Russian River Beatification (Batch 001)

Rerate: NYE, 2007. PH1. Unbelievably lovely, sour but not overly so. Batch 001 and PH1 side-by-side. The PH1 carbonation was constant and really thinned out the body. The 001 was positively creamy and gets much higher palate scores. Both beers have peachy aromas but the PH1 was severe and acetic on top of that while the 001 was nuanced and contained cherry and tropical notes. Flavors were sour but more than handleable, with some soft minerality in the 001 plus a little sugariness. The PH1 was much more aggressive. Rating the PH1 alone would be 8/3/8/3/17=3.9, rating the 001 alone would yield 9/4/9/5/18=4.5. The 001 is close to Temptation and Supplication qualia!

Batch PH1. Served in an Ommegang glass. A: Brilliantly clear, highly carbonated amber body. There was an initially thick white head but it fell quickly leaving nothing on the sides of the glass but only a rim of head on the edge. S: The La Folie influence on the aroma is overwhelming. I can immediately recognize it. The aroma is nice and tart with some citrus notes. VERY inviting. T: Damn, I love wild ales and this one is outstanding. Very pronounced tartness but it still manages to be smooth. Great pucker effect. The flavor has an earthy note typical of Brett. There are also some sour cherries lurking in the background. This is really a top notch beer. Brew this again Russian River!! M: The carbonation is great on this and gives it a great mouthfeel. It takes what would otherwise be a pretty light bodied beer up a notch or two and gives it enough body to last. D: Outstanding. Perfect. Top notch. Insert any other compliments you can think of. Especially when you consider that it is only 5.5% ABV, the drinkability on this is out of the park. This is by far my favorite RR beer and certainly one of the best beers I have had. Edit: When you drink this beer, pour the yeast into the last sip. It is excellent.

Bottle. Batch 001. The pour is murky and bright orange with a white effervescent head. Brett and a sort of musty cherry aroma jump right out of the glass. Fantastic aroma with a lot going on...apricots, leather, oak, bubblegum and an earthy note. Sharp tartness that hits your tongue immediately just like La Folie but not as shockingly dry. Horse blanket, cobwebs and fruit flavors. Finishes dry but not exceedingly so.

375 mL batch 001 bottle via marcus. The beer pours to a hazy coppery straw colored body with a thin but lasting fizzy white head. Looks gueuze like. The flavor is buttery, tart, acidic, sour cherries and apples, leathery like a gueuze, wood, lots of brett and a great balance of the other 3 bugs. This "regular" batch is phenomenal. More like a gueuze than a Flemish sour, but I realize it isn’t because this isn’t a lambic. Wowzers. I wish I had the PH1 to try. The aroma is sour cherries and Turkish apricots up front with tart lemony oak underneath. Italian leather and funk all mixed into a pie. This beer brings together the best of two styles and blends them nicely. So unique, so delicious. The palate is tart, drying, nicely carbonated, wonderful feeling. This is damn near perfect. I think PH1 would be a 5.0. Excellent brew Russian River!
375 mL batch 001 PH1 shared via JCapriotti. mmmm...

750. Batch 001-PH01. Explosive. Beer is a a murky medium, bright, caramel-gold color with a large, creamy, white, mostly lasting head. Spiderwebs of lacing on the glass. The aroma is redolent of La Folie. They vaporize away a little and reveal a more subdued beauty underneath. Breaks down to be malty with light-to-moderate notes of toasted bread and sweet, fluid caramel; hoppy with moderate notes of lemon and herb; yeasty with moderate notes of delectibly funky horseblanket and band-aid, light notes of cobwebby goodness; Light miscellaneous notes of green apple, oak, vanilla, light note of spicy alcohol, white wine-like vinosity and a trace of coriander. The flavor is moderately sweet, moderately-to-heavily acidic with a long, moderately-to-heavily acidic/dry, lightly sweet, trace bitter finish. Nice bright lemony aftertaste. The body is light-to-medium, the texture is velvety and the carbonation is lively/fizzy.

I had previously sampled Beatification at the RR Brewpub in October of 2005, straight from the barrel and again in January of this year at a RR dinner at Monk’s Cafe but this is my first review of this fine beer from the bottle. Batch 001 (PH1) is waiting patiently in my cellar. The beer poured a nice brilliant hazy straw color with a bit of a white head that didn’t last very long and gave way to a good ring around the glass and strong lacing. The aroma of the beer definitely had the characterstics of where it was aged, in an oak barrel, but it was not overpowering. Notes of cherry and other fruit. The taste was very impressive, tart and acidic and a bit of funkiness but not overbearing, just perfectly complimenting each other. The taste lingered in the mouth for awhile and did have a bit of a dry champagne burn to it which I like in a beer. There is a lingering sweetness to this beer that is very pleasant and I just can’t get enough of. It would be interesting to taste this along side Redemption which is where this started and also with the PH1 to test the subtle differences in each. Vinnie and Natalie hit this one out of the park as they do with so many of their beers. A real winner, too bad there is not much of this out there.

Bottled PH1: Beer pours hazy dark honey color with mostly dissipating head. Aroma is an amazing amalgm of vinegar, barnyard funk and massive brett. Flavor is delicously sour, but in a totally restrained fashion. Also a light, very not fake, cherry fruit finish. Palaate is perfect. A world class beverage; I sat on this rating for way too long.

Tasted side by side the 001 and 001-PH1. The aroma of 001 was better to me (a 10 vs. 9) and the flavors while different between the two made it difficult to pick a favorite and both got a 9. Both poured hazy deep gold with a thin off-white head. 001 had a perfect funky aroma with plenty of tart barnyard yeastiness. The PH1 had a funky aroma as well but less tartness and more malty. More of the leather aroma in this one. The flavor in the PH1 however had more tartness than the 001. Acidic flavor with nice malt mixed in. The 001 flavor had great acidity and yeasty funk in the flavor. Funk was more dominant in 001 with more maltiness in the PH1 so which is better will be up to the taster for sure. The 001 gets the 4.6 and the PH1 gets a 4.5