Russian River Watermelon Funk

Formerly brewed at Russian River Brewing
Style: Fruit Beer
Santa Rosa, California USA

Date: 10/13/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewfest, GABF

hazy yellow, wispy white head, tart malt aroma with an underlying fruityness, lots of tart flavor, watermellon comes in to add some fruity sweetness for great balance, finishes mostly dry do to the tart

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+/4

GABF 2007: Poured a light yellow color. This actually smells and tastes like watermelon. Great sour component. Get the tartness but not crazy funk. I like this beer a good bit. Refreshing with the sourness. It would be amazing if it stunk.

Tasted on tap at the 1st Annual Bistro Barrel Aged Festival. This wheat ale poured a slightly hazy gold color. Small to medium sized head. Aroma is fruity and funky. Lots of watermelon aroma with a whole bunch of barnyard funk. A medium bodied wheat beer. Malts are fruity and funky. Lots of brett and fruit. Crisp and clean. The funk and the tart mix and match to make this a weird and wonderful really unusual beer. Nice carbonation. Very crisp and dry. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is crisp and dry. Aftertaste is slightly sweet and funky.

Draught samples at Boston’s Belgian Beerfest on 10/27/06.
Moderately hazy body has a color that is just slightly more golden than apple juice. The white head was rather small, fading very quickly to a ring, and leaving little clumps of lace on the sides. Swirl of bubbles initially, but they settle down.
Sour in the nose at first, both from the lacto/pedio and from the wheat. Watermelon is there, but it’s rather marginal. Not that it smells cheap/fake (it’s not) but it seems to get mostly lost amidst the more powerful critter biproducts and heavily dry, somewhat blanding wheat influence. More pedio and lacto acidity than usual, without enough (any) malt to help control it. Some diacetyl from the pediococcus, as usual. Not tremendously strong in the aroma department.
Twangy wheat sourness is joined by the typical Russian River lacto/pedio/brett barrel character. The wine barrel tannins further dry/acidify it and before I even know what I just tasted, any semblance of malt has vanished and I’m left with a ridiculously dry, borderline papery/astringent flavor of pure wild yeasts and just an afterthought of watermelon essence. Very, very, very light body, with noticeable wateriness following some oiliness, and just no real balance. Diacetyl is lightly present on the end.
Don’t get me wrong, the wild yeast character is about as lovely as always, but it’s almost as if there is no base beer. Huge props for experimentation and a unique idea though.

Sample at GABF 2007. This was a real treat. Earthy, wet horse blanket yeasty aroma. I’m smelling the tartness, but little watermelon. Flavor has rounds of fruitiness washed over by a serious sour tartness, but not an objectional battery acid at all. Very drinkable to this non-Brett fan.

"Draft". Golden amber beer with a little white head. Great tart aroma with some fruitiness. Dry, tart flavor with some good earthiness. It was called "Temptation with some watermlon" and I agree. There;s good brett with some added fruitiness.

Draft at the Bistro Barrel Aged Beer Fest 11/11/06 Nose of watermelon and barnyard; hazy gold coloration with a ring of bubbles on the glass edges; Flavor of tart watermelon, with some yeasty barnyard funk!

GABF 2007. Hazy yellow in color with a little white head. Malty tart aroma. Fruity notes. Tart malty flavor. Sweet. Finish is fruity dry and nice. Sour. Well balanced. Nice beer.