Getting Pliny in the San Jose area

Lived on the west side of SJ for a while until earlier this year, generally didn't have much luck finding Pliny in bottles in the area. Hope somebody else has decent tips. Generally, unless you go to RR itself, or Toronado in SF (which almost always has bottles available for carry out), finding it is a crapshoot and not worth the hassle. Some people may have better info on the places you can try, but here's a list of where you will not find it based on my experience:

• Bobby's in Santa Clara (stay away from this place altogether imo)
• ISO beer in downtown SJ (this is a good carryout option in downtown and is also a quality bar, you will never find RR stuff on here though)
• Boynton Liquors in west SJ (small but usually some good stuff, but no Pliny found in my experience)

Wine Affairs downtown had Pliny on tap semi-regularly, as did Good Karma (which I just saw on beermenus had it on as of Friday). Good Karma is also easy walking distance of ISO. Original Gravity is a decent spot within walking distance of those two as well, never saw an RR beer on tap there though. You can look at their taplists on beermenus or their respective websites. No need to go crazy looking for Pliny, there are a lot of good IPAs you'll be able to try from the likes of Cellarmaker, Sante Adairius, etc.

 

You'll be out here 4 days? Unless time is extremely short I say just drive straight to Russian River (about 100 miles).

More locally, yes try out cellarmarker and sante adairius.

 

You know these two spots are both owned and operated by the same guy, right?

 

I wasn't aware of that, doesn't change my opinion though, really. Bobby's is a seedy establishment that devotes 50% of it's space to adult materials and charges exorbitant prices for the special beer they carry. ISO is a nice place, a bit sterile. Maybe I just felt better forking over the dough there, I don't know. Didn't go there too often either except to buy beer because they frequently had items on their taplist online that were not actually available. Once or twice, you think it's just bad luck, after several occurrences, wife and I thought they were doing it on purpose just to get people through the doors.

 

Whole Foods, Cask n' Flask, Maplewood Liquor, Kelly's Liquors, Royal Liquors. All get Pliny once a month, delivery is usually Wednesday-Friday, depending on the store. Most are limit one and overpriced. Follow them on Instagram or Facebook and be ready to get there fast if you want one.

Sante and Cellarmaker are great options for draft, but I assume you aren't trying to take back growlers. You probably won't find Pliny here in the South Bay during your time frame, either drive straight to RR or find other solid IPAs in the area.

 

I found fresh Pliny in two places recently in San Jose: Maplewood Liquors and The Wine Rack at Santa Teresa and Cahalan (just got two, 2-week old bottles on Saturday. They didn't seem to have a limit, since one worker was trying to get me to buy three or four.). Whole Foods is always a good place to look, too. Most places around here seem to get it late in the week (Thursdays, mostly). Don't forget to ask for it, as most places won't put it on the shelf.
Either way, may l suggest you get your hands on Knee Deep's Lupulin River, which, by all accounts (including mine), is a Pliny clone and deeeeeelicious as hell. It's also readily available! Also: Hit up Santa Clara Valley Brewing for more awesome IPAs and more!

 

All the south bay beer places are pretty shady in their own rights. I rarely head down that way.

 

You've been to all of them? Breweries, liquor stores, grocery stores, taprooms and bars? You must mean Cask 'n' Flask or something. Their beer prices go up a dollar for every beer they sell. Maplewood is great. Beside the awesome beer selection, their prices are fair and the owner loves to talk beer, not just jack the price of popular beers or hide them. It's the only place l know that puts Pliny out for all customers to see when they have it.
ISO is a flat-out rip-off, not unlike other like-establishments >everywhere< that charge more for less because hipsters need 'proper glassware', which means 6 oz of beer and 2 oz of head in a 10 oz glass. There are also some great breweries (Santa Clara Valley, Clandestine, Mission Creek, etc.) in the area and more arriving all the time.
Oh, also the best Costco probably anywhere is in San Jose. The Whole Foods in South SJ is due to open any minute with some serious beer on tap.
Drive 20 minutes south of SJ to Morgan Hill to Trail Dust for fantastic bbq and maybe the best tap selection in the South Bay. The best hole in the wall around.
Sorry, l have to go to bed now, or l would go on...

 

Struck a nerve I see. Do you happen to work for one of those shady establishments selling membership only beer or out of distribution "rarities"?

Including Costco as a beer place is a bit of a stretch, and kind of telling that that's high on your list.

 

Santa Clara liquors also gets it on same schedule.

 

......
No, l have nothing to do with the beer biz, I've just been a beer consumer for 25+ years. Living here my whole life I just happen to know that this isn't the place you make it out to be. Every liquor store seems to be stepping it up around here, but I try to support the ones whose owners who seem to care, unlike the one with memberships and all that bullshit. Hell, the hole-in-the-wall liquor store across the street from me makes the most out of their two-and-a-half 'craft' refrigerator sections and actually listen to stocking suggestions. I also never said those were my "top 5", just an example or two of each type of business that sells beer around here. Costco (the one by the SJ Airport might be the best one in the State) is a great example of a chain store that sells a big selection of 22oz'ers and cases. Every Whole Foods in the area is great...one even has a top-notch brewery with a former Russian River brewer at the helm! Even Safeway and Sucky are waaaay better than they used to be. Lunardi's and Zannotto's and Sprouts (for six-packs) also have good selections worth checking out.
By the way, I made a mistake when l said that ISO sucked...I meant Original Gravity. I can't speak for ISO - l haven't been there, but it sounds like the rest of those kinds of "upscale" beer bars, but l don't know for sure.
Every city has "shady establishments" but yours, apparently. Where is this perfect city that you live in?
Anyway, the OP is coming to San Jose and there's no reason to travel far from here for great beer, including Pliny. Have fun while you're here, ncarlber, there's a lot to see...and drink!

 

Where are you staying?

 

I think he was being facetious.

 

...and breweries with membership clubs will send it right to your house!

 

CostCo and CA brewery conspiracy theory in the making right here.

 

I think the same law prevents Costco from using it for promotional purposes.

FWIW, rrryanc is just a Redwood City shill, so of course he'll diss the San Jose stores. LOL

 

You know, the only real reliable way to get Pliny is to just go to Russian River. I see these threads a lot and it always should just default to the same answer that stores anywhere get it in and sell it out fairly fast and there's no real reliable way to get Pliny at any store, especially not in the timed window that one's vacation will be unless the odds roll in your favor. In saying that, you can't predict or plan to get Pliny on one's vacation unless you specifically are going to Russian River and buying it there from the source.

 

Agreed. I would add one additional point. I had 100% success getting to-go bottles of Pliny at Toronado. Was never a problem in countless visits. The price was the same as at the brewery and it was always super fresh since they get a regular delivery. I always just found driving from SJ to SF and hanging out at Toronado (and anywhere else I pleased) to be equally as enjoyable as going to RR and it's about 1/2 the time in the car. Depends on how many bottles you want though, as they will limit you at Toronado. I never asked for more than 4-5 and that was never an issue. You're guaranteed to get it on draft there too so it's a win-win.

 

Ooh! my hole-in-the-wall liquor store across the street just got some fresh Pliny...buuuut l went with Lupulin River.