Russian River Pliny the Elder

Finally, RR in CO! Pours sparkling clear, orange in color, and a head which is off-white, creamy, full, and fluffy; lace is drippy with some lasting ability. Nose is pleasant for the style with great pink grapefuit notes, light resin, light grass, and faint candied apricots with minimal warmth noticed. Flavor is bitter throughout with pink grapefruit peaking first but immediately followed by dry grasses, light pine resins, even a floral hint. Malt notes include dry toast and lightly candied apricots. Palate is medium, nearly lively, dry, and almost oily. Finishes very long and bitter with lots of dry grass and some notes of floral and dank. It was good and definately a hop bomb, but the dryness is a bit much and there are just not the complexities of some of my favorite examples of the style. Still, a nice beer with plenty of bitterness but I was a bit disappointment of the high ratings.

Two week old bottled sample via (and shared with) oakbluff. Gold in colour with moderate carbonation. Huge American hop aromas dominate the nose, with notes of sweet pink grapefuit, flowers, sweet grasses, and a bit of orange. Quite dry in the mouth, with clean pale malts, more grapefruit, and some slightly under-ripe apricot notes. Very refined bitterness, and very drinkable. A top class IIPA to say the least. HUGE thanks to oakbluff for sharing this gem with me!

500 ml bottle. Pours clear light orange with a big airy head and lively carbonation. Flavor and aroma is big citrus and pine. This is a hop monster, but not overbearing. Perfect balance and easy to drink. Oily mouthfeel and a long bitter lingerness. This is perfect representation of a IIPA. I must try.

Last glass of the keg at monk’s. Pour is orange, but almost pink. Nose is pine sap and bitter citrus.. The flavour is a very balanced hop bomb. The malt is there in your mind but you dont taste it. In stead is grapefruit and pine. The hop bitterness all hits in the back of the throat, no flavour of alcohol. In shock on this one, The flavour of hops is no where near astrigent, unlike the nose.

Bottle thanks to Hophead22, Thanks. Poured clear orange in color, with nice white fluffy head. Aroma is nice fresh hoppy scent along with citrus. Taste was very fresh smooth hoppy along with citrus. Finished smooth with a creamy feel. A well balanced IIPA. Would like to have this available more often.

On draught at Trinity Brewing in Colorado Springs. Aroma is a bright fresh hop scent. Color is golden brown with light carbonation and a thick tight head. Taste is grapefruit. Starting with a medium body it goes down with a creamy feel. Finish comes in with a bold citric hop flavor then some mild malt and an even bitterness. After taste is more bitterness and lingering grapefruit. Its well balanced but the grapefruit taste is too strong for me.

Fresh fruity citrus hop nose, floral fresh hop juice flavor, perfectly balanced without even coming close to being over bittered. Alcohol disguised with care. Delicate hop flower flavor, so good. I can;t express this to you enough, this ale is of a very high quality, so clean and light, yet so robust and distinct. I had no idea that I was buying such an incredible ale when I was at the shop, I’m new to the area and this came as an absolute shock to me, I was told that I actually scored a bottle from the first batch ever to be bottled, HISTORY! Proud to be a part of it.

<b>Bottle:</b> Courtesy of bvc...thanks Brandon. Pours a light copper-orange with a two-finger white head and excellent lacing/retention. The nose hints at massive amounts of citrus, specifically grapefruit, apricots and peach with some oh-so-subtle grassy and resin notes. Decent so far...immediately upon tasting this I was a bit let down, I was expecting a hop-bomb and got something much less. The hoppiness is present but not in the blow-my-mind sense and frankly I was a bit disappointed especially considering all the hype around this. It is very clean and dry with a very good hop profile but I would not put this in Hopslam or Dreadnaught’s league when fresh...and I’ve got to assume I received a fresh bottle.