Russian River Consecration

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

Beer number four in a killer July 09 Super Secret Sour State Line Tasting (SSSSLT) featuring (first to last by my counts): Supplication, Consecration, La Folie, Dissident, Cuvee de Castleton, Red Poppy, Lambic de Hill, Festina Lente, Panil. This one poured a dark hazy murky brownish color, some red hues too. The aroma was caramel and dark berries, light wood and funk. The flavor was rich caramel and dark berries (figs works too), vinous notes, light spicey woody elements in the finish. Ample amounts of leather, although the tobacco could have been what I was getting (tannins). Tart berries increased with temperature. Lively mouthfeel. Double digits ABV, are you kidding me? No way, smooth as all get out. Thanks to Steve or Gabe for bringing this Batch 001-4x along!!!!

Thanks to AmEricanbrew for this - batch 1, opened in celebration of my new job - dark reddish-purple pour - fizzy, quickly dissipating head - beautiful aroma of potent oak and red wine tannins, cherry, currant, raspberry, cinnamon, nutmeg, notes of chocolate, mild acidity - the flavor isn’t as balanced (really heavy on the oak), but it’s still really good - starts with strong tannins and acidity, damp oak - some sweet cherry and chocolate very briefly through the middle - dries out quickly, bringing acetic/vinegar qualities, moderate acidity, very earthy, tart currant flavor - very vinous throughout - acidity gets prickly in the finish - a light warmth in the finish is the only thing even hinting at how strong the beer is - there is a bitter cherry pit flavor that develops as it warms that is this beers only real flaw - I think it needs a little more time to smooth out, but this is still a great beer.

Bottled. I sat on this for a month or so which is longer than I can normally wait. Upon pour I had radical extreme aroma and flavor. Sour and sweet, cherry and wood. Maybe I need more of this but as it is fantastic I could not drink much more than a pint or so of this .........,max.........

pours a dark brown with a ruby tint when held to the light, a small khaki head that dissipates quickly, and some lacing. smell is sour, dark fruits, and wood. taste is tart, sour malt, and dark fruit, end is nicely tart.

Bottle. Pours out a dark brown color with a tan head on it. Bottle blew out onto the bar when I opened it, I was hoping it wasnt ruined, and thank god, it wasnt. Smell is full of a cherry sour funk with oak and vanilla notes. Taste is just incredible, sweet yet very sour, cherries, oak, there is just so much going on. This is a beer to drink over a long period of time to pick out all of the flavors in it. The 10% alcohol is not existent. This could be 3%, and it wouldn’t change the flavor. This beer proves why Vinnie is probably the best brewer in the country. Awesome beer.

This one even tops Stille Nacht Reserve ’96 as my all-time favorite beer...there is little I can say, other than to delineate its complexity thusly...Chocolate, coconut, currant, caramel, candied orange, coriander, celeriac, radish, the requisite horse blanket, and barnyard funk, rhubarb, lemon zest, lots of tobacco, black pepper, walnut, tangerine, acanthus leaf/bay leaf, cherry skin, strawberry, kiwi, balsamic vinegar, sweet cream butter, cigarette ash, kale, ginger, cardamom, Branston pickle, pineapple, and pink grapefruit are somehow all orchestrated meticulously, and even seamlessly, into the absolutely hands-down best beer I’ve ever had the delight to savor...the body is creamier than I’ve ever experienced in a sourale, and the 10% alcohol really allowed all those aforementioned flavors to blossom to their absolute fulles.t If any of you real beer aficionados get the chance to try this one, don’t let the $22 price tag scare you off. After all, it’s a 25.4 0z. dose, and, believe me, it’s cheap for what it is.

Courtesy of Styles

Bottle: The aroma is vinous with some sour cherries, oak, and a hint of chocolate. It pours a hazy orangish-brown with a moderate beige head with decent retention. The flavor starts lightly vinous with some hints of chocolate. The finish turns to moderately sour cherry with some light oak. Medium bodied with light-moderate soft carbonation.

25 oz bottle, via Liquid Solutions. Pours a clear ruby brown body with a fizzy beige head. Lots of active carbonation. The nose is tart and hints of vinegar with oak, fruity malt, and a good bit of cabernet vinousness. Very jammy smelling. The sourness hits hard right off the bat. Big juicy jammy currents mix with the cabernet influence pretty nicely. The sourness doesn’t get overbearing thankfully, partially due to the oak influence I think. Mouthfeel is tart and dry with a slightly acidic puckering dryness. Somehow there is no noticeable alcohol here at all which just amazes me for being 10%. Pretty good, but the more and more of this I had I got a bit tired of the jammy sweetness.