Russian River Pliny the Younger Double IPA

 Russian River Pliny the Younger Double IPA .

The bottle was brought back to Minnesota by my
sister, Lynn in March. That growler once held the 
Younger and traveled from California to
Minneapolis by the good grace of my trading
parter’s sister back in 2005 (the first year they
made it.) Let’s hear it for sisters!

10.25% ABV, 90 IBU. Russian River Brewing, San Marcos, CA. Bottled on 3/22/22.

And now I will drink this beer for the second time ever, and also review it a second time, with seventeen years between the notes.

In 2005, I was beer trading with a Californian who sent this beer in a growler via his sister, who just so happened to be visiting Minneapolis and took it straight from the airport to the Blue Nile, where I was tending bar. As strange as this may seem, I couldn’t get people together to drink this with me and drank the whole growler by myself. Seventeen years later, the growler is still with me. I will share those notes below.

These days, the Younger comes in bottles, but I still haven’t tasted again in all that time. Because it’s still only sold once a year at the brewery, and I no longer trade, especially for beers I’ve already had. 

So, it came to pass that in late March of this year, my sister Lynn sent me a text telling me that she and her husband had merely gone out for pizza and beer and they wound up in a bottle line. Where were they, I wondered. She sent a picture of the Russian River sign. You’re at the Pliny the Younger release? I need one! They were in wine country on a whim, and the only thing open with food nearby just happened to be Russian River. Imagine that. I still haven’t been. 

And now I have one. And it’s two months later, so I should drink it. And I’ll write new notes and share the old ones. And I wish I’d asked her to pick up some coasters....or glassware...no, the beer is enough....let’s drink....

Clear, as God intended, bright golden hue, small white head atop. 

In the nose: absolute perfection. Brilliant blend of citrus and pine, the dank and the resinous, grapefruit and tangerine. Essential distillation of hophead heaven.

In the mouth: packing a punch from sip number one, the palate is gripped by the powerful pull of this amazing ale. Orange and grapefruit meets apricot and peach, with a whole lot of sticky icky in the texture. Hop attack never relents, bitterness doesn’t quit. Just a little juicy, but ending dry. The lips lick and the tongue calls out for more. The back of the throat beckons, too, for more of this lustrous ichor. 

This is Double IPA in its ideal form. I’m glad to be able to have Steel Toe Sticker Fight whenever I want and Surly Abrasive once a year, for they come closest, but this is the O.G., the standard bearer. 

2005 notes: once poured from the growler, the brew slipped over the lip of the pint, and I had to suck up some...pre-inspection, I'm wowed by this beer! Holy dribble cup, Batman!

Clear golden/ pale peach appearance, with an excellent cup of lacey, snow -white froth on top. Very attractive IPA, so far.

Nose is all pine, hints of pineapple and other tropical fruit, pineapple, peach, apricot, banana, lemon...braces of bitterness, but all of it pleasing to the hophead. Just heavenly!

Taste: all those good things and more, the tropical and citric fruit blaze over the palate, bright and luscious, hoppy, bitter, but overwhelmingly pleasant and tasty...the extra liquor doesn't click in right away, but makes itself felt eventually...11%?? Hooo, daddy!

There's enough malt here that it's not a raw hop blitzkrieg overpowering anything else in the brew, but hops are king here, as if there were ever any doubt. Damn, Zam-Bam-A-Lam!! this is a true killer-diller, not for the weak of heart or palate!

much thanks to Axisjones for the growler!