What's Up w/ Pliny?

maybe you have had so many other good beers since then and finally realize that pliny is overrated? dont get me wrong its a fine beer but it never blew me away even years ago with my first few bottles.

 

Pliny is an average DIPA. I can't speak to how it stacked up against the competition 10 years ago, but it's nothing special these days. Many brewers now make IPAs that are far superior to Pliny. It's purely trading off of its reputation, which frankly I don't understand. Many beers used to be considered an exemplar of the style and best-in-the-biz. For example, Victory Storm King used to be the #1 beer on this site. Now it's lucky to even garner a mention in a discussion of Russian Imperial Stouts.

I'm not going to argue one way or the other whether Storm King is still a great RIS, not here, although it is certainly still a good one, even in light of how many more comparable or better stouts there are now on the market. And yet, it's largely forgotten while the hype about Pliny rages on. It must have a lot to do with the fact that it's limited to the west coast and a handful of bars in Colorado and Philly. Its relative rarity is keeping the hype alive. Because the beer itself, every time I've had it, has been startling in its mediocrity.

 

While you guys are mulling over these never ending debates I'm drinking a Dirtwolf with my old worn out palate. It tastes fantastic! I win and Pliny is still great regardless of all of these subjective opinions. Somewhere out there is man/woman who thinks that Coors light is the greatest thing since sliced bread. To each his own.

 

Ok I did not read the whole thread yet I am only at the OP's original post. Pliny was my first whale. I rated it a bit low as far I am concerned. and recently I had my second. - yeah that's my 2nd pliny about 300 beers later. I rated it quite a bit higher.

@JayORear drinks pliny frequently and often so I know it must be THAT good. I can get pliny by mail order so it has to be available fresh and enough so that a mail order company would find it worth it's while to offer it weekly. I could get 4 this week if I wanted. My second review of pliny would put it at world class where my first was only at "very good.". I am gonna buy it again a third time and that is the only statistic that is relevent.

 

These are the glasses they sell to their accounts:

 

In spite of the naysayers, PTE is the # 4 beer on BA! Ahead of such notables as:

KBS
Double Sunshine
Zombie Dust
Parabola
BCBS
Multiple Cantillions
Cable Car
Nelson

You get the picture.

Easy to take shots at the King.

 

They serve Pliny in wine glasses at the brewery. No nucleation in the glass, either.

 

Hamilton's and most other bars in San Diego (including Toronado and Toronado SF) serve Pliny in pint glasses.

 

Every once in awhile a buddy of mine sends me a few bottles of fresh Pliny from CA. I've had most of the great IPA's and IIPA's brewed in the good ol' USA, and I every time I have a FRESH Pliny I think, "Man, this really is the best IIPA I've ever had." So much of that is subjective, but I truly believe that Pliny is still king.

(Caveat: I have yet to try anything from Lawson's Finest Liquids.)

 

Ha! That's the old Pliny. Most people give Vinnie credit for inventing the IIPA style with Blind Pig (even though I think it's considered an IPA by a lot of folks now). It's a great beer, and I love drinking it alongside PtE.

 

B

But only after drinking cellared PtE...

 

My brother got me a sixer of Pliny for my birthday this past December. It wasn't my first experience with it, so I knew what to expect. While it delivered, I was definitely underwhelmed compared to the previous times I had had it. I even went so far as to taste test it with a buddy of mine compared to several other highly regarded IIPA's, including Hop Stoopid, the supposed "Pliny Killer". We both agreed that Pliny was the best crafted of the the group, but neither of us determined it to be our favorite. This was strange, as we had both been Pliny fanboys ever since we had first tried it. I wondered what changed, and came up with two possible scenarios.

One: the Pliny I had that day was not the same Pliny I had had before. Freshness wasn't an issue in any case, so perhaps the recipe had been tweaked over the course of my different tastings. While this is possible, I wasn't so sure. Yeah, this tasted similar to Pliny. But it was weaker and more refined. At the time, I was sure that something had changed in the recipe.

Two: Pliny had not changed, but my palate had. At the time, both my friend and I had begun to get into higher gravity, maltier beers. We had run through the list of locally available IPA's, so we began to branch into Russian Imperial Stouts and eventually, barleywines. I think our newfound love of the malt further alienated us from Pliny. Pliny began to take on aspect of almost undesirable leanness/crispness/dryness in our palates. It was so light and so balanced that it become almost...dare I say...watery. It just didn't offer enough. As a beer, it was too precise and well engineered to captivate palates that were newly opened to 13+ abvs and massive, viscous mouthfeels.

That day, I realized that Pliny wasn't worth the pedastal that I had given it. Indeed, even compared to the other beers within the group, Pliny was found somewhat lacking. Yes, it was the best crafted beer, but I actually much preferred the Pliny Killer, Hop Stoopid, to actual Pliny. Hop Stoopid had a pleasing orange pith/creamsicle element that Pliny lacked. Pliny was a perfect cube of flavor and intesity. Every aspect balanced in a 90 degree angle. The Hop Stoopid had rough and round edges. It was intense and imperfect.

For me, this is where Hop Stoopid, an amazing beer in its own right, overshadows Pliny. Pliny's sleekness and efficiency, in flavor and mouthfeel, is at odds with the style of beer that it inhabits. West Coast DIPA's, by their very nature, are beers of formidable character. They are brash and bold and uncompromising. Not only in intesity of bitterness, but in intesity of flavor.

This lack of intensity is what holds PtE back, for me. Yes, it is an amazing beer. World Class? Sure. Demigod status? Sure. One could certainly do worse. But do not be surprised at one's own dissapointment when trying a beer such as PtE.

 

^ i like them both. I enjoy PtE, Hop Stoopid, Denoggonizer and Sasquatch, as well.

I tried Enjoy By for the first time yesterday. It gave me a headache.

 

OP, it's likely that your palate is just evolving. The more excellent, fresh IPA's you try, the more you will begin to appreciate the rest of the IPA's out there. When our local bottle share group evaluated seventeen IPA's (no older than 3 months), the top three were:

Revolution's Anti-Hero
Heady Topper
Hop Nosh

 

I happen to like Pliny, I don't care much for and about ratings, but if I saw it sitting on the shelf here out of the blue I'd buy half a dozen. There are some that are more aggressive, different hops etc, but that doesn't degrade Pliny in the least.

 

Pliny is filtered. I got this info directly from Vinny (the owner of RR).

 

Pliny is very good. Thank goodness for living in Philly.