Russian River Pliny the Elder

Brewed by Russian River Brewing
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Santa Rosa, California USA

From bottle : Pours a hazy, carbonated golden color with a finger of bubbley head. Thick lacing. Pine hops jump from the glass, with some citrus also noted. Taste is bitter and abrasive at first, mellows out toward the end but the bitter never stops, all the way into the aftertaste it still has that bitter bite. Has a pretty light body, with a slick feel in the mouth. Quite good, but i dont think it lived up to the hype....for me atleast.

Bottle at Chris_o’s "smash Kook’s granny tasting". Alround rating: Great citrusy grapefruit and lychee nose, balanced in a flavour profile manner, but has a great bitterness yet a body to hold it together. Excellent IPA.

Clear golden brown beneath a frothy white head. Amazing hop aroma, a blast of citrus and pine. Great balance, but the hop flavors really take over. Tons of juicy hop flavor pine, spruce and grapefruit zest. Finishes dry with some lingering lemon notes.

22nd August 2008. Hazy gold beer. Grassy and piney hops with a sweet pineapple undertone. Some bitter grapefruit in the finish. Very refreshing.

Bottle 50cl. @ home.
[ Courtesy of SecretSanta ]. Clear medium orange color with a average, frothy - fizzy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, light heavy hoppy, pine, grapefruit, orange - citrus, fruity - peach. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long to average duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20090814]

Nice, clear, golden honey color. Small one-finger head of white foam. Minimal retention. Decent lacing, slightly better then minimal. Okay, I’ve not detected hops ’evil’ cousin in the nose of a beer before, but this one is it. This smells like some mighty fine weed! If I thought that I could dry this out and smoke it, I’d try to. Very ’green’ and earthy smelling. Pine resin and grapefruit, with a hint of citrus, mostly orange. Nice floral presence. This has got to be one of the best/nicest smelling DIPA/IIPA’s that I’ve ever had. Wow, the taste is much smoother than expected. Based on the hype and the nose, I expected to pucker-up with this one. Not the case, at all. Very nice citrus/floral balance, here. Sure, there are a ton of hops in this. There is also a nice balance provided by a nice bed of dry malt flavor. A good grapefruit showing mixed with tangerine sweetness and the zest of pine needles. A good counter balance of caramel malt sweetness. Excellent balance. No bitterness, no over-the-top sweetness. Very nice. Truly a crisp, clean brew. Light and refreshing. Just slightly too thin for me to rate it a ’perfect’ 5.0, though. 4.5 is pretty close. I could drink this by the barrel-full. Although, I’d probably choose something that was bigger, thicker, and maltier. That’s the only reason it misses the 5.0 rating on drinkability. Just personal preference. Overall, I must say that I am impressed. This one truly lives up to the hype.

Pours a orange-gold with a mid range headhead of tiny. Aroma is hoppy grapefruit and pine. Amazingly easy to drink...you could just drink this at the pub all day and be perfectly happy. Smooth, balanced, satisfying hop finish. A great brew.

Pliny The Elder is a cloudy golden ale with a thin, dense, white head that has excellent retention and lacing. It has a huge, fresh, floral, grassy aroma. It smells like... stepping outdoors. It’s medium bodied, minerally and crisp. The finish is clean. It’s nice and bitter with a full hop flavor. There are notes of flowers, grass, herbs and fresh ground black pepper. This is how a double IPA should taste. It was very much a pleasure to enjoy this at the Trappist in Oakland.