Russian River hoppy beers

Loved Happy Hops the first time I tried it, then again, it was less than a week old. It was selling quick, and no wonder. A great beer.

Then picked up another one after work along with Pliny and Blind Pig. I didn't check bottling date on any of them and I didn't need to (normally). Happy Hops was not the same beer. Tasted really bad, then saw the bottling date was 6 weeks old.

Disgusted the owner left it out this long. But I didn't say anything. Lesson learned though.

 

Drinking the blind pig bottle I picked up a few days ago, bottled 10 - 05 so about 3 weeks old and drinking great.

 

I never got the hype for Pliny nor especially BP, and the beers these days seem fairly mediocre to me. I've had them on draft at the Surly Goat and Daily Pint several times lately and I have been always underwhelmed. There's generally better options to go around for far less.

 

Well Surly Goat is a rip off. I went there for the first time two months back and was shocked at what I saw. They were selling STS Pilsner for like $9. I don't even think it was a pint.

 

that's rough, there's a bunch of RR on at our best beer bar, not known for the best prices, and a pint of pliny is $8 the others are $7.

 

Yeah, it is a shitshow pricewise. But the West Side sucks for beer bars. Doughroom, Surly, Father's Office, and the Propagator. That's pretty much it.

Fuck City Tavern.

 

I think that unless you actually live right near Santa Rosa there's not a whole lot of people who drink RR hoppy beers all that regularly and their distribution has been so careful and deliberate that their beer still feels 'special' when you find it in a lot of places and it sold out pretty instantly until just the last couple years. So between the 'special score' effect and the fact that there's not really a lot of people just slamming back plinys on the regular it's possible that you are the only person on this site who noticed an off batch

 

its always east coasters complaining about bad batches.

maybe the atlantic ocean fucks with your palate or your beer got really warm in shipment (august shipment so this sounds likely)

 

If you're new to Pliny, sorry, you're too late. It's probably not going to be what you expect it to be. Other beers have caught up to it and even (gasp!) surpassed it by now, so don't go in expecting to be blown away. It's going to taste like a great version of a classic style, but not mind-blowing in any sense.

Just a few short years ago (prior to their expansion), Pliny was still "rare" and "hyped" and was an exciting find for those of us in SoCal, but even then, I never thought it tasted the same from one batch to the next. Same with BP. Now that stuff is coming out of Windsor, it's no different.

Still mad respect for both these beers, though. Classics.

 

Name 5 better WCIPAs you can get on the regular...... Pizza port's stuff would be 1... maybe

 

What was so impressive to me drinking a blind pig the other day was how with the times it still tastes. Sign of a true pioneer that two decades later the rest of the country has finally caught up.
No question is not the best deal you can get on good hoppy brews, and it's not guaranteed to be anyones personal favorite, but it's wild to see how solid it still stands amid the flood they helped start so long ago. Not at all hard to see how they got so much respect back in the day

 

Why?

 

Why not name the other beers that have surpassed it?

 

Pig and Pliny are still in my rotation along with Happy. Occasionally STS will show up in there somehow. Nothing wrong with that. I brought 2ea of Elder and Pig with me to Seoul to share with some peeps in pubs while we’re here. I’m sure they will appreciate it.

 

Me too. Both are tried and true favorites and have not changed and I am thankful for that. Standard bearers on West Coast Hoppy IPAs/DIPAs.

 

True there are a helluva lot more better choices these days. But Russian River is still one of the best around. And they are putting out new stuff as well. All good. It’s the HazeBros who’s into nothing but haze that has no clue.

 

I know exactly what I'm getting, and right now this glass of Blind Pig is the delicious West Coast IPA that I'm seeking (and having a harder time finding in a world of TOO much average haze). My only gripe with RR, is that I want to see Row 2 Hill 56 'in the wild' again. Love that beer, and getting over to Santa Rosa/Windsor can only happen so often.

 

I tell people who haven’t tried Pliny yet not to expect the best tasting beer in the world, but that it’s just a perfectly balanced, bitter, West Coast IPA. Of course there are beers with “more” flavor, but Pliny is basically flawless to me. I’ll never forget my first one at Hollingshead’s Deli in the city of Orange in 2012. And since then, I’ll still almost always get one when I see it on draft or bottles. Pig is completely different, yet killer too. Reminds me of even a better version than Inion Jack. @JayORear what say you?

 

Yeah, what the hell happened to Row 2? Even with the expansion, I haven’t seen it in the wild in a long while. That being said, I don’t even like it. I know it’s an expertly crafted beer, but it tastes too woody to me.