and coriander. Complex aroma. The flavor is tart, very gueuzy, but with more sweetness in the apricotty oaky fruit, white wine grape, and citrus components (more citrus than fruit). The palate is dense and extremely complex, and the beer retains a tart citric frutiness as it warms, alond with the dry floral spiciness. This beer was so good it was all I could do not to chug the whole damned thing! This one is worthy of a top 50 slot.