What's Up w/ Pliny?

I actually had a Pliny dated 3/18 as well, as well as about 6 bottles of month for past couple years here on the east coast (being shipped from Cali), and i have not noticed any downgrade on quality. Maybe it was how it was shipped that made the taste off?

To me Pliny the Elder is the Penultimate IPA. Every other IPA i drink i compare to pliny.

 

Sweet, and now we have our, "They were awesome before they got popular," post!

 

That's not what I'm saying at all...Pliny is still AWESOME. I'm just very familiar with the beer in question here for many years and decided to chime in. Thanks for playing though.

 

but we are talking 2IPA! ?

 

That or the toxic fumes from the river just made you think it was.

 

Can you get/have you seen Stone's Enjoy By? That one should be pretty easy to come by. I really enjoyed Pliny when I had it, and the closest thing that I can get here in Texas that, (to me) compares, would be Enjoy By.

 

Threads on Pliny are so redundant/boring i will go drink a saison that is great and available for many/not all
Tank 7

 

I love it when people list a bunch of beers that came out in the last couple years as being "better" than Pliny.

Guess what - none of those beers would exist if Pliny hadn't come first and laid the groundwork. Back when Pliny first came out no one was massively hopping beers like that. Now everyone does. When Pliny first came out all of the "C" hops were still somewhat unique. Now we have amazingly fruity/dank/tropical/insert your favorite note here/etc. hops from all over the world.

Apples vs. oranges.

A 2014 Porsche 911 turbo certainly outperforms a 2000 model, but a 2000 911 turbo is still a pretty sweet car...

 

I've only been drinking Pliny for about a year and a half. I've had Pliny as fresh as one week old and as old as several months. It's a good beer. I'd never turn up my nose at it, but I do not get the hype. It's not even in the same ball park as the great IPA's we chase these days.
I wish I could taste a (fresh) bottle from 3 or 4 years ago to see if it's changed, but I doubt it. I think a lot of people are probably noticing that this beer just doesn't stand up to the hop bombs of today.

 

Same diff really.

 

Just visited Russian River brewery this last Sunday and had pliny on tap, where I thought it would be the best (ie at source). You acklnowledge the fact that local ipa's have outperformed pliny in a bottle. I live in NorCali where I can purchase pte on the reg whenever. I still agree a fresh great local ipa is better than an older pte. With that in mind...such has The color of green on the pte shirt gotten greener, it so does seem to me that yes, pte has something different about it as well..I can only speak from my perspective, something about the water source does seem different. As so with wine, some years just dissappoint, while other breweries foster greater beers, that will soon pass pte on this beer seen. Great beer, but not what it once was.

 

This is not a "cookie cutter" product, hops change from year to year and as previously mentioned - water may have to. Too many variables involved, that's what separates craft beer from factory beer. Take for what it is and enjoy the beer

 

So we seem to have gotten way, WAY off track from the original question which was: Has bottled PtE lost its punch, regardless of the age? My experience this year is that it has. As a East Coaster, the only way to get PtE is to have it shipped. Something I've been doing regularly for 5+ years. Back in the day I'd get 6 PtE and 6 Blind Pig shipped on the reg. The only "bad" Pliny was the one that sat in my fridge for 4wks. It would evolve to have no hop nose, no hop flavor, and just a touch of bitterness. Since the beginning of the year, all the bottles I've tasted have been this way. Multiple sources, some as young as 2wks.

During this same period, I've been drinking Heady, Lawson 2xSS, Hill Farmstead Abner, Susan, Double C & G, etc. A number of traded west coast beers. A growler of Alpine Hoppy Birthday, shipped UPS ground, was spectacular. Fact remains, my palate is just fine and PtE aint where it was. It is still the historical standard by which I judge all DIPAs. I miss its near perfection. Just want to know if I'm wasting my time and effort to get it shipped here, and I should wait until I visit the west coast to drink it fresh.

BTW, I'm the guy that conducted the blind taste of Pliny and Heady 2.5yrs ago. Pretty straight forward. Use opaque glasses pour out of sight, and smell and taste. Of course you could tell which was which. Not the point. How did they old champ and the new champ stand up to each other? Which did we prefer? For the record, it was a 3-3 split decision.

 

Yup. The homer in me wants to say you don't know what you are talking about, but this is definitely the case. The hype was warranted at a time when next to nobody was making the style nearly as well. PtE is the godfather and we must all tip our brims to the Elder for the respect that's deserved. And who could say it's not delicious still. It's just that there are sooo many good ones out there these days, and it seems the better ones (in my opinion) are going in a particular direction with the big hopped beers: lighter in color, lower in IBUs, overall cleaner and juicier. I think it's time for Vinnie to make a new IPA or DIPA; one that stands up next to Double Sunshine, Societey and Solitude, etc..

 

Vinnie pees on the hops now.

 

Although the same can be said for most of the country when people talk about Pliny, they cant get it.

I was lucky enough to find some Pliny last year when I was in Cali, it doesn't get down to the area I typically go to (Santa Barbara). I will say it is an amazing beer but I do agree with others that there are a lot of DIPA's that are just as solid as Pliny. Most of the ones I have had are smaller breweries that do not bottle or if they do they do not distribute much.

That is the great thing about the craft beer world, visiting these small breweries that make beers that blow your mind and knowing that 99% of people may have never even heard of them. We have a local one here in Arizona, Arizona Wilderness Brewing and their Dos Cabezas in my opinion is the best DIPA I have ever had.

 

I'm just glad I can find white oak jai alai sometimes. Hell even plain old jai alai scratches my ipa itch well enough. I've come to find that a fresh jai alai will be as good as a better than a month old IPA I would have to trade for.

 

no breweries account for water, if they radically changed water supply they would probably run through RO and then add salts back..

and to the OP.... as stated its probably just you not the beer

 

Didn't he always? Liquid gold.

 

Part of it is a change the du jour DIPA style, too. People are falling all over themselves to find the juciest, darn-near-fruit-puree DIPAs they can. Pliny don't play that game - it's nice, it's sweet, but it's not a caricature (ah, but I betray my prejudices!). This isn't so much to defend Pliny as to say that a Citra bomb it ain't. Simcoe and Centennial and the like, delicious though they may be, aren't going to wow the beer nerds as easily these days.