Russian River Salvation

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

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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UPDATED: JAN 13, 2008 Draft at the brewpub in 2004, but more recently I had a bottle of batch 3 in 2007. Deep red/brown body. When cold it smells slightly of balsamic vinegar, but when warmed it’s a tremendous show of plums, port, wood, clove and banana. Prickly but soft on the tongue, vinuous and moderately thick like a proper strong ale or quad. Takes a bit of time to reach it’s peak while warming in the glass, but at the right temp it’s an amazing beer.

Batch 5, Jan 2008
Candied plum scented malt and raisin bread yeast in the nose. Thick, frothy, chewy, with a pasty film of yeast left on the tongue, and dominant flavors of bready, mildly spicy dough/yeast. Minimally warming alcohol. Still as good as always.

UPDATED: NOV 6, 2006 Crystal clear, mahogany ale with a small, creamy, off-white head. Caramel, chocolate and buttermilk in the aroma and flavor. Medium-bodied with a fizzy mouthfeel. Short, tart, crisp finish.

Pours a dark red brown color that has a nice medium off-white head with good lacing. Aroma is sweet malt with some estery yeasty notes. Flavor is sweet malt with a candy like sugary taste. Dark dried fruit, maybe dates or plums exists. Some spice and estery notes as well. Body is full and silky. A very good beer.

Tap@Russian River Brewpub. Heavy sweetness, lots of figgy caramel flavours, with some late acidity to balance it out, bit too sweet though.

This belgian pours with a deep red-brown/mohagony body topped by a medium thick to thick head with a good amount of lacing. The aroma is sweet, malty and yeasty with banana notes and a touch of spice. The flavor is sweet and malty with notes of candy, banana and spice with a hint of yeast. Full bodied and surprisingly smooth.

UPDATED: JUN 3, 2004 (Draft: O'Brien's in San Diego, CA) Two tastings a month apart yield rather different experiences; The first tasting was a Belgian dominated by a nice maltiness, fairly sweet, slightly fruity, with only a very mild bitterness, and not very spicy at all; The second tasting shows a nicely balanced beer initially, fairly sweet, moderately malty with a nice spiciness and fairly strong bitterness for good balance, but the scales tip toward the spicy and bitter side in the slightly acidic finish; Mildly malty and sweet nose with a fair amount of spicy aroma; Medium bodied, but with a nice, full mouthfeel; Ruddy brown/mahogany in color and slightly cloudy; Off-white head disappears within a few minutes; I liked this beer better on the first tasting, so the flavor grade decreased, but some of the peripheral grades increased. The final rating of 3.6 remained the same.

This brew pours a dark amber with a short-lived off-white head. The alcohol definitly tastes a little stronger that 5%. Although this brew isn't amazing, it makes me want to try more of the russian river brews.

GABF 2003 Questionable what I was trying to write at this point in the festival but my notes read "A little bitter but very smooth. A bit of bitter taste with caramel malt and". I must have liked it because I scratched out my original overall rating of a 14 and bumped it to 15.

GABF '03, Amber in color with a small white head.Good Belgian session ale,reminiscent of DeKonnick but with more exotic fruit and spice character.

red amber with a thin halo..the nose was tangy grape and alcohol..the flavors were musty chocolate grape with alcoholic bitterness..it had a slight belgian yeast flavor..it gets a little bananaish and warming..the alcohol level feels more than 5%..the mouthfeel starts a little chalky but becomes quite chewy..