Russian River Pliny the Elder

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

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.

Poured from a bottle (2/29/09) into my Duvel Tulip. Color is dark orange/gold with a very big and fluffy off-white head. Smell is outrageously awesome...pine/citrus/grapefruit all over the place...holy cow. I just want to live in it (you’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen Pineapple Express)! Taste is wonderful! So well-balanced and not overly bitter like other huge hoppy beers. Perfect amount of carbonation and so smooth it glides around in your mouth. This is a VERY drinkable beer and I could drink this beer all the time although I savor these because of my location. What an amazing beer!

bottle, thanks to wavers1! Pours pale orange with a bright medium white head. Strong hay and grapefruit aroma with some cannibus notes as well. Slightly piney. Wow, this is almost all bitter, there is a slight sweet carmel malt but it is cut SHARPLY by a strong hop profile. Very dry pine and resiny hop oil cooked on the stove and reduced down to make it more pure and strong then added back into the beer to make the hoppiness more than anyone could handle. But in all actuality, it’s quite good, and after the first few sips getting that bitterness on the tongue, it settles into a fine brew.

A: Poured with a large, white, frothy head that hung around for a bit before easing down to 1/2-finger or so. Body is a really nice-looking golden orange color, and hazy. S: Oh yeah, now that’s a strong-smelling IPA! Average hops (actually not overpowering at all) that are very perfumed, with citrus, pine, cut grass, and celery coming through. The pine in particular is quite strong. T: This is a damned smooth-drinking beer. Of course the hops are present throughout the whole time, but the finish is much milder than I would have expected from that powerful aroma. Pine and citrus are very present and in your face, but they don’t push their luck. 8% ABV? I would never have guessed that high. M: One of the smoothest, creamiest beers I’ve had, with a perfect balance of soft-average carbonation with the full-body. T: I was a little nervous about trying this beer... no way it could live up to the hype. But it pretty much did... one of my first (THE first?) DIPAs I’ve had... I’ve probably been spoiled from here on out.