Russian River Blind Pig IPA

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

500mL bottle, courtesy of cloudskipper. Thanks, Chris! Pours a bright, clear golden-orange color; fluffy white head with solid retention and fine-bubbled lacing. Just tons of dense, bitter, generous hoppiness in the aroma: citrus, pine, and herbal; hoppy as all hell, without astringency; a really nice nose. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: lots of soft, chewy hop bitterness throughout: dense herbal, grassy, and citrus hop notes, and without any of the typically necessary malt underpinnings to keep things drinkable; this is just a gorgeous, unabashed, refined display of hoppy goodness; very drinkable, minimal astringency, and just a very generous hop profile throughout; an archetype of bitterness-driven IPAs. Lengthy finish: mineral, herbal, and grassy hops; lasting bitterness; a touch of toasty malts come through at the far shore.

Consumed on tap at Toranado. It poured clear deep gold with bright white head and decent lacing. The aroma is medium in strength consisting of grapefruit citrus hops. It is pretty fruity in its citrusiness. The flavor is solid grapefruit hops beginning with both bitterness and mild sweet grapefruit hop flavors. It then becomes more and more bitter into the finish.

On tap at the Toronado. What more can you say? It’s the grandpappy of IPAs. Pours a nice, somewhat hazy orange with a surprisingly light, thin head. Big piney and grapefruit hops waft from the glass, so you know what you’re in for. The hops take over your first sip and really show no mercy to the malt in the background. A bit unbalanced. This is straight up, O.G. West Coast IPA style. Lots of grapefruit and pinestraw. Good body with a clean, crisp and pretty dry finish. IPAs have come a long way since Vinnie first brewed this in the mid-90s, but this still holds court with the better ones of today. Cheers to a legend.

This was a treat that Ross let me split with him. This beer pours out a ruddy brown with little to no head. Smell is just a nasal overload of hops. Grass, pine, and a touch of citrus, great aroma on this one. Taste is brutal hops, just downright brutal. Skip the sweetness, skip the typical west coast grapefruit taste, this one is just downright bitter and resiny. This is a different animal than Pliny and I like it!

500ml bottle, bottled on 7/23/09, poured into a tulip. Pliny Jr! Pliny Light! Pliny the Younger...no wait, that’s taken. But definitely Pliny-esque, on a smaller scale. Pours a clear light amber with off-white head. Aroma of big resinous hops, pine, and grapefruit. Tastes of grapefruit and piney hops, with a bit of sweet malt backbone. Mouthfeel is crisp and dry, very quenching. Definitely a great IPA!!

Clear golden color with a nice white head that retained pretty well and left good lacing. Pretty intense aroma of grapefruit and pine as well as some other tropical, resinous aromas I couldn’t quite pinpoint. Light mango on the tongue initially, before gaining more of a pineapple taste, a bitter pine-tasting wave slowly creeps up, but hits you with a bang and leaves you with a bit of lemon once the wave dies out. Light body, but not thin, medium carbonation. A very enjoyable IPA. Thanks to doubleo for the bottle.

On tap poured clear gold with nice white head and nice lacing. Awesome hop aroma with little malt presents. Bittering hops hit right away with a dry hoppy finish. Has to be one of the top IPA’s.

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