Russian River Pliny the Elder

Brewed by Russian River Brewing
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Santa Rosa, California USA

Aroma has pine, american hops, grapefruit. Hazy, orange coloured with a lasting head. The taste is quite bitter, has pine, citrus (grapefruit, some aprikot), some sugar. Good beer, well brewed.

Fantastic beer and a rare treat to find on the east coast. Great drinkability and a powerful rush of hops.

(10/28/08) Draught sample at the brewpub in Santa Rosa. Clear golden color. Aroma full of piney hops, some resinous notes, citrus and tropical fruits noes. Strong bitter hoppy flavor with some pine, some citrus and some malt and caramel in the back. Medium-bodied with a rounded mouthfeel. A nice DIPA but not one the best if you ask me.

Holy buckets is this beer hoppy. The first sip knocks you down but afterwards is wonderful experience of drinking pureed hops. Nothing compares for IPAs.

UPDATE. 500ml bottle, FRESH from south bay, bottled 10/8/09. Pours a gorgeous, golden peach color with a full, one-inch, soft, fluffy, pure white head and perfect lacing. aroma is simply amazing with huge, FRESH, fruity hop notes of pink grapefruit, peach, apricot, prickly pear, passion fruit, and lime zest with lovely spicy notes of douglas fir needles and gin botanicals with by sweet touches of rose petals, vanilla, and light caramel malts. flavor is nothing short of a perfect mirror image of the aroma with a fruity hop note cornucopia filled with pink grapefruit, mandarin orange, apricot, peach, pineapple, stonefruit, and key lime with one of a kind spicy, sharp, notes of fresh cut pine needles balanced by slightly sweet, doughy, caramel malts. palate is medium bodied and elegantly bitter with perfect carbonation and not a trace of alcohol. i had this rated a 4.9 but that’s simply to low for such a superb rendition of an imperial ipa. simply put, one of the best of the best.

Quite a strong grapefruit aroma. Orange-yellow color. This has a strong grapefruit flavor but without being fruity. A truly excellent beer.

Bottle. Pours a solid amber with full white head. Strong nose of fresh hops, citrus, and caramel malts. Flavor is possibly one of the most balanced IPAs I’ve had to date. Predominantly hop flavor but the malts add a full and sturdy flavor that really allow the piney hops to bring this beer to life. Great IPA all around

2008-12-19. Crisp golden-amber body with a good sized creamy white head. Strong hoppy aroma, grass, resin and straw. Flavour is exceptionally well balanced, modest resin throughout, bitterness is restrained, alcohol is barely noticed. Palate is on the light side of average but refreshingly so. Very good, eminently drinkable. I normally like more citrus in my IPA, but this was rather good. <i>Bottle c/o trade with acrdz, many thanks!</i>
"One can only hope that this nectar will never reach the hands of you ticking pillocks. I would hate to see bottles spoiled whilst traveling through the post, just so a bunch off tosspots can sip thimble’s full" - LyttonSprings on Pliny Sadly I forgot to drink mine out of a thimble...