The Brux Project – Russian River & Sierra Nevada Brux Domesticated Wild Ale

Brux Domesticated Wild Ale

The Brux Project

Brux, when I first heard about it, became one of my most anticipated collaborations. I have been looking forward to this beer for nearly a year. Russian River is probably the best brewer of wild and sour beers in the United States. They brew sour beers with courage and skill while many other brewers only timidly play with these dangerous but rewarding wild strains of yeast and bacteria. Sierra Nevada has long been a pioneer in the craft brewing world creating many beers that are still the standard by which many beers are judged. With these giants of creativity collaborating, how could one not eagerly anticipate the results.

I’m not the only one to anticipate this beer as rumor and innuendo flew about the beer blogosphere like so many arrows launched from so many bows. People seemed to be expecting the mother of all sour beers: aggressive, sour, funky and “in your face.” Instead, what emerged was a beer of subtle sophistication that showed promise of many years of development.

The bottle calls this beer “A dry and complex Belgian-style ale refermented in the bottle with Brettanomyces bruxellensis.” To learn more about Brettanomyces read my post on wild yeast, “The Yeasties, The Yeasties: The Wild Beasties in my Beer!

The Brux Project is a special project undertaken here at Ithinkaboutbeer.com to systematically track the aging process of “Brux Domesticated Wild Ale.”  I obtained a case of beer and will be tracking this beer as it develops.  The first beer was tasted and the review was posted on 9/2/2012.  1 bottle will be opened at a regular interval to track the development of this live beer containing  the famous/infamous Brettanomyces Bruxellensis wild yeast.  The beer is being stored in a temperature stable, UV light blocking Vinotemp wine cooler.

Brux Domesticated Wild Ale (A Russian River & Sierra Nevada Collaboration)

9/2/2012 – Bottle no. 1

3/7/2013 – Bottle no. 2

9/2/2013 – Bottle no. 3

3/5/2014 – Bottle no. 4

9/5/2014 – Bottle no. 5

3/1/2015 – Bottle no. 6

8/30/2015 – Bottle no. 7

3/5/2016 – Bottle no. 8

9/3/2016 – Bottle no. 9

3/12/2017 – Bottle no. 10

9/4/2017 – Bottle no. 11

4/26/2018 – Bottle no. 12

17 thoughts on “The Brux Project – Russian River & Sierra Nevada Brux Domesticated Wild Ale

  1. Just opened our only bottle of Brux for my birthday weekend.
    Thought your description was accurate. We very much enjoyed this beer as well as a few others we pulled from the cellar to celebrate the occasion.

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