Russian River Sanctification

4.5/5

AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 18/20

375 ml bottle into tulip, batch 005. Pours slightly hazy golden straw color with a nice 2-3 finger fluffy white head with fantastic retention that reduces to a thick cap that lasts. Some soapy lacing clings to the glass as well. Aromas of huge lemon, grass, sour apple, pepper, hay, bread, yeast spices, and nice funkiness. Great aromas here with fantastic balance. Not overly funky or sour with a great mix of all aromas. Taste of big sour apple, tart lemon, grass, hay, pepper, spices, bread, yeast spices, and funkiness. Lingering notes of tart apple, lemon, pepper, bread, and yeast spices on the finish for a bit. Light acidity present on the finish as well, but is nicely balanced and not overpowering. Medium carbonation and body. Incredibly drinkable and smooth; great balance with the acidity. Incredibly crisp and clean body with a perfect amount of carbonation for the style. Alcohol is not noticed at all for 6.75% as expected. Overall this is a smooth and incredible wild ale. So much great complexity and balance.

This is absolutely a mind blowing sour Belgian style offering from Russian River. I can't wait to try out their barrel aged sours soon.

Russian River Redemption

4.1/5

AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20

375 ml bottle into tulip, batch 009. Pours hazy golden straw color with a nice 2 finger bright white head with great retention that reduces to a thin cap that lasts. Some nice lacing clinging to the glass as well. Aromas of lemon, apple, clove, pepper, biscuit, spicy yeast, and light tart funk. Nice aromas with decent strength. Taste of biscuit, pepper, clove, lemon, tart grain, grass, and yeast spices. Crisp finish; with lingering notes of lemon, pepper, clove, biscuit, and spices on the finish for a while. Medium-high carbonation and medium body; with a bit of a creamy mouthfeel that drinks very smoothly as expected. No alcohol noticed at all except for a slight warming after the finish. Overall this is an excellent and very enjoyable Belgian blonde ale. I would have this again.

An excellent and very enjoyable standar Belgian pale going on here. I figured this was a good starting point for my Russian River stash.