Russian River Pliny the Elder

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

Cloudy dark gold, thin white head. Complex aroma and palate, with oranges, cherries and melons accompanied by pine and oily hops. Solid body with hoppy finish. One of the best, high-ABV IPAs out there!

( 500ml bottled on 8/19/09 thanks to mar) pours golden with fluffy/oily head that sticks around and tons of lacing. Nose is citrus hops like pineapple and bitter orange. Taste is so delicious. Creamy, oily, great match between the sweetness and hops, some citrus oily hops, and sweet malts. DIPAs do not get much better than this. Complex in both nose and smell I think the freshness of only 15 days old helped this one.

I just don’t see it. 51F from the bottle, and a bit bland to be honest. Not a bad beer, but nothing to write home about either.

Finally stumbled across the Russian River Company in Santa Rosa to try what I had only thought was urban legend. Everything as I had been told in perfect balance. Wonderful aroma, smooth not overly bitter flavors. After trying a very nice Blind Pig had to go back to the Elder as who knows when I will have the next opportunity.

Pours a cloudy golden color with a thin white head. Excellent aroma of citrusy, coniferous hops. Superb flavor of coniferous, citrusy hops with some bitterness in the end. The body is light to medium with a liquorous texture and gentle carbonation. Like Blind Pig IPA, this is an amazing piece of craftmanship that leaves you wanting more.

Bottle dated 08/19/09. Bought from their Santa Rosa pub. Strong pine aroma upon lifting the cap. Clear, light gold. Scent has floral, pine, grass and minty notes. Full bodied. Sweet malts are noticeable -- surprisingly balanced for a beer this heavily hopped. I can’t find very many different angles to the bitterness, which is a little disappointing, and there is some astringency. Finishes dry and bitter.

Bottle @ Cervezageek - smagning, Odense. Pours cloudy orange with a small creamy bubbly white head and lacings. Nose is orange, hops, pine - lovely fruity hops basically. Smooth and crisp. The reason why this is so good is the balance and drinkability. No flaws - really amazing.

Bottle, shared with hobbersr and macadem. Pours a surprisingly pale gold for a IIPA, not a thick head, but a persistent ring. Laces like anything, Crazy Sheeting Action! The beer is the aroma of a pine forest in mid-April, just as the sap is starting to flow, and the earth is beginning to awaken from nature’s bitter kiss of winter. Needle, bark, limb, and bough, this beer expresses every essence and subtlety of this impossibly perfect moment in early spring. Then this melody of aroma becomes a seraphic chorus as grapefruit, ginger, the gentlest whisper of malt, and a merest hint of mint add their voices to the swelling tide of near-perfect aromas that waft from the glass. Spruce, juniper, pine and cedar each have their 3 minutes of fame as the beer warms, each expresses itself individually and beautifully, with seamless transition. Man has arrived in the forest. The palate is bracing, immediately resinous, sappy, sticky, my mouth feels sticky, instinctively I check my fingers, find my brain arguing against my fingertips that they MUST be sticky. Sharp, clear, piercing, but it immediately leaves you desirous of more. Though the aroma promises aetherial, unearthly ambrosia, the flavours remain firmly rooted to the earth. Russian River has stolen fire from the Gods, and they have stolen my heart...