UPDATED: MAR 25, 2021 On tap at Pete’s as always...can’t believe I’ve never rated. Poured perfect...slightly cloudy amber. What is there to add?....previously had a “hazy” and a “New England” and some other “West Coast” IPA then went to the Pliny to finish out my night on a perfect note!

UPDATED: MAR 21, 2021 Solid IPA,not as good as hype.Some tropical citrus,but strong pine dominant

UPDATED: MAR 6, 2021 Fantastic IPA but I don't think it's worthy of the hype per se. Thick foam, tropical and oily hops, a little heavy on the finish.

UPDATED: MAR 1, 2021 Pours clear golden w thick fluffy white head with excellent lacing. Balanced light pine and citrus on the nose. Bread malt, citrus, and pine on the palate. The hops leave a nice oil coating on the tongue with a balanced, medium body and a dry finish.

UPDATED: FEB 25, 2021 Thanks to dad for flying this back from California. Pours a clear straw-golden with a thick, foamy white head and furious carbonation throughout the beer. Aroma of Amarillo, Simcoe, pine. Taste has lemony resin, pine, a slight must reminiscent of Nelson hops, extremely fully bodied with a hoppy oil that coats the mouth following the malt base. Palate has a refreshing but dry malt, intense and diverse array of hop oils that are bitter, but not overwhelming. Some light floral elements accent the piney finish. It really does meet the hype.

UPDATED: SEP 11, 2020 Had a very light beer week, just one 2 days ago, but I have my stag do tomorrow, so I need to do some training to avoid fainting after my first glass. And I want to do this training starting with the best beast in my fridge. A quite fresh (July 24) Pliny the Elder, arguably the best DIPA in the world. I believe it deserves its reputation as, it's basically perfect! Pours clear golden, visible CO2, a fluffy, eternal head with perfect lacing, handmade and imported from Bruges. Aroma, perfect fresh, delicate, pine, citrus and mango. Exactly what a classic Californian DIPA should smell like! Tastes sublimely bitter, with a good malty backbone of caramel. Then pine, grapefruit and mango. Long, eternal (as its head, which is still there as this point of the writing), bitter finish! On the palate super smooth and medium bodied, but also quite crisp, nicely carbonated and yeah that lovely bitter finish. What to add, everybody knows it already. It's just perfect!

UPDATED: AUG 8, 2020 Deserves its reputation. No one particular thing about it stands out as exceptional, it's simply top-notch across the board. If you were to build a no-nonsense, by-the-book DIPA that would distinguish itself more-or-less only by the excellence of its execution, this would be it (at least, I'm confident saying that until I'm lucky enough to have tried the Younger!). It won't win over anybody who doesn't care for IPAs, but hey; you're probably not drinking this without having an idea what you're getting into, right?

UPDATED: AUG 8, 2020 Found the legendary beer @ Bristol's Market San Diego CA....just stopped in my tracks seeing 4 bottles in the cooler....never thought I could get this, esp after seeing lines around the block @ Russian River! Never have had anything to compare this to. Moderate head, beautiful piney/citrusy aroma, staggering taste. The beer gods blessed us this day.

UPDATED: FEB 25, 2020 500ml bottle @ monthly tasting, Chez Sophie FEB 20 during the 2020 flooding of Shrewsbury. Many thanks to Jeremy for this! Big chewy piney resin hit going on here, big robust bitterness.. DIPA as it used to be back in the olden days, and brings back fond memories of getting wowed by Mikkeller 1000IBU, Brewdog Hardcore IPA and the likes.. Brilliant stuff.

Excellent brew. But, seriously, you have to mix it up to appreciate what you have. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone