Russian River Brewing Company - Beatification

Let's talk about whales. Not the kind you get asked to save by the Greenpeace people every time you leave the grocery store. Important whales. Beer whales. (In case any of my Narwhal readers are tuning in, I'm just kidding about the "important" part. You and your weird tooth-horn thing will always hold a special place in my heart.) Anyways, I've probably mentioned this before, but let's just clear up what a beer whale is. It's not a beer with a picture with a whale on it (again, sorry to my Narwhal friends), it's a beer that is very, very hard to track down. To me, there has to be at least some chance of you obtaining the beer for you to call it a whale. For me, a beer like Duck Duck Gooze, which is pretty hard to come by but does see a release every 3-4 years in San Diego, is a whale. A 30 bottle release by Cantillon from 1987 is not. It's just straight unattainable. It's like a space whale or something.


One of the first whales I ever heard about was a beer from Russian River called Beatification. Having tried all of Russian River's "tion" sours besides this one, it quickly rocketed up my personal whale list. My best chance to find this beer, since it is a brewery release only, was to hope to find it on draft somewhere. But three years had passed and I had never even heard of it being on draft. Things weren't looking good, but that's when my friend Eddie (who you may know as the awesome guy who got me the bottle of West Ashley), told me he was going to the Beatification release and he'd be happy to grab me a few bottles. Thanks, Eddie! The Beatification whale had finally been beached. (Caught? Landed? Scored? Fandangled? I don't know the proper terminology for finally getting a whale because I never get them.) At #27, Beatification.

Beatification pours a slightly hazed golden color with a soda-like fizzing eggshell colored head. The head dissipates almost immediately, but looking down into the glass, you can see a steady stream of bubbles rising to the top, like there's some unseen hot spring under the surface. I started to smell the beer off the pour and the closer I got to it, the more I fell in love. There's a fantastic blast of citrus, lemon and barnyard funk right away that made my knees weak. There's some lemon zest in here as well, along with some pineapple, dried apricot, vanilla bean and a touch of spice mixed in with some earthy notes and good old horse blanket. Perfect.

The taste opens with a big, slightly acetic lemony twang that carries through all the way to mid-palate. Then, I started to pick up some underripe red cherry and lemon hard candy in the middle. Right before the end, the beer brings the noise with some barnyard, wet hay, a touch of leather, vanilla and some light oak. This beer sticks the finish. It's intensely tart and lemony with a great lingering dryness. Like every other Russian River sour, this beer's mouthfeel goes to 11. It's flawless. I could drink this beer forever. You absolutely have to try this beer. Beach this whale!

Final Grade: A+

Top 250 Beers Tasted: 129

Russian River Brewing Company - Sanctification

And now for something completely different...

Yesterday, Toronados had a Russian River showcase, so I went with my girlfriend and another friend to check it out. I've really been wanting to try more of Russian River's sour beers ever since trying Supplication (a sour beer that is brewed with cherries and aged in pinot noir barrels) a few months ago. Officially, these beers are called American Wild Ales, due to their use of a strain of yeast called Brettanomyces ("brett" for short). This strain of yeast is particularly hard to control and many brewers refuse to go into other breweries that use brett because they're afraid that they may bring it back with them in their clothes and contaminate their beers. But used correctly, brett can impart a characteristic tartness and funk that many beer lovers can't get enough of.

Sanctification pours an extremely hazy straw color that seems to glow in the glass. It kind of looks like a lighter apple cider. The haze is so thick that there's no way to tell what's going on in the beer, just a lot of chaos. The pour left no sign of a head, so the entire goblet seemed to glow. It was a pretty crazy looking beer.

The smell is pretty much what you expect from a sour beer. It smelled earthy and pungent. I picked up a lot of funk, a bit of lemon-like sourness and a sort of chlorine-like smell.

