It’s a long holiday weekend and we’re finally getting some much-needed rain. My brother-in-law is in town, so we’ve been doing a lot of stuff with my wife’s family this weekend. However, everybody is out doing their own thing this afternoon, so I have time to pull this long, anticipated beer out of the beer cellar. I picked up this beer on a visit to Seattle in October 2012. Unfortunately, this was one of the only survivors of the many Russian River beers I tried to bring back to the Midwest in my suitcase. I’ve been holding onto this beer to make it one of the last beers I try on my journey to 1000 beers. So, as I approach the final 20 beers, I thought it was a great time to finally pop the cork on this one.
Location: Poured into a TEKU pint glass from the 375ml bottle at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 9.5% ABV, ~330 Calories
Appearance & Aroma: It is deep brown in color, and I can see through it slightly at the edges when I held it up to the sunlight. There is some sediment from the bottle carbonation/fermentation settled at the bottom of the glass. It had a finger-thick, white head that fell fairly quickly to a creamy white ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass. The aroma was incredible with a nice, dark malty sweetness with some fig and prune-like smells.
Taste & Feel: The body is surprisingly light for such a big beer, and the mouth feel is slightly crisp from the carbonation, but pretty dry. It has a good amount of fig and dark fruit flavors up front, although not very sweet. More dark fruit flavors come through in the middle with hints of dark cherries and prunes. The finish is super dry with the fig and dark fruit and malty flavors opening up quite a bit. The fig and dark malty flavors last for a couple minutes in the aftertaste, allowing you to enjoy the flavors a bit longer.
Food Pairing: Despite the usually sweet flavors I described, such as fig, prunes and other dark fruits, there was surprisingly little sweetness in this beer. Therefore, I’d pair this beer with something sweet, like a chocolate, dessert or tiramisu.
Overall Impression: I wasn’t sure how this beer would hold up, given the fact that it was bottled over a decade ago. However, it held up quite nicely. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by the lack of sweetness, as it probably fermented out over that time. I really enjoyed the fig and dark malt aroma and could have sniffed this beer all day. The flavors were very complex and a little hard to describe with the mix of fig, prune, and other dark fruits. Overall, this was an excellent beer that I’m glad survived the trip from Seattle. I wish I could try this fresh to compare it to what it tastes like now. Anytime I’m on the West Coast I try to pick up beers from Russian River, and that certainly won’t change after finally getting to enjoy this beer.
My Rating: 
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