Russian River Supplication

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

Batch 005X3 from Hi Time Wine Cellars. An amazing way to follow up last week’s Stone Sour Fest and an absolutely wonderful beer that I’ve had many times, but never rated. Pours with a reddish brown hue, fine carbonation, and slight tan head which dissipates quickly. Nose is mostly cherries, pinot, brett, lactic acid, and sour vinegar. Taste is perfectly balanced sourness with lots of cherries, plums, oak, wine, vinegar and citrus. Finishes perfectly with lingering fruits and oak. I just love this stuff.

Batch 009. Aroma of cherries and some funkiness. Looks clear, with a nice reddish color with a decent little white head. Pretty sour, but not puckery. First sour and cherries, and then the oak and vanilla come in. Great finish with almost fizzy mouthfeel at first. Medium body. Awesome. One of my favorite beers. Could drink this all day if it wasn’t $12 a bottle.

Intense but refreshing. Red berries, wine, vanilla, chocolate and intense brett. High sourness. Drinkability is high so you can’t stop drinking it until you remember the price... Exciting experience which I’d like to do again.

Supplication lets out of a huge pop when the cork is pulled. The pour on this beer is full of white fluffy head as you can see in the picture. Great retention and lacing throughout the glass. The color of this one was a murky dark reddish brown color. As the beer settles, the beer becomes more clear. With Supplication I was expected a rather sour aroma but instead it’s toned down a tad bit. Definitely not their more sour beer. Instead the cherries come through more with the oak and slight musty funk. The beer also had some nice wine characteristics from the Pinot Noir. Once again I was expected more of a sourness but it held a backseat. What this taste is though is a very drinkable American Wild Ale. One that won’t make you pucker, but make you enjoy the cherries, the balance of oak and wine like presence. It’s a great mixture of slight sourness, slight tartness, funkiness, cherries, and what the barrel has to offer. Turns out to be just drinkable and before I knew it, my glass was empty. Mouthfeel is very alive. Well carbonated. Bubbles smack your lips. Crisp, light, and dry.

"Thanks to my new friends for sharing this with me! Very exciting to finally have this beer. Poured into a Riedel Snifter. A - The appearance is a combo of Gold, Hazel and Amber. It’s a very deep woody tone. Two finger head appears but quickly leaves. S - Pinot Grigio, Cherry and Honey. I’m getting that sour bite that lambics provide and a lot of fruits that are all over the place! T - Raspberry, sour, grapes, cherry. Everything tastes so light with a red-wine finish! Very refreshing! I’d love to serve this at room temp on a sunny day! M - HUGE bubbles on the swish but light and very easy to drink! O - I really loved this beer. Would love to have it again."

375mL bottle purchased at Total Wine in Sacramento. Batch 008. Wow, the aroma on this is really impressive with significant amount of tart cherries. Lightly musty, and quite vinous and tart aroma. The cherries REALLY stand out in the aroma of those. Really nice. Moderately hazy light amber-copper body with a smallish off-white head, that dissipates fairly rapidly. Starts moderately tart and acidic, but not over the top. The middle has some more of the sour cherry flavor present. There is a nice amount of acidity in the middle with good barnyardy funk. Finishes a little dry with more light tart character. I don’t think there are many other flemish reds out there that could compete with this. Perhaps the 2007 Rodenbach Vintage, but this is a special beer.

RBAG 2012. Pours a dark orange with a frothy white head. Nice carbonation. Aroma of hops, sour fruit, citrus, spice, cherries, and some nice oakiness. Taste is very sour up front, but settles to let more flavors out. Nice flavors of hops, oak, cherries, yeast, and citrus fruits. Extremely tart, thanks to all the sour fruit flavors.

On tap at the brew pub This is one of my favorite everyday type sours. Smells of nice funk and cherries galore! Taste follows in the same suit with a nice sour punch! I wish i could get this is arizona, glad i bought a bunch while i was there!

bottle shared by Steve owner of Kupros Bistro! pours a hazy yellow with a massive smell of spoiled grapes. Flavor is very sour with a tart finish that has you craving another bottle.