Russian River Consecration

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

The pour was a deep mahogany with a quickly fading off white head. Nose was currants, chocolate, oak, and pinot noir. The taste was sour grape, currant, and chocolate with cherries. I’m not sure what to really think since this was my first attempt at trying a sour ale. I guess it was fine but i don’t think i’ll try many of these in the future. I’d honestly rather have a lambic if i’m gonna have something that doesn’t really taste at all like a beer. I’ll give this thing a good rating though being that it has been given a 100 by everyone else.

Aroma strongly reminiscent of Pinot Noir. The currants stand out, along with some tobacco notes. Wonderful aroma. Color is red-tinted light brown, with excellent clarity. The first sip is tart and sour, but this becomes unbelievably enjoyable with a few sips. The lively carbonation brings the flavors of red fruit and tobacco and the sourness together nicely. Really interesting beer, and glad I had the chance to try it.

Dark red-brown with fizzy, tan head / Sour nose of currants, chocolate, oak, and brett / Medium body, zesty carbonation, tart and acidic, with good balance and finish / Earthy flavors of currants, cherries, raisins, oak, cocoa, and a good dose of barnyard brett / Very nice.

From Hawthornes in Philly. A whopping $34.00 but worth it. Pours a cloudy brown with a small head that doesn’t last. Aroma is like a very good belgian strong with sweetness and some spice. Flavor is quite different. Very sour with nice malt sweetness in the background along with some spices. Very crisp and dry finish. Warming on the throat with a nice nuttiness. Outstanding.

Red brown clear pour with lots of carbonation. Funky and creamy aroma with fruit and grapes. Bitter and sour with lots of creamy funk and vanilla. Fruity with grapes and raisins and a bitter finish.

wow! what more can I say? best bottle of new years brew yet! very well balanced with just the right amount of sour. this will be tough to best in the coming year.

Beergod #630. I was aiming for getting to rating 1000 on new years eve, but I got there a day early. Who gives a shit anyways. This beer only seems appropriate as I get consecrated into BeerGoddum. The goddam Cork came out with a nice pop. A steady pour down the middle of my star glass yields a clear dark copper hue with bright ruby red highlights and a sizeable frothy tan head.

Aroma is a nice flowing river of tangy plum, raisins, melted caramel, and chocolate covered cherry notes. As it warms, this bad boy smells like dark chocolate filled with tart cherries with a hint of booze and dates. I liked this more and more as time went on, but I was also smoking a far amount of hop like substance at the time- tricky to decompose the two effects.

ANYWAYS, Flavor has a sour cranberry wine juice like base with a layer of cocoa and medicine. Pretty damn good stuff. Very clean and distinct aroma and flavor. sharp.

Complaints? I don’t know. Does sour chocolate cherry wine taste similar to sour cherry cough medicine? Because I couldn’t get medicine out of my head at times with this beer. Regardless, this beer was quite good. A sour dark fruit wine mix with some chocolate and medicine popping in is the best way I can describe it.

Bottle. Batch 001x2 from hophead22. From my first trade. Thanks TIM! Who knows what number rating I would be celebrating if the base 10 system wasn’t so relatively easy for humans to understand?

A bottle fermented, barrel-aged Belgian sour. Dark chestnut brown pour, huge explosion of foam, limited lace, quickly vanishing tan head. The beer reminds me enormously of Rodenbach Grand Cru, almost certainly not because of the bacteria in the California oak barrels, probably because of the yeast and the current juice. But the total effect, sour fruit, sour yeast, oak, and malt, is nearly perfect.