Russian River Supplication
November 8th, 2010 beckelToday I have what is sure to be a fine brew from Russian River brewing out of Santa Rosa, CA. Russian River is widely recognized for their many sour beers as well as their hoppy beers, particularly the highly sought after Pliny the Elder. Supplication is brewed with a total of 6 yeast varietals. Initially fermented with an Abby Ale yeast. Conditioned with Rockpile wine yeast, Brettanomyces, Saccharomyces, Pediococcus & Lactobacillus. If that weren’t enough this Brown Ale is aged in Oak Pinot Noir barrels with cherries. I am always pleased to see breweries who properly label & date their brews and Russian River goes a step beyond with a rather well updated bottle log with detailed notes about date brewed, date bottled, yeasts used and even additional comments on process or flavor profiles. This bottle labeled 04×5 is part of the 4th batch brewed 12/23/2008, bottled 12/14/2009 and was the first batch to use their new smaller profile 375ml bottles. As you can see this bottle was barrel aged for almost one year and has been bottle conditioning for almost eleven months. I have been lucky enough to have a number of brews from this fine establishment but do not recall ever sampling this one, so let’s get to it.
Upon opening a lovely pop erupts and carbonate starts to build in the neck of the bottle. I quickly poured it into my glass and watched as a lovely bouquet of off white head was easily produced, spanning about two fingers. After fading serious lacing is still present and creates an attractive presentation contrasting with the modestly translucent deep ruby hue of the beer. Upon first whiff you are immediately presented with sour cherries, tart Brettanomyces esters and a nice blend of herbal and earthy esters of oak, Pinot Noir and more. Flavor is of rich cherries, both tart and semi-sweet. Wonderful acidity and sour yeast esters blend phenomenally with the malt base. Truly a fantastic beer with gentle malty sweetness playing alongside tangy, sour esters, caramel, cherries and soft bitterness. Mouthfeel is mildly puckering, rather dry and the body is medium. Coming in at a reasonable 7% ABV this is a beer I could drink all night long if only it were less expensive and distributed in Minnesota. If you enjoy sour beers you are likely to enjoy most of what Russian River has to offer and this one is no exception. A beautiful brew that shows how multidimensional beer can be. A wonderfully inspired mix between a Flemish Brown Ale and a Kriek. If you enjoy sour brown ales and cherries you will be in heaven with this beer. If you’re lucky enough to live where Russian River is distributed; give it a shot and ride your bike. Then send me some more. 🙂
Today we ventured to the land of Wisconsin because it is Sunday and our state has made the conclusion that is better to not accept out tax money on this beautiful fall day. Though there is little room in my fridge for this beer I will surely be writing about a number of beers you can not get in my fine state of Minnesota in the near future. I am ever so excited to get to the Dogfish Head and Stone but we will start with a brewery that I have enjoyed and been wanting to expand my knowledge of, 
Last night was the Surly event at Mackenzie commemorating their new Surly Brewing neon sign. On tap was some rare Surly Two, Coffee Bender and a firkin of cask aged CynicAle. I was very excited to try the Two and was certainly not disappointed. Aroma is of dark malts and a tad sweet. Tastes of sweet cranberries initially but after taste is of mildly dark malt. Deep dark color, quite black. Medium mouthfeel. I was a bit hesitant to buy this beer when they were selling the 750’s because I expected it to be overpowering on the cranberry note but I was pleasantly surprised by its subtle sweetness and grand balance. I am not particularly a fan of coffee but I believe any Surly beer deserves to be tried. When I got this beer I immediately noticed how strong the aroma was of coffee. Color is very dark and mouthfeel is meduim but surprisingly light. The flavor of this beer is that of an Bender infused with espresso, slightly malty. Quite good, but too heavy on the coffee flavor for my tastes. It was my buddies birthday so we only had about a half hour and I was only able to get a sip of the cask aged CynicAle before we left to Ichiban (mmm sake) but it was quite good. The color was a bit deeper and more orange than usual and the fermented fruit flavors were a good deal more notable. Good stuff, wish I could have had more. Get surly, drink Surly and ride your bike.
