WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP ABOUT RUSSIAN RIVER ALREADY

Sure, I would if there wasn't a new stunner starting me in the face every time I stepped out of doors. The latest discovery from the RUSSIAN RIVER BREWING CO. - whose beers I admit we're beginning to over-champion here after some initial skepticism - is one called LITTLE WHITE LIE, a "witbier" we discovered on tap this past Saturday at a family-friendly San Francisco restaurant we like to go to for lunch called Park Chow. Sure, it was "just lunch", but as I explained to my wife in my best birding or record collecting language, "this is a rare sighting - I may never come across this (beer) again". So bring it on! Little White Lie appears to be a May-September seasonal, so I guess we almost missed it. Russian River themselves have this to say about it:

This traditional Belgian style White Ale is brewed with 40% un-malted wheat which leaves the beer with a cloudy haze, much like a German Hefeweizen. Low bitterness and higher acidity makes this beer very thirst-quenching. In the tradition of Belgian White Ales, Little White Lie is spiced with coriander, orange peel and cumin, which add interesting spicy and citrus characteristics to the aroma and flavor.

I will second the thirst-quenching part, and say straight-up that this might be the best new beer I've discovered this month (and if you've read this blog, you can see that there's a large sample size). It looked like a classic deep golden Belgian in the glass, and it really refreshed, but in an interesting, complex manner. I get the feeling that these guys may somewhat miss the mark at times, but for the most part, everything Russian River touches comes out way, way better than average, and they are a natural flag-bearer for the US craft beer revolution that continues to trample the old guard. 2 more weeks left in September - get on the stick ASAP if you want to try this one in 2006. 9/10.