Russian River Mortification

Brewed by Russian River Brewing
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Santa Rosa, California USA

Draught @ Bottleworks:   Deep caramel, garnet hues, moderate to large light beige head, minor lacing.   Somewhat fruity nose, dark pitted fruit is there but not heavy, loads of breadiness.   Has an interesting bready sourness on the tongue.   Fruity, in the dark pitted sense but also bright.   Its like unripened dark pitted fruit if that makes sense.   However there is a decent sweetness.   Interesting beer to say the least.   Sweet and sour.   Moderate to full body and mouthfeel.   Feels like a Belgian Strong mixed with a bit of American Sour.   Hard to believe this is 11%.   Lingering dark pitted fruit sourness.   Sweetness emerges afterwards.   Not bad, very different.

Handbottle from growler courtesy of Irishboy - Pours a slightly hazy brown color with a thin light tan. Has some faint, tiny spotted lacing. Aroma is dark esters, lightly burnt malt, and light yeast. Flavor is dark esters, spice, and lightly sweetened toasted malt. Finish is very Quad like (lingering esters and malt). Medium to full body. This beer held up pretty good after being handbottled. Thanks Richard.

draft @ Bottleworks - reddish brown with thin tan head bubbling on the edge; sugar, dark fruit and creamy nose; texture is light at first and strength is obvious, though dangerously drinkable; not cloyingly sweet like many US quads; spice, yeast and sweetness blend nicely together; warm and fuzzy going down

Hazy brown color with a light tan head. Big spicy yeasty aromas with toasted caramel. Smooth medium body. Flavor mirrors the aroma with spicy yeasts, pit fruits. Alcohol is well hidden. Draft@ Bottleworks.

Had a tulip at Toronado. Pours dark brown with a very small head. Aroma is of tropical fruit, caramel, toffee and bubblegum. Flavor was a little boozy with a lot of spice and fruit. This fell a little flat but it isn’t bad.

Good, but a bit of a disappointment. Russian River makes a quad seems like some kind of dream beer description to me. Unfortunately, I found this beer good but disappointing as a quad and as a Russian River beer. It’s still quite good, of course. Mortification pours a deep garnet with little head and a bit lacing. The aroma is fairly mild with some bananas, some plums, some spice and a whiff of sour cherries. The sour comes through a touch in the flavor, but it’s almost as though the brewery saw a bit of cross-pollination from the sour barrels rather than they were really going for a lightly sour quad. It’s fairly dry, especially for a quad. It actually reminds me of a dry barleywine mixed with a tripel, for some reason. The flavors don’t punch as much as I would like, but then again, the dryness is a nice contrast to more normal pitfall of a cloyingly sweet quad.

Growler. Clear, warm orangey brown with an off-white head. Sweet aroma of overripe fruit and wood with a vague whiff of Brett. No bitterness. Delicious. 110709

Draft at Bottleworks. Soft, dryish quad, mildly spicy with the expected banana and brown sugar notes. Caramelly and cola-esque, but fairly direct, not my favorite quad. Considering Russian River’s reputation, I expected more.