First off the title, in parenthesis, refers to me doing 365 Days of American Craft Beer and that I am currently on day 3. Yes, this will be at the top of each of my posts to help me keep track as well as introduce any new people to what I am trying to accomplish with this part of the blog. On second thought I just added a category for these posts going forward; hopefully that will be self explanatory enough.
Russian River‘s Redemption, a Belgian Pale Ale, just arrived from my cousin in California along with a few other goodies from Russian River that I will probably be partaking in the next few days.
The nice thing about Redemption is that it is somewhat “cheap” for a Russian River beer: $4.99 for a 375ml. Most, if not all, of the other beers I have tried from RR have been at least double that cost outside of Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig.
The bottle, with a cork, always makes me think that the liquid goodness inside will be better than a beer in a regular bottle. Sort of like a woman wearing a skirt over jeans 😉 So without hesitation, Redemption was quickly poured into my Surly tulip glass (that I later dropped and broke in the kitchen sink cleaning it. No, I didn’t get hurt. Thank you for asking.) with a heaping helping of snow white foam to fill the glass. The aroma was light but was as expected: yeast (Belgian), pepper, and some lemon. Daintily put together. The taste follows with a bit of pepper lingering in the mouth, while the body is light it carries a zesty, crisp carbonation to make it seem bigger. Nice drinking and, in spite of being light, a beer I could have year round. Enjoy!
Aroma: 9, Taste: 9, Look: 8, Drinkability: 9, Overall: 8.9