Russian River Consecration

As "Sour Beer Week" comes to a close it seems to have turned into "Sour Beer Fortnight." I wanted to close with another great American sour, the highly sought after Consecration by Russian River Brewing out of Santa Rosa, California. This brewery is famous for their "-tion" series of sour and wild ales, and the ever sought after Pliny the Elder (and Pliny the Younger) imperial IPAs. Russian River does something interesting with all their beers that are, as they say, "refermented in the (this) bottle". They cork and cage all of them, even the 12 oz bottles, which this one was.

Consecration is not just a "sour" beer, it is aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels with currants added. Are you noticing a pattern here? Sour ales tend to be aged in oak and often have fruit in the barrels. You won't hear me complaining. I love barrel aged beers.

Anyway, Consecration pours out somewhere on the spectrum between amber and mahogany, which might seem like splitting hairs (or light waves) but it's important, and has hints of orange. The head fizzled away faster than I was able to register in my mind that it was there, leaving a thin ring around the edges of the glass.

Consecration smells sour from start to finish and has some lovely fruit notes and an oaky vinous dimension as well. Consecration is mouth-puckering sour with a pleasant black currant, and other fruit, sweetness that hints of barrel aging. Consecration is on the thicker side of beer with an astringent sort of feel in the mouth, and is definitely fizzy and prickly, but not like a soda. Consecration has a finish that is almost divine, both sweet and sour, calling for another drink and also demanding for the utmost respect.

This now concludes "Sour Beer Week" part 1. I will come back in an undetermined amount of time with another great handful of sours from both Belgium and the States. What should I start reviewing next?

Russian River Brewing
Consecration
TCSH - 10/10
Aka - Get as much as you can, but that could break bank.

Dallas