Staff Blog
BEER GEEK VALHALLA: Russian River Draft Event at Monk’s Café
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| Monk's co-owner Tom Peters pours Russian River beers. |
| Photo | Felicia D' Ambrosio |
Employers of local beer geeks must have received a lot of out-sick calls yesterday, because at 11:30 Monday morning, Philadelphia hop heads reported en masse to Monk’s Café for an all-draft lineup of the most coveted cult brews of California’s Russian River Brewing Company.
Russian River brewer/owner Vinnie Cilurzo is widely hailed as America's preeminent craft brewer, experimenting with wild ales, sour beers, barrel aging and monster high-alcohol potables. But due to small production, his beers are hard to come by on the East Coast. Monk’s co-owner Tom Peters has been hoarding five choice kegs of rare R.R. brews for the past few months, and he broke them out in an all-draft, get-it-before-it's-gone event timed conveniently before the Birds took on the loathsome Cowboys. (Had the game been at home, Tom noted, the five kegs would have gone straight to his tailgate.)
Presented for your consideration are tasting notes on four of the five offerings, with my notes leading the charge, then the local beer cognoscenti weigh in with their impressions of these unusual brews. (Full disclosure: I have worked for Tom and Fergie at Monk’s and the Belgian Café for the past two years.) Cheers!
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| Supplication |
| Photo | Felicia D'Ambrosio |
SUPPLICATION, Batch #2
Brewed in October of 2005 and bottled in January 2007, this brown ale spent the intervening time aging in French oak Pinot Noir barrels. Sour cherries were into the mix, as well. The most coveted of all Russian River creations, with Brettanomyces yeast and Pedicoccus and Lactobacillus bacterias contributing a distinct Brett aroma and tartness. 7 percent alcohol by volume.
Nose: Dried cherry, with a sherrylike aroma
Taste: Warm auburn color; very dry with subtle malt sweetness; lingering cherry underneath the forward tart/sour quality; effervescent on the tongue; long dry finish leaves mouth watering
Joel Armato (Representative, New Holland Brewing, PA): "This Supplication holds up as well as all R.R. beers ... but is more mellow than recent Supplication. Very drinkable for a sour."
Dave Cohen (Librarian, University of Pennsylvania): "Lovin' it — not quite as funky as the bottled version, nice astringency at the end, nice balance to the tartness."
COMPUNCTION
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| Compunction |
| Photo | Felicia D'Ambrosio |
An American wild ale, Compunction is styled like a classic Belgian lambic. I cannot share more with you, because the R.R. Web site has no listing of this mysterious elixir. Beeradvocate.com claims this as 5.4 percent ABV.
Nose: Slightly floral, with a weird maple syrup and orange peel scent
Taste: Yellow-orange gold in color; much softer than a typical Belgian blended lambic (geueze); very effervescent, but has no legs; orange zest and other citrus underlies the initial puckery tartness; pronounced dryness
Brad Basil (Former brewer, John Harvard's; bartender, Teresa's): "Grainy, grassy, with more funk and barnyard than Supplication.”
Joel Armato: "Got a far different fruit character; aroma and flavor become much less tart as the beer warms; more earthy than citrus as it warms.”
BLIND PIG IPA
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From the R.R. Web site: "Blind Pig India Pale Ale was originally brewed by Vinne at Blind Pig Brewing Co. in Temecula, CA. Inspired by the original Blind Pig, this beer is loaded with hop character but has only 6 percent ABV."
Nose: Piney, floral hop nose
Taste: Dark burnished gold to bronze color; soft and balanced hop bitterness with solid golden malt backbone; slight alcohol burn on finish.
PLINY THE ELDER
A much-vaunted double IPA, this hop monster is named for the famed Roman naturalist and scholar who gave hops their first botanical name, "Lupus salictarius," ("wolf among scrubs") for the way the hops grew wild among the willows. At 8 percent ABV, this one drinks a little too easy.
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Nose: Sharp, crisp pine nose
Taste: Very drinkable for a high-gravity IPA, balanced malt finishes with hop bitterness; bronze color with a stiff lacy head.
George Hummel (Owner, Home Sweet Homebrew; beer writer; brewer): "Deep pine and citrus notes; hoppy bitter upfront, big juicy malt in the finish with hop bitterness ending the ride."
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