Note: This column was published in the Oakland Tribune/Contra Costa Times in June.

What’s on Tap:

Russian River Temptation

Gives sour a good name

By William Brand
Staff Writer

I’M NOT A HUGE FAN OF BELGIAN SOUR OR BELGIAN-STYLE SOUR BEERS, the kind that are made with wild yeast and aged in funk-ridden wooden barrels,. But I love the concept and history.

I can see those old blue-collar factory workers slogging into a dark, cozy pub after a tough day in an unpleasant factory back in the 18th-century Lowlands, and gulping glasses of Lambic beer, thirst-quenching and mildly sour. Wow, way cool.

But I’ve never worked in a factory and I grew up slurping Coca-Cola and Pepsi. So sour is a new taste for me and often far from thrilling. It took me many months to work up the courage to open a bottle of Temptation, the well-named, barrel-aged beer, brewed by Vinnie Cilurzo at Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa.

I pulled the cork a couple of nights ago and I was blown away.
Temptation **** is a wild, 7.25 percent alcohol by volume, Belgian-style “blonde” ale. It was aged in French oak chardonnay wine barrels for 12 months. READ THE REST OF THE POST…