Russian River Pliny the Elder

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

50cl bottle at home: Pours a nice crisp yellow gold with a diminishing, tall and somewhat creamy yellowed head. Great citrussy hop aroma. Definite grapefruit, apricot, and even some slight peach. Pine notes are also present but they are under the citrus fruit. Sweet malt that is almost sugary when combined with the citrus is big enough to balance the hops (balance in an IIPA kinda way). Light caramel drizzled over the top. A touch of alcohol makes that peach note seem like peach schnapps. Flavor is obviously dominated by hops, but there is a initial flash of pale malts before the hops roll in and conquer your tastebuds. Big piney hop fights with big grapefruity hop. Malt is less balancing than in the aroma but it is still gives a backbone to the hops. Although, it seems more like simple sugars at times rather than a nice complex malt profile. Medium body. Low alcohol drives some astringency and light burn into the back of your throat. Hops get a light mint edge towards the end. Long hop finish (duh!) that gets a little spicy and more fruity than what was noticed earlier. Resiny burn builds after all that.

Very nice beer. Had it on tap at Hudson Public House in Seattle. Very nice IPA with seemingly larger body. Citrus, pine, achieves balance.

Small bomb from Corti Brothers, Sacramento. Pours a peach-orange with a medium fluffy head. Aroma is mainly of grapefruity hops, and also apricot-like fruit. Flavor is nice: Initially sharp grapefruity hops and then the fruit again. Aroma and flavor are very similar, though the flavor I found pretty creamy for an IPA and this added another dimension to it which I thoroughly enjoyed. Just the slightest of alcohol burns in the esophagus. Mouthfeel is quite nice, very appropriate for the style; Good carbonation level without being soda-pop. Very high quality all-around. Definitely in the top 3 IPAs I personally have had. Perhaps a little overrated, but still damn good. I could drink this for hours. Overall, excellent.

Tasted at DLD09 from a bottle into a snifter. Golden orange with a small off-white head. Aroma is all pine with sweet malt present as well. Flavor is pine, grapefruit, and sweet malt - perfect balance of hops and malt. A very well balanced IIPA. Would love to have a way of getting this one regularly.

500 mL bottle from South Bay Drugs (bottled April 7th; how’s that for fresh). Pours orange with a nice off-white head. Powerful aroma of grapefruit and pine. Taste is a fantastic blend of grapefruit and citrus; only moderately sweet mostly just in your face hops. Surprisingly drinkable at 8%. I had this once on tap but I think I like it in the bottle better. This is exactly what a DIPA aspires to be.

pours a beautiful orange. smells of tons of citrus and pine. flavor is citrus, pine, sweet malt, hop resin, and floral hop goodness. I could drink this all day long.

Poured from a 22oz. bottle into a pint glass. The color a light yellowish orange, hazy with a great amount of foamy and bubbly white head. The smell is very piny. The floral hops are very evident here. It tickles your nose and gives you a preview of things to come. Finally the taste, the taste that has been building for months and it is good. The amount of hops is pushing through all other flavors. Being an IPA it gives you just the right amount of hops, floral and some citrus hops as well. It has a great feel to this beer. It is a fantastic brew. An IPA for the ages and it really is worth the wait.

Pliny made it all the way to NZ in pretty good shape! hazy, light amber, small fluffy head. aromas of pineapple, pine, citrus, peaches maybe and caramel maltiness. Flavor is kinda sweet, resiny and all of the above. Bitterness is high but suprsingly not off the chart. Very tasty indeed.