Russian River Temptation

As I was drinking a bottle of Kennebunkport IPA, a beer that is no different from Shipyard IPA since it is brewed by the same company only with different labels. I don’t understand this. A mediocre IPA at best why not tweak the recipe before calling it something else? Especially when Trader Joe’s is advertising Kennebunkport as something new and exciting. But really how exciting can it be for $4.99/6 pack? The carbonation is decent, but there is very little in the way of hops and way too much malt. Not what I’m looking for in an IPA, even for less than $1 per bottle.

Way on the other side of the spectrum is Russian River. Wednesday evening I was lucky enough to crack open a bottle of Temptation. Not readily available in Michigan, I traded a bottle of 3 Floyds Dark Lord 2007 to a dude from BeerAdvocate.com to get my hands on this. Oddly, when I requested this in the trade, I had no idea what it was – it just sounded interesting. A blonde aged in chardonnay barrels? Sign me up! Russian River also has some damn fine beer names: Supplication, Compunction, Depuration, and Beatification are their barrel aged offerings. Clever names and even better bottles make the experience of the beers all the more memorable.

Temptation is an American Wild Ale, or a beer that is introduced to “wild” yeast or bacteria (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/171 ). The introduction of this wild character leads to extreme funkiness (as many reviewers note) in both the smell and taste. I happen to think that the funkiness is not funky at all. Very sour, yes, but this is a delightful change of pace from anything else being produced. The differentness of this beer is what draws me to it. I wonder if the draw would be lessened if the beer wasn’t so exotic? There is not much balancing Temptation – it is basically sour all the way through. Aside from the head, it even looks like lemonade or some other kind of citrus juice. Definitely a style I’d like to try more of, maybe a road trip to Russian River is in my future???