Russian River Consecration Tasting

I apologize in advance for a lack of information. I lost a few sheets of paper involving this brew, so exact numbers of some things are not known. But this was a homebrew kit so it should'nt be too hard to find the information.

Quite a while ago I was browsing online and happened upon Morebeer!'s Webpage. They had an advertisement for a beer kit they had made in Collaboration with Vinnie Cilurzo, the beer was Consecration from Vinnie's Russian River Brewing Co.

The beer is Described as a sour dark ale aged in Cabernet Sauvignon Barrels w/ Black Currants. Having been a fan of Russian River for a while, I decided to buy an All Grain Version of the kit and throw it in one of my Sour Fermenters.

The kit Consisted of the Grist, or Grain bill for the brew. Simple 2 Row Pale base malt, Carafa II and a few other specialty grains/sugars, and a large bag of Dried Black Currants. Sterling and Styrian Goldings for hops, and Wyeast 1214 for Primary Fermentation. Also included in the kit were 4 chunks of oak, cut from Barrels that previously held Russian River's Commercial version of this beer.

For more details go to MoreBeer.com and you can find the directions for brewday.

For Primary ferment I pitched WY1214 and let it ferment out. After about a Month I racked the batch onto the Black Currants and pitched 1 vial of White Labs 645 Brett. Clausenii. Once I achieved the Brett Character I was looking for I added the Oak Chunks, as well as 1 pack each of Wyeast's Pedio and Lacto Cultures. I wish now I would've pitched something like Roselare Ale or some kind of blend, because using the 2 in conjunction with each other did not give the results I was looking for. Last of all I added about half a pack of ENOFERM RP15 for Bottle Conditioning

Tasting Notes:

HOMEBREW

Appearence: Side by side my version is alot darker, but I suspect I swirled up the yeast cake in the commercial version while pouring. No head at all. Lasted about as long as the head on a pepsi. Nice c02 though. Deep deep red color

Aroma: Very faint, fruit leather, can get the lacto and pedio, very light brett funk. Most of the character from the primary yeast is gone, or covered up by the bacteria.

Taste: Raisons and alcohol. Currants definantly come through but in more of a winelike character. If there wasnt all the different flavors from the lacto and pedio, and whatever was living in the wood, this would be pretty boozy

Mouthfeel: Light and refreshing, But I suspect I may have bottled a little early because I get a very very faint pedio sliminess. But I cant pin point if it is Pedio or something else

Overall: Decent but needs more age for sure.

COMMERCIAL

Appearence: More cloudy and quite more red. Small ring of foam floating on top with crazy c02 stirring up the surface. Reddish/Brown Color with an orange hue around the edges

Aroma: Much stronger aroma, Fruit, Oak, Funk. Maybe a bit of Tobacco, but its definantly tropical smelling. Brett is pretty hidden in the back, or it melds so well it goes un noticed.

Taste: SOUR, Wayyy different then my homebrew version. Strong fruit flavors followed by a Bone dry aftertaste of funk. Upon my second sip I get Mushroom notes, Very pronounced fungus like character with a strong acetic acid in the forefront. Amazing beer really. wow

Mouthfeel: Very sweet and Full bodied in the beginning and then fades to a chalk dry finish

Overall: Great beer. Totally Different then I was expecting. Glad I decided to make a trade for this guy :) Would definantly pick it up again