• Hi Guest - Come check out all of the new CP Merch Shop! Now you can support CigarPass buy purchasing hats, apparel, and more...
    Click here to visit! here...

Russian River Brewery

Napa_Smokes

Napa_Smokes

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Messages
2,650
Location
Napa, CA
So as some of you know I am in school at UC Davis for Viticulture and Enology. As such, I've had the opportunity to take a few elective classes such as intro to beer and brewing. One of the guest lecturers was the owner of Russian River Brewery who invited us to come down and see how the brewery functions and taste some of their beers. I decided to take him up on his offer and went in. I tried a few of the beers including Blind Pig, Little White Lie, Pliny the Elder, Damnation and a few others I can't remember. Although good beers I can honestly say the sour beers and very hoppy beers like Pliny were just not for me.

Which of their beers have you all had the chance to try and what were your thoughts?
 
You know what I think of them Josh! ;)

I love their sours. Consecration, and Redemption are two of my faves. Blind Pig and the Pliny's are ok.....
 
jfields said:
You know what I think of them Josh! ;)

I love their sours. Consecration, and Redemption are two of my faves. Blind Pig and the Pliny's are ok.....
Click to expand...

I've been there a few times but not when I could actually talk to the Brewer. The last time before now was when Blue Dragon was in town probably 2+ years ago.

I don't remember much about that night after the first round thanks to Cory.... then again I was having a bad week and it was great seeing him.
 
I'm not a fan of those style beers either. Robbie introduced me to Belgian and Trappist Ales, and the sweeter less hoppy varieties are all I can drink now. It's a whole new level of enjoyment for me.
 
I've only had Pliny and Blind Pig (thanks to David) and I liked Blind Pig better. I just can't get into the sours yet.
 
I've been trying to understand the increasing popularity of the bitter beers.
I don't think it's weird or anything like that, but I never would have guessed the explosive growth.
I sure as hell would have lost a bet.

I think my current favorite Belgian is Delirium Nocturnum.
 
I love their sours and also enjoy Pliny and Blind Pig. At one of the Dark Lord Days years ago DenverDog brought a bunch of Russian River beers. While we were all hanging out and tasting beers, he opened a bottle of Consecration. It was my first sour and I've loved them since. As he passed around tastes of it, it came to IBQTee and she almost spit out. No one had told what was going around so she wasn't quite ready for the sour.
 
2014-08-21 13.57.13.jpg

I tried a few :D

I fell in love with their barrel aged sours (most of the left side) - Damnation, Consecration, Temptation, Sanctification, etc. If I lived anywhere nearby, I would probably go broke buying Consecration.

I've had some sour beers that were far too sour. Being new to sours, I'm not sure if they're just overly sour to be sour (kind of like how many IPAs are just hopped to death for the sake of being hoppy, with no real balance). But the RR ones I had were a whole new world to me. Maybe the wine barrel takes some of that edge off, making them more approachable, I'm not sure.
 
bfreebern said:
Damn, now that's a flight!
Click to expand...
Yeah. I forget what they call them, but it works out to be one side is their Belgian style, the other side I think they call it the California style. You can get either side or full. I couldn't get just the one half.
 
MadMonk said:
I've been trying to understand the increasing popularity of the bitter beers.
I don't think it's weird or anything like that, but I never would have guessed the explosive growth.
I sure as hell would have lost a bet.

I think my current favorite Belgian is Delirium Nocturnum.
Click to expand...
It probably helps that some hops give off very similar aromas to weed. My buddy loves IPA's. He's a former huge pot head. Go figure. It's an acquired taste for the vast majority. I remember my first Stone IPA tasted like pinecones but there was something there that didn't completely turn me off. DIPA's took some time to get used to, but my taste buds got acclimated to the typical West Coast profile of aggressive hopping. Now I enjoy them.
 
I've only had 3 of their beers, Pliny, Supplication, and Salvation (that I think you sent me several years ago.) I'm not the biggest fan of sours, but there are a few I enjoy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top