Russian River Blind Pig IPA

Brewed by Russian River Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Santa Rosa, California USA

A golden IPA with a lacing proteinaceous off white head. A super fragrant aroma, with loads of c-hops, grapefruit, resinous and pinhey...a real hop bomb. In mouth, an onctuous and classy IPA, pungeant, funky, with grapefruit notes, no harshness. Top notch. On tap at brewpub, August 17 2009.

This beer I found to be a truly fantastic IPA and I can’t wait until I get the opportunity to drink it again. Very aromatic with grapefruit and other citrus. An excellent strong bitterness throughout. Just great stuff.

Pours deep yellow with a dense head. Huge pine and cedar aroma. Grapefruit and tangerine notes as well. Strong bitterness, slight astringency. Grapefruit and pine in the flavour as well. Bitter finish.

Superb aroma of resinous, citrusy hops and exotic fruits. The pour reveals a cloudy golden color with a thin white head. Solid flavor of resinous, citrusy hops over a light, creamy body. This IPA is amazing, I want more and more of this.

This 9/5/08 bottled brew from a rating party at JSquires poured a medium sized head of foamy fine to medium sized bubbles that were and left behind a transparent very softly carbonated yellow-orange colored body. The strong aroma was hoppy. The mouth feel was very tingly at the start and at the finish with a strong hoppy aftertaste. The strong flavor contained notes of hops. Delicious and one I would certainly like to have again.

Location: .5 liter bottle via trade from NickD717, 8/28/09

Aroma: Pine, citrus hops, fresh and juicy hops, grapefruit
Appearance: Clear golden-orange color, fluffy white head, nice amount of lacing
Flavor: Nice (not huge, but well done) hop profile - juicy grapefruit/citrus and pine hops, medium sweet with a long finish
Palate: Medium to full body, semi-dry, fresh, crisp, drinks really nicely
Overall Impression: Thanks, Nick! This beer is darn tasty. My first Russian River beer, and now I’m really looking forward to the Pliny you sent me. I figured I would drink it first from this trade as the label repeatedly warned me not to age it. Figured I would follow instructions just in case the folks at RR are watching me big brother style. (If you are watching me, I’m sorry, it must be boring to watch me drink this beer and watch preseason football.) All kidding aside, this is a seriously solid, well-made beer.

500 mL bottle from South Bay Drugs ($4.99). Pours a clear light golden-orange with three fingers of fluffy white head. Aroma of sticky pine, grapefruit, and other light sweet citrus. Flavor is hops, of course -- grapefruit mainly but also some pine and soap. Mostly bitter -- it could be better balanced with the malts. Surprisingly light mouthfeel; kind of watery. I really like the Pliny’s but this doesn’t quite measure up. I prefer our local San Diego IPA’s over this.

Pours a clear golden orange color. Very small head with some lacing. Aroma is sweet with some apricot and very earthy. Flavor is earthy and kind of dirty. A nice mild hop flavor. Gives a good bitterness on the tongue. A Russian River brew for sure.