Russian River Blind Pig IPA

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

Having old friends remember the original, I was very excited to finally try the mother of the pliney. But to my dismay, it didn’t hold up, but 10 years ago, this would have been nice. Pours a clean orange/yellow hue with aromas of pine, and citrus. Flavors of the same with a nice bitterness. For being 6%, this does make a nice session brew.

Draught at TDR Ex.: Very hoppy aroma of pine, grapefruit, pineapple, and hops. Poured gold in color with a medium-sized, dense, creamy, white head that lasted throughout. Clear. Very sparkling. Excellent lacing. Flavor of hops!, pine, and grapefruit. Medium body. Sticky, chalky texture. Average carbonation. Hoppy bitterness. Medium dry, medium bitter, hop finish.

Bottle and served in my GI IPA Tulip: Clean golden hue topped by a foamy white head which left very nice lace upon the glassware. The aroma smacks of resiny, leafy and citric hops with a hint of caramel and bready malt balance, A tad minerally as well around the edges. The flavor profile lets the hops shine without kicking in your teeth, surprisingly smooth and very drinkable. Lots of twangy snappy citric notes about the palate with a astringent metallic finish. The mouth feel is sprite and refreshing, dry chalky finish. A very solid entry into the genre and if available in my area this would a beer I would drink regularly.

2009-02-28. Lightly hazy golden orange body with a lovely fluffy white head. Aroma is a touch muted at first in an overly chilled pour, but lovely hop profile develops as it warms. Resiny, light melange of citrus and citrus seeds comes out nicely. Flavour starts out with a rush of citrus, then moves toward more resiny hops and some lightly astringent grapefruit and other citrus seeds. Smooth average palate. Rather nice. Bottle c/o acrdz

<b>Bottled July 22, 2008; Sampled August 7, 2008</b>
Pours into my New Belgium Globe glass with a nice pungent scent and a two-finger thick, pale tan colored head that has some stickiness to it. The beer is a hazy amber hue that shows a more copper hue when held up to the light. Sticky grapefruit notes mix with sweet lychee notes, which are offset in the finish by a sticky herbal note that takes on overtones of hemp oil, peppery sage and just plain, green, hop-stink. Vivaciously hoppy, this has the fruit character that I like in a good IPA as well as the balancing, dank hoppiness that is needed for balance. Quite a nice example of a beer that captures the essence of concentrated hop nectar. No real malt aromatics are noticeable, if you really dig for them there is just a wisp of toasty, pale malt, but only just.

Sharply bitter up front, then the mouth coats the palate and helps to carry the hop flavor, but the bitterness kicks back in towards the finish and lingers on in the mouth with an herbal edge to it. After my first sip I feel like I was just chewing on some fresh hops. Citrus & hop-fruit flavors of grapefruit, bergamot oil, lychee and bright tangelo make a significant showing, but are ultimately engulfed by the palate coating, herbal bitterness that is what is left lingering on in the palate after each sip has passed down my throat. Impressively quaffable, this has some heft to it with enough body to just carry the hops, but remains light enough to be drinkable like a good IPA should.

This is definitely a beer for the hopheads out there. It definitely doesn’t pull any punches and is aggressively hoppy. If in the mood for an aggressive hop experience this definitely fits the bill. It doesn’t get overly harsh and it is just so dang quaffable. This is much more aromatic and hop flavorful than the draught sample I had previously.

<b>Sampled at Lucky Baldwin’s IPA festival, June 2007</b>
Pours with a very fluffy, initially three-finger thick, pale, tan colored head that sits atop an orangish, lightly hazy, copper colored brew. The aroma is sharply citrus-like in character, but a backdrop of green, hop aromatics reminiscent of menthol, pine and an herbal note reminiscent of green basil and hemp.

The beer tastes quite dry and this really accentuates the biting hop notes. The beer is quite smooth, or without much carbonation as the pour from the tap seems to have knocked out most of the carbonation. Flavors of orange peel and tart grapefruit are joined by herbaceous, green, dank, hop flavors; the last of these really linger on in the finish along with a not-overwhelming, but persistent bitterness and a green astringency. As the beer warms a bit I begin to pick up some menthol-like notes as well.

While this is quite hoppy (both the citrus side and the herbal side of the hop), it still manages to be quite smooth and drinkable. The appearance of this beer is perfect (albeit this is somewhat arbitrary) as I really can’t ask for more; it has a nice light haze that let you know copious amounts of hops were used here).

This beer was on tap at Liar’s Club. The aroma had light pine, malts, and fruit notes with an earthy texture and oranges, and grapefruits. The beer poured an orangish brown color with yellow hues, no head and almost no lacing. The flavor had citrus like grapefruits, oranges, then pine with an earthy note and light malt and caramel. The mouthfeel was light and crisp with a good bitterness.

On Tap at the BP Clear light yellow/orange with a full creamy white head tha lasts leaving dense thin lacing. Citrusy hops on the nose and a nice light but quite hoppy flavor. Surprised to see so many (72) IBUus listed for it on the board. Bright abd lively IPA that doesn’t feel that big.

Another delicious beer from Russian River. These guys know what the hell they are doing. Big citrus nose and lots of hops in the flavor. Smooooooth bitterness.