Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Review - Russian River Redemption

This could be my last post for awhile. I've just been told that I'll soon be headed to Ontario, to help fight the forest fires that have been raging there this summer. I'll be staying in a bush camp a long way from anywhere, so drinking new beer, never mind writing new posts, could prove difficult. I will be back however, and by the time my pull in the East is done, it will be time to head back to Victoria, and to return to my brewing equipment, the new beer group, and yes, this blog. But this is not a blog about my comings and goings as a wildfire fighter, so on to the beer.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Review - Russian River Damnation

I find that sometimes when I've amassed a collection of difficult to find beers, there are often one or two that tend to sit around longer than the others, waiting to be tasted. It is not that I imagine they will be inferior, rather it is their perceived quality that persuades me to wait for that perfect moment. So it has been with the beers I collected from Russian River, a brewery in Santa Rosa, California, just north of San Francisco. Many consider Russian River to be among the very best micro-breweries in the US, a brewery that creates beers of nearly mythic reputation, such as Pliny the Elder, a beer some say is the greatest IPA ever brewed. This stellar reputation has caused me to hold off on trying Damnation, but no longer, the time is at hand.