Monday, May 25, 2009

Russian River Damnation

A happy Memorial Day to all the men and women who have served or are currently serving in our armed forces. Thank you.

This weekend was fight weekend for me, a chance to sit down and watch some good fights. Well what goes better with a fight then a really good beer? This one from California's Russian River Brewing was picked up during my wife's recent trip to LA. Their Damnation is a Belgian Style Golden ale (think Duvel).
The Beer: This golden ale weighs in at 7.5% and pours a bright straw yellow a ton of tiny little bubbles and capped by a humongous white head. The nose is fruity yeasty esters, earthy hops, citrus, honey and peach. The mouth is extremely effervescent, the beer dancing along the tongue. Its dry and toasty almost like a champagne in mouthfeel. Crisp. Citrus and honey, pear, yeasty, bready, a bit of an underlying sourness. Some pale malts and toastyness adds a little sweetness to the brew as well. This is an amazing beer. Its actually my first full bottle of Russian River (I've tasted their stuff at GABF in the past) and its really good. I can't wait to try some of their other's. This gets an enthusiastic A- from me. The folks at BA give it some love as well.

2 comments:

The American Don said...

Great review. I wonder if you think we should be drinking a lot more of these bottle conditioned high carbonation belgians in a champagne flute. I find I enjoy them a lot like that. Gives a touch of class (and admittedly some douchebaggery) to the beering.

Also, how did you get your hands on Russian River beer? Was that at Central Market or Specs Downtown?
thebeerbrotha.blogspot.com

Barleyvine said...

Hmm, not sure how I feel about the Champagne glass. I actually used my Duvel glass for this beer. I'd try it, I would wonder if you would get enough of the nose in the flute. Would be an interesting experiment.
As for where I got it, my wife went to LA on a business trip and brought it back (yeah I know she's great). So far there is no word on RR being distributed to Texas anytime soon.