Russian River Brewing Company

Commercial Brewery | Santa Rosa, CA, United States of America

Vital Statistics

Beers

Overall average: 74 (logged 52 times)
Russian River Apical Dominance: 50 (logged 1 time)
American Blonde Ale
Russian River Beer Esteem: 75 (logged 1 time)
California Common / Steam Beer
Russian River Benediction
Belgian Dubbel Ale
Russian River Blind Pig IPA: 75 (logged 2 times)
American India Pale Ale / IPA
Russian River Consecration: 81 (logged 3 times)
Wild Ale
Russian River Damnation: 75 (logged 1 time)
Belgian Strong Pale Ale
Russian River Dribble Belt
American Pale Ale
Russian River Happy Hops: 79 (logged 2 times)
American Pale Ale
Russian River Happy Hops Harvest
American Pale Ale (Wet Hop)
Russian River Intinction: Sauvignon Blanc: 75 (logged 1 time)
American Pale Lager
Russian River Perdition
Bière de Garde
Russian River Pliny the Elder Double IPA: 73 (logged 14 times)
American India Pale Ale / IPA (Imperial / Double)
Russian River Pliny the Younger Triple IPA
American India Pale Ale / IPA (Imperial / Double)
Russian River Robert Saison: 75 (logged 1 time)
Saison / Farmhouse Ale
Russian River Row 2, Hill 56: 81 (logged 4 times)
American Pale Ale
Russian River Saison Blonde: 75 (logged 1 time)
Saison / Farmhouse Ale
Russian River Salvation Dark Ale
Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Russian River Sanctification Blonde Ale: 79 (logged 2 times)
Wild Ale
Russian River Shadow of a Doubt: 67 (logged 2 times)
Porter
Russian River STS Pils: 75 (logged 1 time)
Czech Pilsner
Russian River Supplication: 81 (logged 4 times)
Wild Ale
Russian River Temptation: 71 (logged 2 times)
Wild Ale (Aged in Barrels, Oak, Chardonnay)
Russian River Velvet Glow: 75 (logged 2 times)
European-style Pale Lager
Russian River Whole Cone Madness: 75 (logged 1 time)
American Pale Ale

Collaborations

Avery / Russian River Collaboration Not Litigation Ale (collaboration): 67 (logged 2 times)
Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Firestone Walker / Russian River STiVO Keller Pils (collaboration): 72 (logged 3 times)
Czech Pilsner
Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America: Yvan the Great (collaboration): 50 (logged 2 times)
Belgian Pale Ale

