Russian River Blind Pig IPA

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

Tap at the Toronado in SF. A fine example of an IPA. That is what an IPA should taste like. Extremely hoppy, flowery and has just the right bitter aftertaste. Kind of in your face. Appearance was kind of surprising: very light in color, almost thin looking.

bottle from South Bay Drugs. This is one of the best IPA I’ve had to date - simply outstanding. It almost drinks like a IIPA. There are massive piney hops that seep out of the bottle and glass. Pours a crisp golden with a nice 1/2’ white head. It looks and smells like pure hop juice. There are also some citrus notes across the palate with grapefruit coming forward the most. The pine and somewhat resin coated hops are predominant. Nice full body with incredibly fresh hops coating the mouth. Huge bitter finish that sticks with you for a while. Russian River knows hops and makes some damn good beer.

bottle shared by JMFG: pours a golden honey with a small white head. aroma is a great sweet hops and nice malt to go along with it. the hops seem so fresh. flavour is a good wet hop bitter earthy a nice malt but does not balance the hops wich is ok .

500ml, bottled 070908, with thanks to AgentSteve for the hookup! Pours a hazy golden with orange highlights and a two finger white head, good lacing. Aroma is pine, grapefruit, apricot and light floral. Flavor is a bigger hit of hops bitterness for a standard IPA, with more pine, citrus, and some earthy resin; the bitterness lingers quite a while on the palate. A very nice and enjoyable IPA that is not shy about bringing the hops. Thanks again Steve!

So I’ve had this out of a two month old bottle that I deemed too old to rate. If Russian River is nice enough to bottle date I will respect their wishes and not rate a non-fresh sample. I also had a one month old sample. Debatable but again I deemed it not fresh enough. So after having a very fresh pint at Toronado and a super fresh pint at the Brewpub I think I’m qualified to finally give this a proper rating. Pours a light, hazy orange with a nice fluffy white head. Intensely citrusy hop nose. Loads of mango, pineapple, peach and orange. The intensity rivals that of Pliny though this lacks the pungent, dank Columbus-type edge that Pliny has – this is all fruit. The aroma is the best thing of this beer. Taste is super hoppy, harshly bitter, balanced between sweet and dry. The bitterness is over the top and slightly astringent, it certainly lacks the cleanness and drinkability of Pliny. While this is a good IPA I can’t help but think this is highly overshadowed by its bigger brother.

(Bottle from Highland Liquor in Denver, CO). Cloudy copper/yellow color. Medium off white, frothy head. Hoppy grapefruit aroma. Strong hop flavor. Avg duration. Slick texture. Moderate lacing. Slightly astringent and bitter finish. Good lacing.

Nice yellow color, much lighter than the Pliny I had earlier. Smells good, some of that west coast. Very hoppy flavor and only slightly bitter. Probably too easy to drink. I think Russian River will have no problem selling beer in Colorado. I will buy it all. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 08-21-2008 04:01:24

The third offering in a continuum of Russian River IPAs bottled unofficially by BA RedwoodGeorge from a 5 gallon keg into 22 oz. bombers, the beer came out paler than the two bigger Pliny’s but had a little more carbonation, and a bigger head. The aroma was much milder than I had anticipated, with a floral-citric hop smell vaguely reminiscent of Mangos. The taste was citric, sugary, and a little soapy. Body was light and airy, and the hops faded quickly after each sip. Like the rest of Russian River IPAs, this was lighter in body than the strength on the label suggested. Unlike the bigger beers, the lightness of the body had a slightly detrimental effect on the single IPA, where more character is usually better than less. An easy to drink beer, that left me wishing it was a little less simple.