Russian River Supplication Sour Ale turns tongues inside out on our Napa Valley trip

First day in Napa! We're here with over 16 people and staying at the same hotel as we did for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary 3 years ago, the Wine Country Inn http://www.winecountryinn.com/. I'm reallly excited about the wine and all, but the breakfast at this place is AMAZING. Make your own waffles with peanut butter and nutella and a rotating eggs casserole every morning that is to die for. Everything one needs for a good wine drinking base.

This post will be mostly pictures and the beer review at the end. Now why did Walker wait until the end of the night after drinking wine all day to drink his Russian River beer? Hmmm...is it because it was a sour ale? Mayhaps

Parents rule

Dudes rule

Miner winery has a wild yeast chardonnay, which creates a flavor profile similar to that of a wild yeast beer. Interwesting...

This is Napa on a bad day...psych, Napa doesn't have bad days fool.

This castle was fun and all, but the wine was blah. It was like going to Disneyland only to realize that Star Tours was broken after you waited in line for 45 minutes. And then a bird pooped on you.

So I'm very excited about this trip, because not only are the wines amazing, but the beer is rated highly too. Russian River makes amazing beers IPA's and Sour Ales, although I really detest Sours. All but one sour I've ever tasted made me want to write a strongly worded letter asking why they would want to put those particular flavors in someone's mouth. Tonight's beer, Russian River Supplication, is one of the highest rated sours in the world and since I'm in Napa, near Russian River, I feel compelled to heed the Sour's Siren Song.

The Supplication is a Brown Ale aged in French oak Pinot Noir barrels with three strains of Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and sour cherries. The whole gang is outside here tasting the beer. A few like sour candy, etc and somewhat like this. Others think I just poured them a cup of panther piss.They're accusing me of shenanigans but I tell them "I said that you should try this, not that it was a good." Ha. Now they know what a sour ale tastes like. Some things really have to be experienced.

I'm getting used to it, but IT IS SO OVERWHELMING. WHY WOULD YOU MAKE ANYTHING THAT SOUR THIS INTENSE. Imagine Emril saying "BAM" while kicking you in the balls while jamming sour starburst on steroids into your mouth over and over again.

Here is the Beer Advocate review, which rates it as an A. If you might like a sour ale, this review is for you because I can't say anything, good or bad, other than what I wrote. It's just too wild:  http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/863/22227/?ba=bros


The good news is, I also bought Russian River Pliny the Elder for my dad and others, who LOVES IT. It makes me very happy to see my dad enjoy beer so much. We're sitting out on a deck above a winery under a cloudy night drinking great beer and wine. This is an amazing.

I'm afraid to rate this beer, because it's so well regarded but I hated it so very much. TRANSFORMERS 2 rating? Nuts

Lips of Faith Eric's Ale from New Belgium reunites me with old friends

With Nick, Matt and David at the Daily Pint but I'm way more focused on the sweet, sweet Buffalo Chicken Cheese Steak sandwich from the food truck outside right now. I haven't seen Nick since before Christmas and Matt since November, which is a felony.

So the owner of the Daily Pint is a fairly infamous Brit who looks like he worked down on the wharves. He either wins you over with his dry sarcasm or you get in a pissing match with him and he throws you out of the bar. I'm in the former but I have seen the later. He's open to but doesn't advertise tasting but I know better so I ask for tasters for two Lips of Faith, Dark Heather Saison (too fruity) and Eric's Ale, which I know nothing about. One sip later my mouth twists and turns on itself. I must be a Wild Ale, my least favorite beer style for the following reason. "Damn that's sour!" I exclaim. The owner responds, "I like it. Try it again."

Haha um, okay, I don't shine to taking orders regarding liquor but this one is apparently non-negotiable. I taste again and suddenly my mouth isn't exploding. Rather, the shock of the first sour punch wore off and the second sip allows my tongue to get a little more acquainted with this wild man sour. With each subsequent sip I grew in appreciation.

Also, let the record show this might be the only time I will ever pair a Sour Wild Ale with a spicy buffalo chicken sandwich. Raaaaandom.

It's been a long time since I took a big gamble on a beer and chose an out-of-the box style, and even rarer that I was talked into drinking. Looking back, I realize I was in bit of a beer rut by only trying styles that I was familiar with. I'm glad this hard ass owner doesn't take no guff. He threw my naivety back at me. Life isn't always IPA's and Belgian's, it's also a little sour. That's really cheesy and I hate myself right now. 

Eric's Ale pours color of dark golden hue. It's a smooth sour ale with mild fruity notes (especially peach) and a hint of sweetness. This beer grew on me and pairing it with Buffalo Chicken wasn't the best, but it worked out. On the night before our halfway point, thank you Daily Pint Owner for broadening my perspective and reminding me why I started this experience. THE ROCK rating.



As I mentioned, tomorrow is our halfway point for the year. Matt provided a quote tonight his Father passed down which resonated with me and the beer every day experience; "Half of life is just showing up." We've been doing this legit, by the rules, for 6 months. As Matt pointed out, how often do people announce they will do something and never follow through? I will start and finish an experience that I will look back proudly at and with an untold number of experiences that would never have happened without this.

On a lighter note, the next major milestone will be in two months, as my daily relationship with beer ironically surpasses any female relationship I've had (current record for a relationship is 8 months - I'm more of a sprinter than a long distance). When I started this, I quickly realized that when I finished this, my longest relationship wouldn't be with a girlfriend but with beer. HA

So yeah, beer has been and will hopefully continue to do good things for me.

Bière Trois Dames, Grande Dame. Embargo this.

Nick, you are a real treasure, but this is a terrible beer. Sour as a candy Warhead.
This beer sucks. Don't drink it. Ever.
Fidel Castro.
UPDATE: This beer was a gift from Nick G after I gave him my old iPhone. I don't want it to seem that I was unappreciative of this gift (he also gave me a couple excellent beers from The Bruery) it's just that it was so difficult to drink that it made me angry. The day after I drank it, I saw Nick and told him how much I disliked it, much to his surprise as he paid - get ready for it - $30 for the bottle. The reviews of this beer on other sites are generally good, though they all mention the sourness that I so clearly hated. All things considered, I'm very happy Nick got the beer, as it's relatively rare, and interesting to have this in the beereveryday.com list. But, wow - rough one to drink.