Works Of Love: Russian River Brewing / The Lost Abbey
Hill Farmstead Brewery

Good beer, but again a bit tart for my liking. We also aged it to try it as well. The color of the beer was absolutely magnificent and the smell was terrific as well.

 

 

375ml bottle, dated Sept. 29, 2020, poured into a stemless wine glass. Enjoyed on 10.26.2023, reviewed from Tasting Journal.

The beer pours a very deep burgundy brown color, garnet and crimson hues, nice opacity with a bone colored head that dissipates immediately with no retention nor lacing. The aroma is super funky, lots of dark jammy fruits, cherry, blackberry, red grape, light citrus, quite floral with earthy oak and fruit pits. The flavors are nice, vinous grape, lemon, cherry and blackberry preserve, very, very tart, super funky oak, earthy tannins, leather, tobacco, and fruit pits. The mouthfeel is good, coating, vibrant medium body, tart and lively with a crisp and dry finish.

Verdict: A nice wild and fruited saison from Hill Farmstead and Co. Very tart, super funky but there's a good depth of flavor here. It definitely has all the hallmarks of a Supplication or Cuvee de Tomme. A fun collaboration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2019 vintage, conditioning since 2020/09/29... whoa, exactly 3 years to the day
Pours a frothy small fizzy off-white head with fair to lower retention, a bit of lacing, decent legs, dark mahogany to molasses color almost blackish

Nose explodes with cherry, loads of juicy cherry and a bit of bramble blackberry behind that, some tart wine barrel, dark red wine with some buttery oak, a bit of sweet malt, candy apple, earthy undertones, a bit of acidity funk

Taste starts quite tart, fair amount of sour acidic bacteria funk, quite sour overall, into tangy fruit, more juicy cherry but somewhere between Balaton and Sour cherry, mild bramble blackberry, a bit of inky red wine, mild buttery oak with vanilla spice, a little raisin and date like maybe prune fruit, touch of candy malt, flemmy tangy finish with more acidity and fruit lingering

Mouth is med bod, lower carb, high acidity, flemmy finish

Overall quite nice, very sour, nice barrel, great fruit that combined well, a very nice beer from Hill as usual

 

This one pours a dark-ish purple/red color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like funky and tart blackberry, blueberry, red wine, oak, and funky lemon.

This is pretty sour, as something with this heavy of a berry component would naturally. However, it’s definitely not as tart or sour as some of the more heavy handed fruited beers in the recent Harvest series, so that’s something. There’s a great barrel character here, darkly wine heavy, and pretty oaky, and that does help balance some of the acidity from the heavy berry infusion. There’s also a hint of oaky vanilla as well.

This is light bodied, tart, and pretty drinkable, despite the acidity.

This isn’t my absolute favorite in this series, but it was still very enjoyable.

 

375ml capped bottle into a DDG teku.

Pours a deep mahogany. Oily legs. Spotty lace. Quickly collapsing light cream colored head. Nose is lightly tart. I get prunes, crushed raspberries, and dark cherries. Beer opens tart raspberry skin and stem. Prunes and dark cherry skin in the middle. Puckeringly tart. Oak and vanilla smooths out the edges towards the end. Body is light to medium with ample carbonation. Foamy on the palate and goes down bubbly. Long, lingering finish.

Solid and a privilege to try.

 

 

pours out a brownish amber color with a tan head. aromas are slightly metalitc, fruity, and rustic earthy funk. definitely russian river vibes on this so far! on the palate is a prominent sour cherry flavor - some acidity and musty flavors dancing in there. under-ripe blackberry and some dark grape hints in there and a definite vinegar like flavor. it's a bit in your face in some ways, with the tartness and cherry flavor, but still very good.