Russian River Pliny the Younger

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

On tap at Falling Rock Taphouse. Thin off-white head. Beutifully clear deep amber pour. Absolutely fantastic nose of citrusy hops. Substantial mouthfeel - full, but not too full. Flavor is just awesome, full on citrus hop flavor. Just a wonderful beer.

Growler. Poured medium orange amber. The nose gets to you fast wafting towards your nose in waves. Yes this is super hoppy, but I found it not to be just a hop bomb.This beer is Very smooth, well balanced, and refined. Piny, grapefruity, and other citrus flavors, with some sweetness, and then a refined bitter finish. Excellent, thanks Dave!

On tap at Naked City. Pours clear orange amber with a minimal off-white head. Smells like sweet grapefruit and pine. Big floral hoppy taste that duels with a candied pineapple malty sweetness. Thick, sticky mouthfeel. Nice hop finish with alcohol occasionally poking through.

Pour is a nice golden like color with a nice small but creamy looking off white head. The aroma is tons of pineapple, citrus, pine...tons of hops...and a nice sugary sweetness and a small amount of alcohol. Wow i could smell this all day, it is wonderful. The taste was nice pineapple and citrus sweetness, with a nice resiny pine bitterness and a decent amount of malt coming through and rounding out this creamy brew...An excellent beer, i hope i get another chance to try this.

Finally I am able to try this. Pours a cloudy orange color with a fluffy off white head. Aroma is full of pine ,ad citrus all kinda of fruity hop aroma, just spectacular. Flavor is even more incredible than the aroma. Taste of purely pine and citrus hops, with a nice lingering sweetness as well. So hoppy yet so well balanced. This also hides the 11% amazingly well. This is a world class beer.

On tap at Tria in Philadelphia, served in a 13 oz tulip glass. The beer poured a vibrant copper color, clear and with a thick off white head that disapated slowly and gave way to a nice ring around the end and a swirly island in the middle. The aroma was a strong pine and citrus nose that was similar to the Elder but kicked up a bit and more pure and extreme but enjoyable. The taste was very similar to the taste. There was the initial hoppy, piney taste with some citrus, grapefruit and a touch of sweet caramel. The mouth feel was very smooth with a nice alcohol burn on the way down that tells you this is a 11% beer. What a smooth ride the Younger was. I was expecting this to be hard to handle but found this very enjoyable and drinkable. I had 2 in this sitting and will go back for more wherever I can find it. Another RR hit and it has been a long time that I have waited to try this.

Incredible and well worth the hassle to get. The elders crack addicted son.

The long awaited... There could not be more anticipation on my part for this beer. Sampled at the brewpub in Santa Rosa--thanks a million Natalie and Vinnie. Brilliant and beautiful clear, bright orange-gold with a big, pouffy, fine white head with a lot of retention. The aromas and flavors meld and swirl together with each sip--there’s a lot of soft palate sensations here that focuses and intensifies as the beer warms. Heady, laser-like citrus resin with pine forest and fresh orange top notes. More layers of herbaceousness--pine needles, Christmas boughs, and grapefruit along with tangerine zest. There is a strong malt framework here supporting all of this with superb balance. There is alcohol sweetness as well but it doesn’t get in the way of the huge grassy overtones and the subtle eucalyptus leaf edge in the finish. The body is huge and full with lots of texture that really highlights all the various dimensions of this beer--this includes quite a bit of alcohol warmth that somehow works here to waft the aromas up into the palate. This is worh the airfare.