Pliny the Younger brewed by the Russian River Company - Santa Rosa,
California
Pliny the
Younger, the man, was Pliny the Elder’s nephew and adopted son. They lived
nearly 2,000 years ago! Pliny the Elder is our Double IPA, so we felt it was
fitting to name our Triple IPA after his son. It is almost a true Triple IPA
with triple the amount of hops as a regular I.P.A. That said, it is
extremely difficult, time and space consuming, and very expensive to make.
And that is why we don’t make it more often! This beer is very full-bodied
with tons of hop character in the nose and throughout. It is also
deceptively well-balanced and smooth.
Beer Review from Beer Advocate
Appearance: Golden honey amber color. Younger is glowing in the glass. It's
slightly. Not much a head though my wife's glass did have a thin creamy head
that laced up the glass with it's sticky residue.
Smell:The aroma is a resiny dank hop opera. It is big and bold in all the right
ways. This ale smells so fresh. I pick up big lemony citrus and peach.
Taste: The taste is immediately bitter but this bitterness isn't cloying at all.
It's smooth, menthol-like and refreshing. The bitterness vanishes in a subtle
way. The tropical fruit flavors linger on my tongue. Bright grapefruit. Slight
grassy notes in the secondary. I can't taste the alcohol. Amazingly played
Russian River.
Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel is smooth,resfreshing and creamy. Full flavored but
light and drinkable. This is a real bold ale.
Overall: Pliny the Younger taste terrific. The balance between a high ABV and
ridiculous bitterness is managed perfectly. The price is good at $4.50 for a 10
oz. snifter and the wait wasn't even long. A must drink ale for any northern, CA
hophead.
History of Russian River Brewing Company
The Russian River Brewing Company (RRBC) was originally owned by Korbel
Champagne Cellars in Guerneville, California and was founded on their historic
and beautiful property amidst vineyards and redwoods near the Russian River.
When Korbel decided to get out of the beer business in 2003, they generously
offered the brewmaster, Vinnie Cilurzo and his wife Natalie the rights to the
brand. Russian River Brewing might be something completely different now if it
weren't for this incredible opportunity.
In the early days on the Korbel property, Vinnie not only brewed the beer, but
made the sales calls and deliveries as well. Eventually they hired a
sales/delivery guy to help with all of that so he could focus on brewing! Korbel
planted a small hop field where Vinnie received a "field" education on growing
and brewing with "wet" hops. It was from those amazingly fresh hops, grown just
a few yards away, that he made his first wet hops brew, "Hop-Time Harvest Ale".
While the brewery was still operating at Korbel, the owner of the winery bought
Lake Sonoma Winery at the top of Dry Creek in Healdsburg, California. There,
they let Vinnie build a second brewery (adjacent to the winery) with its own
tasting room and a million dollar view. The brewery at Lake Sonoma was only open
for about a year, but Vinnie gained invaluable experience building a brewery
from the ground up, and it was there that he started experimenting with beer in
wine barrels.
On April 3, 2004, Vinnie and Natalie reopened RRBC as a brewpub in downtown
Santa Rosa to great success and began self-distributing to nearby clients. In
2008, they opened a production brewery about 1 mile from their brewpub allowing
them to triple production, take on more accounts locally, and distribute some
beer in 4 more states.
As of 2012, RRBC employs over 60 part-time and full-time employees, and gives
back to their community via charitable events such as their month-long Breast
Cancer Fundraiser in October. The pub has become a community gathering place as
well as a beer tourism destination. They also support local bands by hosting
free live shows at the pub every weekend.
As it turns out, demand is still greater than the supply, but they prefer to
grow their business organically while focusing on efficiencies and quality. For
now, it is easier to make better beer than it is to make more beer!
