Russian River Blind Pig IPA

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

Tasted 10/05/2009. 500ml bottle from beerstore.co.nz. Nice drop but I don’t think anything is going to compare that favourably to following a mint condition AleSmith IPA. Richer base malt, slightly more minerally, tending English almost, but with all the hop characters of a new world ale. Bluddy guid.

500 ml. bottle. Pours a beautiful thick head which has good retention, followed by attractive lacing, over a golden body with many tiny floaters....nose is enormous with heavy bursts of pine, resin, grapefruit, ?vanilla....tastes of slight malts initially then the burst of grapefruit and resin, finishing with a relatively light lingering bitterness...mouth fell is medium. A well balanced and appropriately praised American style IPA. 12/3/2008

Bottle (in NZ). Pours an orange/gold with a large foamy white head. An explosive hop aroma of melon, grapefruit and manderins - but a bit perfumy. More balanced on the palate, I’m quite surprised by the moderation of the hops. The malt is smoothless, though lacking a little in flavour, and merges ’like a zip’ with hops that are increasingly bitter in the finish. I’m not liking this as much as others, but still a very nice beer.

Pours gold with a white head. Smells of layered citrus, peppery and some caramel. Tastes citrussy and dry with a balanced bitterness on the finish.

On tap @ Russian River poured a clear copper with a small diminishing white head. Aromas of orange, lemon, pine and carmel. Palate was light bodied and dry. Flavors of carmel, pine and grapefruit with a lingering bitter finish.

A really decent beer, but really hard to rate this in their sampler next to the two Pliney beers. It’s very well balanced between hoppy and malty, syrupy, sweet, and bitter. The aroma and everything about this is well crafted. RR is quite the brewery!

Big thank you to dirty_martini for sending me a super fresh bottle. 16.9 oz. bottle dated 09/05/08. Pours a hazy, brownish gold with a moderate linen white head that faded to a film by mid-glass and laced the glass all the way to the end. The aroma is quite strong and reminds me more of an arborvitae than pine. Some grapefruit notes also present in the nose. The flavor is malt up front followed by a wash of strong pine and grapefruit. As the beer warms a bit, the grapefruit outshines the pine. Prickly, bitter finish. Thanks again, Larry!

On draught at the release party tonight at O’Briens here in SD. I guess it has been available elsewhere further north but is now returning to its original home for the first time in a while. Smooth and drinkable, hops tone is mildly fruity. Not a lot of head retention. Somewhat sweet aftertaste which is slightly surprising, but pleasant.