Russian River Blind Pig IPA

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

Draught at the brewery. Beer is hazy, medium oxidized-gold colored with a small-to-average sized, white, frothy-creamy, diminishing clingy head.<P>The aroma is malty with moderate notes of toasted grain, caramel; Hoppy with heavy notes of resin/pine, apricot, grapefruit oil, moderate orange and lemon zest; Yeasty with a trace of dough; Light miscellaneous note of tropical fruit.<P>The flavor is moderately-to-heavily sweet, moderate-to-heavily acidic, moderately-to-heavily bitter with a long, moderately bitter, light-to-moderately sweet, trace acidic finish. Grippy, but not hostile.<P>The body is medium, the texture is watery-to-velvety and the carbonation is lively.

Growler from the brewpub. Pours a clear copper with a minimal white head. Super hopped aroma that is piney and citrusy with a nice malt back. Flavor is citrusy hop, then malt, then hop again on the finish. Amazing beer.

I’m not sure if you can beat fresh Blind Pig. Golden orange pour, foamy white head with great lacing. Fresh hops on the nose as well as some citrus and mango, which comes through even more on the palate. Some definite floral and light herbal notes. A little pepper and pleasant bitterness. This is a desert island beer, one that would be high on the list of "If I could only have one beer for the rest of my life..." A lovely sessionable 6.1% as well. A nearly perfect beer. Bottle thanks to Ryan.

Draught at Brickskeller in DC: The lighting in Brickskeller sucks, so my appearance comments may not be accurate. I did the best I could in the conditions. I was lucky to get a pint of this immediately folowing a pint of the IPA, so I could contrast the two. Moderately hazy golden yellow with a definite bronze-orange tinted body. Medium white head that is somewhat foamy and does have quite the retention of their plain IPA (though it’s still nothing to scoff at). The aroma has more pungent citrus hops than the IPA (which is more pine/grass), but there’s still the usual subjects of pine and floral hops with a tiny hint of sweet malt in here that seemes to almost have a bit of dry caramel, almost like munich malt. The taste has mostly bitter citrus hops at first, with some light pine and floral hops as well, but the more citrus and grapefruit flavors are backed up with a sweeter malt base than the IPA. Towards the middle one can actually taste just a hint of malt (sweet pale malt, not grainy, with a faint tough of caramel). Finish is dry (not a surprise from RR), crisp, and has plenty of lingering hops. Medium bodied, moderate-medium carbonation, dry but showing some signs of malty sweetness. I really enjoyed the presence, if faint, of the small amount of flavorful malt in this.

On tap at the pub. Clear gold with little head. Nose of citrus peel and hops. Flavor is bitter pine and hop resin with some floral aromas and spice as well. Ending in a bit more bitter than expected.

Bottle from South Bay Drugs and Liquor. Liquid was a pure gold in color and showed equilibrium of sediment while a sticky layer of foam was the head. The aroma is a big and bold serving of hops that smelled fresh and green which was welcomed by my nose. The flavor was heavily hopped that came to me as no surprise but also allowed some room for malt and metallic aftertaste.

Bottle.

Well, now I’ve ticked off both Blind Pigs. (Leavenworth being the other). This one was maybe 10 weeks old when I received it in trade, but it was still really, really good. I’d be eager to try even fresher. I think the aroma would really come into its own at that stage. Still, lovely citrus hops without a heavy malt base, just nice and toasty instead of overdosed on the caramel malt. Sort of a mellowed out Pliny the Elder, superbly drinkable. Hope this one becomes available locally!

Thanks kiefdog for the share. Very nice IPA- it’s a nice medium between Pliny and a light IPA like Little Sumpin Sumpin. Pours clear gold with frothy white head. Nose is caramel, malt, honey, sugar, with pine, floral, and citrus hop blend: killer bouquet. Flavor tastes like malt, honey, peaches, apricot, grass, pine, and citrus. Finish lingers with grass, and pine/ floral hops. Very good IPA.