Russian River Temptation

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

Pours a pale apricot/straw shade with a billowy off-white head of tiny white bubbles, indicating yet another RR wild ale with impeccable carbonation. Several columns of bubbles stream upwards. The head leaves huge chunks of lacing on the glass. Nose is full of a nice brett funkiness. In the background there are notes of fruity sweetness, champagne tartness, lemon, and a hint of the sour cherry found in Supplication. Taste is very tart, almost sour. Unripe apple, lemon, lime, and white wine all make an appearance. Mouth puckering and exquisite. Just as I thought, the carbonation is beautiful. Russian River is easily king of the Belgian style mouthfeel. Smooth, drying, tart finish. If you can handle sour, this beer is very drinkable. I’m glad I have another in the fridge.

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.

Batch 3. 375ml. Courtesy of cloudskipper. Golden color with a real thick off-white head and a nice foam remains on top until the last drop. Wow, what a great aroma, champagne, brett, chardonnay, lemon, yeast, flowers, nice nose. Flavors are tart, acidic and sour with a wonderful bretty dry numbing. Chardonnay and oak does show in the flavor with lemon, grapes and a bit of funk. What an amazing beer. Kudos to Vinnie for brewing this and to Chris for hooking me up!

004x4 Bottle. Pours a cloudy bright golden color with a large frothy head. Citrus, brett, and hint of chardonnay comprise the aroma. Flavor is VERY nice... This is a spectacular sour. The brett character is not too overpowering... it’s just right. The flavor finishes nicely with a faint white wine flavor.

Large head that lingered. Great lacing. Golden color. Aroma was sour, brett funk, and a bit of sweetness. Dry. Taste was sour lemon, the taste of hops but not too much bitterness, a bit of a wine character. Not too sure what to say just dangerously drinkable. An amazing beer.

375ml Batch 1 bottle: Bottle conditioned. Served in a large tulip glass from IKEA (great beer glasses). Mostly clear, but ever so slightly cloudy rich amber body with a medium white head that simply lasts until I’ve finished all the beer in my glass. I can honestly say I’ve never tried a beer that smells or tastes quite like this one. The aroma is strawberries, sour cherries, and sweet oak barrel if inhaled forcefully with the nose as far in the glass as possible. If the glass is tilted until the beer almost touches the nose then scents of chardonnay, acidic barnyard, and sour grapes come out. If the nose is barely held over the edge of the glass then aromas exactly resembling yellow cake with butter icing, honeysuckle immediately following a rain and a very subtle hint of cocoa beans come through. Ok, I spent a bit of time with this one. Now onto the flavors. Initially this beer doesn’t really blow me away. I get flavors of lightly acidic wine, grapes, cherries, cider, and vanilla. Then, as it’s held in the mouth, light flavors of barnyard, white grape juice, crabapple, and oak show themselves. What really blew me away from the first sip was the aftertaste. Almost immediately after swallowing a strong oak comes through - but it’s not overly harsh or acidic - rather it reminds me very much of the fleeting qualities of a good port, the almost sweet pure wood notes. From there it then turns to a bit of chardonnay, and then surprisingly a sweet nutty/caramel/almond flavor that perfectly counterbalances the oak notes. Medium bodied, medium-lively carbonation, can get slightly watery towards the end ( my fault for taking my time enjoying this one). The aftertaste is like no other, and much, much longer than I’ve previously experienced with other beers. I am not normally very taken with the barrel-aging fad, but this one absolutely works. Vinnie, if you read these, a superb job innovating with this one. Hopefully we’ll see more of these from Russian River.

After tasting 13 Russian River beers, I can say that this was my second favorite. (Pliny the Younger blew them all away.) I was amazed at the creativity that went into crafting this beer. This has a pleasant aroma that almost resembles champagne. The aging process in the Chardonnay barrels definitely accounts for this, as well as its unique flavor. This came off heavily carbonated and a little sweet, but totally different than any beer I’ve ever had. One of the truly amazing things about this beer (also true with Supplication), is that just like wine, it has legs! Go ahead and swirl in your glass and see for yourself! Outstanding! Very creative. A great ’after-dinner’ beer.

Another beer via trade with deepsouth (BA). Awesome man! Batch 003! First things first, Smell that Brett! Pale gold yellow cloud with a 2" head. Leaves a nice coat on the sides but that fades too. This beer reeks of Brett and Oak! The sirens are going off for the sour smell. This beer is sour as a MF’er! Tart, smooth and sour like a good belgian! Seriously this beer can hang with all the #1s out there! Little fruit, saison like spice but always sour and tart from start to finish. So Smooth! The tartness sticks around a while and refuses to leave the back of your throat. Mmmmm thank you! So Tart and so so yummy! It’s smooth with a bubbly complexity. The carbonation is very light. Tangy and zesty with a nice strong zap of oak near the end of each mouthful. This beer is so so drinkable. Did a belgian brewery brew this? This can’t be from America. O wait it is. Finally a brewery worth the same praise as say, De Dolle...Yummm Ok I no longer want to review this beer...I need to focus on drinking and enjoying it! Wow this is a delicious brew!