Russian River Temptation

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

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.

Batch 003. Pours a brilliantly bright yellow/golden color with a medium sized white head that has great retention and solid lacing, just like Supplication. Steady stream of bubbles zip to the top. While I didn’t detect any Pinot Noir in the Supplication, Chardonnay immediately jumps out of this one. Also noted are some mild esters, banana, slight pepper and all around fruitiness. Brettanomyces present but kept in check, mostly providing a pepper earthiness. White grapes, some lemon, and perhaps a touch of alcohol are also noted. The combination of Brett and Chardonnay is a very nice pairing, they mix well together. The warmer the beer gets the more the aroma becomes more intensely fruity and citrusy, perhaps pineapple. Taste is lemony, acidic and tart. The level of sourness is pretty much perfect, it is light but keeps with the beer’s subtle nature. This is just super drinkable. This has more finesse and elegance than Supplication though that one is bolder and more flavorful. They both rock in different ways. I could drink this very often.

375 ml bottle - batch 2; glowing, hazy light gold; huge foamy white head settles quick leaving lace; apples, pears, oak, brett; sweet and mild sour; drinks dry and sweet with sour apples, mild funk, lemons and a bone dry finish; killer nose and lovely texture; perfectly sweet and never acidic; fruity sourness blending together

draft @ Brouwers Big Wood - cloudy light orange with thin white head; apples, oak and brett; absolutely crushed the deviation in a side by side, which seems to have temptation as part of the blend; not sure how fresh this keg was, but on this day it was without a doubt my fav sour; unbelievably good this day

750 ml bottle - batch 4; reasonably fresh as opened right after it hit the seattle market; big pop and thick eggy white head settles slowly; sour apples, grapes, oak and plenty of sweetness and brett; texture is soft, subtle and delicate; richness comes out as it warms; fruit goodness and bone dry finish from the brett; fresh is certainly where it’s at with this one IMO b/c you get that big burst of fruit before the brett takes over completely

375 mL bottle. Clear golden yellow with fizzy white head. Aroma of sour fruit and some white wine vinegar characterisitcs. Silky bright palate. Tastes of sour fruit with an oaky dryness to the finish. Very good.

Rating #800! Four twists on the cage and the sucker whizzed by my head and hit the ceiling! What a thrilling beer! Still have not found the cage? Hazy gold pour with fizzy white head and a single ring of lace. Oak and granny smith apple aroma. Very fruity& sweet bread up front with a great tart finish underlined with pleasant oak goodness. Apricot type aftertaste.

bottle batch 4 poured a golden apple color with a little ring of white foam. aroma has bright white grapes, sour funk, vinegar, oak, citrus zest, and plenty of bretty yeast. crisp mouth feel with nice full carbonation. flavor is initially intensely sour, vinegar, oak, crisp white grapes, and a nice countering sweetness. the yeast just blow this out, bitter citrus, and it finishes with a mouth watering dryness. this is my favorite of the russian river sours I have tried so far.

Bottle, batch 003. Aroma is slightly sour, definite chardonnay aromas unlike the Supplication, which I thought lacked any pinot noir qualities. Also has a nice "vanilla cake"-like smell to it. Complex and pretty unique. Taste is sour but not overwhelmingly so, surprisingly citrusy - grapefruit and tangerine are the dominant flavors. Subtle compared to Supplication, but still stands out among other similar beers.

sampled batch 3 with the phoenix crew... pours a cloudy pale orange with a vigorous white head. smells tart from across the room!... champagne, champagne vinegar, woody dryness, yeast, sour cream, lemon zest, mineral/flint/stone, blood and rust. medium body with an airy mouth feel from the soft carbonation. the flavor is the same and doesn’t disappoint. the oak and funk really shine. this walks a fine line between too much malt and not enough... really well done...