Name: Supplication
Style: American Wild Ale
Brewery: Russian River Brewing Company website
Country: USA
Region: Santa Rosa, California
ABV: 7.0% Abv
How served: 375ml caged and corked bottle poured into a Delirium Tremens glass. (I love those pink elephants)
My Overall Opinion: Amazing. 
I paired this beer with: Nothing.
Tasted on: Friday June 11th, 2010.
Note: This is Batch 04×4. This bottle opened with a champagne like “pop”. It poured with a small fluffy head on my slow pour to avoid any yeast on my 1st glass of this beer. The nose was slightly funky with some sour cherries. The taste was well… amazing. You first get hit with a mild puckering tartness followed with delicious sour cherries, and then I picked up some oak and maybe a tad of the pinot. As for the Brown Ale, well I couldn’t tell what the base beer was if I wasn’t told. This beer is extremely refreshing for a tart/sour beer and the mouth feel was well… mixed with a tongue twisting tartness and had a massaging action from the medium level of carbonation. I am a huge fan of Lambics, Gueuze and Wild Ales and Supplication is, if not the top, very close to the top of my list of all time favorites in those styles. This brew should age very well over the next 3-5 years, so I’m glad I have a few more bottles.
On the Label: Supplication, sup·pl·ca·tion, n 1. To ask for humbly or earnestly, as by praying. 2. To make a humble entreaty to; beseech.
The beer inside this bottle took more than a year to make- a reasonable length of time for a fine wine, but not for beer. This is, in fact, a brown ale aged in used pinot noir wine barrels. During the barrel aging, sour cherries, Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus were added to each barrel, imparting a nice cherry flavor and sourness. While most winemakers and brewers cringe at the idea of adding Brett and bacteria to their wine or beer, our brewer Vinnie Cilurzo embraces these unusual ingredients in beer, despite his winemaking background. Ironically, Vinnie decided his winemaking days were through when he discovered it takes just twenty-one days to make beer. Years later, it takes him over a year to make this beer! Supplication is refermented in this bottle to create its carbonation – a process commonly used to make fine Champagne and sparkling wine. Spent yeast forms a thin layer of sediment in the bottle, adding yet another layer of complexity and flavors. Pour slowly as to allow the natural yeast sediment to remain in the bottle.
From their website: Supplication: Brown Ale aged in French oak Pinot Noir barrels with three strains of Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and sour cherries .
7.0%ABV / 1.064 O.G / 27 BUs
Silver Medal, 2007 GABF (Belgian-style Sour Ale)
Silver Medal, 2005 GABF (Belgian-style Sour Ale)
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