So I've been told that Pliny is available in PA, but not in bottles. Is this accurate? What bars might have it? And is it regularly available? Thanks.
That's sweet. Is it accurate? Is it regularly on available? I'll plan a long weekend trip if I'm going to be able to get some.
@PhillyTapFinder is as best as you can rely on short of calling the bar before heading there (which you should). Note the last updated date. Pliny is rarely on for more than 2 or 3 days. It really depends on your luck since you really can't "plan" to be in Philly for Pliny since sometimes there's a gap of several weeks with none being served. The good thing is that Philly is so awesome that you will get to try so many great beers simply by visiting Monk's, Tired Hands, and whatever bar on PhillyTapFinder that has the beer you are looking for. If your sole purpose is Pliny, just trade for some.
Really dude? I posted that Wednesday and it was on-tap. It will be back on tap soon enough. Philly is the only part of PA that gets Pliny, which answered the OP's question. Thanks for chiming in though.
That was my point. Sometimes they have it and sometimes they don't- nobody apparently has Pliny today either. Nice thing to have though dude.
Soon enough? There is no way to determine that. I think the last time we saw Pliny around here before this latest batch was possibly February/March, maybe even longer. Bottom line is there used to be a lot more Pliny being shipped to our area, but not so much anymore. I don't know why, but it's the truth.
True, there is no way to know for sure when it will be back. I know I had it on-tap end of May/early June though, too.
If you are driving 8 or 10 hours on the chance to try one particular beer, that would be a mistake. Come up with a trip plan of other breweries/bars you want to hit up, and just consider it a "happy accident" if Pliny the Elder is available. If not, then your beer trip should be to California, not PA.
This is true. Strangelove's has had it on a few times, along with Blind Pig, and they only post on their webpage: http://strangelovesbeerbar.com/beer.html . That said, they are the only place I know of in Philly that had Pliny that's not on PTF (King's Oak got a keg once, randomly, but it just closed for good). Coming from out of town, the chance of your locating Pliny on tap outside of what's on PTF is very small.
Just to add on to what Keith had to say... LIke everyone else outside of California apparently, Origlio gets there RR shipment once a month. So that means once a month the various bar accounts that are supplied by Origlio, receive their RR allotment. Outside of Monk's, I doubt anyplace gets more than a single keg of pliny, as there just isn't nearly enough of it to go around, and of course (almost) every place wants it. Some places put it on as soon as they get it in, while other places may hold onto it for a while. The point being what everyone else has already noted in this thread... it's pretty hard to make any guarantees or predictions when it comes to suggesting a place that will have Pliny during a set time period. As for Keith's other comment, there's no way I can verify that one way or another, but it makes sense. Over the last few years, RR has had to entirely pull out of Washington, and we just learned the other day that RR may stop shipping bottles of Pliny up to Oregon. Over the past year, there have been several occasions when the brewpub in Santa Rosa has imposed purchasing limits on Pliny, something that was unimagineable 4 or 5 years ago. My guess is that increasingly, most of the pliny RR makes is sold out of the brewpub, with less and less of it sent out for distribution. I don't know that of course, but anyone who has been to the brewpub recently, especially on the weekend, knows what I'm talking about. Anyway, as others have suggested, just enjoy your stay in Philly, and make the most of the incredible beer selection there. Maybe you'll luck out and find pliny someplace during your travels, but if you don't, so be it, I'm sure you'll still have a great time. Best of luck.
Great post John.....and some people say PtE is overrated. Based on your information and what I have seen here, I'd say it's never been in higher demand.
Memphis Taproom's been getting a hell of a lot of RR amongst other waelzbrah.They're killin It over there.