Logs for beers from this brewery

Delicious and sweet; light. If uncomplicated.
Exceedingly pleasant, lemon-pine IPA. On the sweet and resinous side but avoids being unpleasant. Just enough cereal to balance. Clean finish.
Sour, a little funky, vinous and buttery on the finish. Slightly better than the Firestone Walker. (Bottled 9/17/21)
Bottle at Odin Lounge
Malty-fruity-caramel opening, hops in the middle. Finishes with cereal, funk, and a long tail on the caramel. Brown sugar lingers in the aftertaste.
White pepper, yeasty bitterness. Bracing, I’d call it. Tasty.
A really high quality IPA - lemon-pine, lingering bitterness and fragrance without being over the top. Strong without feeling unbalanced, although there is just a hint of perfume-like artificiality around the lemon flavor.
Bottle at Home
Top notch Helles. Starts just a touch watery but finishes fizzy, lightly sweet, grassy, cereal. Super drinkable, classic without being boring.
Bottle at San Jose, CA
I know the description is golden ale, but this tastes like an oily IPA, with a ton of intense hop flavors all at once: pine, pineapple, citrus, resin. It’s fine but all resolves into acrid bitterness, which doesn’t add up to a refreshing bottle.
Bottle at San Jose, CA
Light, bright, sweet cereal, and a clear hop bitterness hinting at resin. A nice kind of pineapple juice fruitiness keeps it colorful. An easy-drinking IPA.
Bottle at Home
A medium-bodied, smoky porter with a bit of sourness. Lots of roast and coffee, and a buildingly bitter finish.
Bottle at Odin Lounge
Funky cherry flavor; mild sourness followed by a bit of caramel and salt on the lips. More yeast bitterness than I expected, probably since this is still relatively young. Anyway, this didn’t fare as well as previous tastings of more aged vintages.
Bottle at The Dark Place
This bottle was over three years old at this point. Smooth, almost vaporous, with a very complex wild sourness left over. Not very accessible, but I liked it very much.
Bottle at Home
Profoundly complex after a couple years of aging. The essence of currants, and a whole lotta wood, pronounced but not overwhelming tartness. This is shoe leather and antique furniture and crystal stemware. A monocle may be involved.
Bottle at Raman's
Coming at this after having gotten to like sours, this was excellent. The bottle was acquired at the brewery in December 2015 and aged until now. Medium-tart, with really nice, complex cherry flavor and a buttery-cereal finish. Dry and smooth. Yum!
Bottle at A Friend's
Excellent lager with well-integrated fruity-hoppy notes - like a grapefruit pale ale combined with a pilsner. As refined as you'd expect from this pair of breweries. I think I like this better than the Pivo Pils.
As good as last time.
Bottle at Karthik's
Sweeter and less fragrant than I remember from the brewery. Maybe this beer loses its freshness really quickly? I wouldn't have believed it, but the bottles do scream warnings.
Bottle at Xbeer One
A very mellow IPA with a rounded hop flavor, but also a slightly toasty, savory character. At last at this tasting, I thought it made out slightly better than the Pliny.
Bottle at Xbeer One
A pleasant pilsner with a lot of rich barley cereal flavor. Finish is moderately bitter and builds up over time, which detracts a bit from the crispness. Still, I liked this very much.
Bottle at Xbeer One
Russian River Consecration (unknown release)
Just as sour as Temptation, but definitely more fruity in character. Cherry and wood, with maybe a touch of chocolate. There's less complexity in this beer, and the finish is a bit one-note and less memorable. Overall, I liked this less than the other sour.
The better of the two sours in the flight - this had some funky yeast bitterness from the wine barreling, without overt wine flavors in the beer itself. Very sour, but with a relatively sweetish, malty finish.
Rich, creamy porter with a lot of roasty bite. That last brings out some coffee and chocolate in the flavor but lingers for a long time, verging on outright smoke. The alcohol pokes through, too. Fine, but I wished for a less pointy experience.
Very, very good on draft. A similar overall character to the Row 2, Hill 56, but with the flavors all smoothed out. Smoother, yes, but also a little more boring. Still, very fresh-tasting and tasty.
Similar to the Whole Cone Madness, but adds a kind of savory, uric tang (and maybe some more resinous character?) to add a perfect note of contrast to the overall flavor. The best beer of the batch, I think - better than Pliny.
A really good, super-fresh tasting hoppy ale. This is in the piney-but-cereal vein of beers that somehow strike that delicate balance to become delicious.
Aged 10 years (!). Yeasty. Sour. Subtle tobacco flavor. Finishes heavy. Yet clean.
Bottle
Smells promising, banana and spice and yeast. The flavor is empty, with no malt body detectable, and a sudden wall of simple bitterness. Alcohol is fairly unsubtle as well. So far ,this Beer Camp Across America box has been a bust.
I've always liked Pliny, it's a great DIPA that isn't too heavy with a good citrusy/piney hopping. After having so many other great DIPAs and IPAs, I wouldn't say that this is so far above the rest. I'd stand a Stone Enjoy By (an IPA) beside this any day. Still, worth trying as it is an excellent DIPA.
Bottle at Home
Much better fresh - bottled on 4/9. Great aroma, with a huge hit of fragrant and resinous hop that goes directly into a dry, pithy, clean but bitter finish. That transition is sudden and dramatic, but it beats syrupy any day of the week. Still a little too bitter to be a favorite, but I'm beginning to see what the fuss is about.
Bottle at Work
Not sure if the bottle was old, because I have nothing to compare it to, but it didn't scream "fresh" at me. Kind of dank, hay-like, sweet finish - really didn't have any of the qualities I've enjoyed in IPAs.
Bottle at Xbeer One
Didn't have the smoothness of the 2012 from earlier this year, but it was still very tasty.
Bottle at Xbeer One
Almost shockingly tart, with a liqueur-y, buttery finish. It was not unlike a tart, sour cherry pie. I don't usually like sours, but -- yum!
A very Belgian strong pale that has a bit of bitter, spicy kick at the end but still manages to go down smoothly, overall. Tasty.
Bottle at Xbeer One
One of the many reasons I was incapable of movement on Friday.
Bottle at B&E's
The first sour I've ever tried. Huh. Not sour like lemons, sour like...sour. Puzzling, but not in a bad way. Not sure I'd want a whole one.
More of a bite than Berryessa's Saison, which I suppose is to be expected from the hop-happy folks at Russian River. Pretty good.