Russian River Pliny the Elder

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

Bomber from Belmont Station. Colour... peachy-orange with a thick white head. Nose... amazingly citrusy and piney all at once! Palate... WOOF! Forgot how good this is!! A wallop of Indian River grapefruit skin and pith, Poderosa pine pitch and the chewiness to go with it! Sweet, tart and yet remarkably well balanced. No wonder this stuff flies off the shelves when it hits town! Truly one of the best imperial IPA’s EVER!!!

This is a pure double IPA in the truest sense of the style. No gimmicks here, just a perfect balance between complex bitterness, body, and great finish and aftertaste.

Pliny just might be my favorite beer. At the very least it holds a place in the pantheon of my favorite beers. If you could bottle grapefruit flowers and then drink that bottle of grapefruit flowers and it got you drunk you’d have Pliny the Elder. My favorite part about the beer just might be how pale it is. Barely a hint of orange in a mostly yellow canvas. Upon gazing at it’s skinny hay color one could mistake it for the hair color of the girl who lived down the street, at the end of the summer, who’s days were spent in the sun. Then you taste the beer and it turns out she’s not only cute but smart too. That being said, I would expect this beer to be darker; not a big deal, just saying. My only knock on Pliny is that sometimes the batches can be inconsistent. The best batch of Pliny is my desert island beer; but to someone as accustomed to it as I am, when you get a bad batch it’s a little disappointing. However, the worst batch of Pliny I’ve ever had is still better than 90% of the beers I’ve ever tasted. Great beer, just get one. As I heard someone say once about Pliny the Elder, "It’s a life changing beer, man...". I tentatively agree.

I regularly have this on tap around San Diego, but this rating at home based on a 500 mL bottle purchased at South Bay Drugs ($4.99). Pours a clear light honey-orange with about a finger of white head. Aroma of fresh ruby red grapefruit, more citrus, peach, fresh flower bouquet. Flavor is dominated by the hops (grapefruit, tropical fruit) and is very good. Might benefit from a bit more malt balance. Quite a lot of bitterness in the dry finish. I can tell that I prefer this on draft over the bottled version. Good stuff, but I think I like the local Exponential Hoppiness and Yulesmith better.

On tap at Stone. Pours cloudy golden/orange with lots of rising bubbles. Has a strong sweet/juicy citurs hop nose with wonderful grapefruit. Flavor has much more pine and again strong citrus punch with a clean finish. Simply Excellent.

Its loaded with hops and yet very easy to drink. Its very piney and grassy, not too bitter though, or harsh on the palate. It achieves a great balance of hoppiness and smooth easy drinking flavor. Exactly what I want from an IPA, full of explosive hop presence, yet sustaining with the ability to enjoy a lot of.

Hazy darker orange with good, creamy white head / Nose of fresh pine, orange and cream / Medium body, with good malts and biting hops, and with fine finish / Flavors of cut pine, caramel, orange, grapefruit, and resin / Doesn’t eclipse Dogfish 90 or Dreadnaught, but a very fine beer.

First off, a big thanks to my cousin for bringing this beer with him to OH on a x-country trip from CA. I’ve had this beer at festivals on draft, and thought it was amazing. However, I usually don’t rate from samples, so I haven’t rated it until I got my own bottle. And while the bottle was very good, I don’t think it was as fresh as the samples I’ve had on draft. Because while the bottle I got was certainly very good, it wasn’t the hop ecstasy I experienced in the draft form. So, in this review, I’ll likely split the difference. Color is far lighter than I would’ve expected. It looks like a golden ale - not too thick, a very light blond/golden color, with a nice amount of head piled on top - a nice picture. Aroma was very hoppy (but hoppier on draft) and was very pine-y and resin-y. Beer was balanced with a nice malt framework...even though this beer is packed with hops, it didn’t unbalanced. Mouthfeel is light and pleasant. I swear I could drink a gallon of this stuff without feeling stuffed and like my mouth was coated with cotton candy (the way I would feel with other very hoppy, sticky IPAs). This beer deserves its accolades. It really is one of the best!