When you take a sip of Sanctification, the sourness hits you like a punch in the mouth. It's like biting into a lemon-sour. The brett is definitely a huge factor in the taste and there's a lot of funk going on along with the sourness. There is a hard peppery bite to the beer to along with the sourness. As the beer warms, more flavors come out and I could definitely taste some tart green apple and lemon. The finish is long and dry, almost like a dry white wine. It lingers on your tongue and leaves that wonderful sour taste on your mouth. Russian River nailed it with this one. Can't wait to try more of their beers.

Final Grade: A

Russian River Brewing Company- Pliny the Elder

There are few beers out there with the reputation of Pliny the Elder. Rated the #2 beer in the world by Beer Advocate, it's become one of the harder beers to find in the country, especially if you live outside of California. Fortunately, I do not.

I had trouble finding this one for a while. But one day, I walked into a local liquor store and there it was, waiting for me. I had planned to try a different beer that day, but it's too hard to wait for Pliny. Plus, there are about 50 warnings on the bottle telling you not to age this beer and to drink it fresh, so the issue was settled.

First of all, let's learn a bit about this beer. It's brewed by Russian River, a brewery that, as far as I'm concerned, has yet to miss on a beer. It is named after the roman scholar who is credited with giving the botanical name to hops. Pliny is classified as a Double IPA, which means it's going to have more malt and more hops than a regular IPA. In fact, Pliny is brewed with 40% more malt and twice the hops as RR's standard IPA, Blind Pig (another great beer). On a side note, there's also a beer called Pliny the Younger. This has a reputation for being one of the most difficult beers to find in the world. It comes out in February and is only released on draft. You have to know where it's going to poured and be there within 20 minutes of the keg being tapped if you want a chance at trying this one. Look for a review in February (if I'm lucky).

Back to the Elder. The beer pours a coppery golden color with a lush foamy white head which settles fairly quickly. The smell is amazing. Sure, the hops are there, but they're coupled with some surprising scents. I could pick our pineapple, mango, a little bit of wet grass, and a decent malt presence. This, of course is all tucked under the real star of the show- the huge piney hops. The beer smells incredible.

The taste, if it's possible, is even better. I was glad to see that this beer wasn't a straight hop bomb like a lot of IPAs. This was even a beer that I can see people who aren't huge hop heads appreciating. The hops definitely take the lead, but they're offset by a lot of grapefruit and a hard peppery bite. The finish is all resiny hops, but it doesn't stick to your mouth and leave you puckering up. It fades smoothly, leaving you wanting more and more. The feel of the beer is perfect; velvety smooth and full. If you can find this one, do not pass it up.

Final Grade: A+

Russian River Brewing Company - Damnation

Russian River Brewing Company makes some of the best beers you will ever try (if you can find them). The names of their beers range from Sanctification to Beatification and from Pliny the Elder to Little White Lie and the styles this brewery tackles are just as interesting. Having tried Pliny the Elder (a Double IPA) and Supplication (a Sour), I decided to go for another one of their beers.

Damnation is labeled a Belgian Strong Pale Ale. I don't know that I've ever tried one of these before, so here goes.

The head swells up in the glass as soon as the beer touches it. I haven't seen one like this since the Saison Dupont. The color is a pale golden hue with a nice foamy head that had good retention.

The smell of the beer is really different. I definitely got a bunch of the yeast, but it doesn't smell as full and in your face as a lot of beers that use Belgian yeast. It also doesn't have that sort of bready smell that some yeast-strong beers tend to have.

The taste is a lot like the smell- full of yeast, but not in a way that's overpowering. To me, it almost felt like I was drinking a cider. This beer is no slouch at over 7%, but you wouldn't know it from the taste. It does a remarkable job of feeling light while not tasting light. The only thing I wasn't sure about was the almost total lack of carbonation. I could see bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass, but there was almost no carbonation in the taste. I don't know, maybe there was just something wrong with my bottle. Still, I enjoyed this beer a lot. Can't wait to try more from Russian River.

Final Grade: A-