Russian River Bottle Availability (Brew Pub)

My wife and I are going on a Napa / San Francisco vacation during the week of 9/6-9/13. We will be in Napa for the nights of 9/6 and 9/7 and SF for the nights of 9/8-9/12.

I am planning on heading up to Santa Rosa and the RR Brew Pub on Tuesday (9/8) to sample a few draft options and then pickup some bottles to ship back home (to GA). I will be using a styrofoam 12-bottle wine shipper from ULine, with the typical packaging additions (Ziplock bags for each bottle, bubble wrap / packing material to fill empty space in styrofoam shipper, etc.).

I have a few quick questions that I hope are not ultra redundant in the Pacific Forum.

Does RR always have (or at least 99% of the time) Pliny the Elder available in bottles to go from the Brew Pub? If so, what is the bottle limit?

If you could pick 12 bottles to take with you from the current website list (assuming it doesn't change by 9/8, which I am sure it will), which would you pick? I am thinking of doing (6) Pliny the Elder, with (6) more to go to fill the shipper.

http://russianriverbrewing.com/

 

Thanks for the replies, I figured the only constant in the bottle available would be PtE. I will plan on (6) of those and go from there based on what they have that day. I'm hoping with my visit planned for the day after a holiday weekend (Labor Day) I won't miss out on bottle availability.

I am flying back from SFO on United. My wife and I will already have one checked bag each (at $25 per) and the next checked bag is $35. At that price I am in the ballpark of what FedEx would charge to ship the ULine wine shipper (I'm guessing around 40 lbs once packed) Ground to SE GA.

Do people typically prefer checking a well-packed bottle shipper or shipping via FedEx when price is essentially equivalent?

 

I figured as much, but hopefully I can grab at least a few things to take home. If nothing else I will sample what they have on tap in the Brew Pub.

We will be checking out of our resort in Napa Tuesday morning and making the ~1 hour drive up to Santa Rosa, so I plan to be at RR shortly before they open to have the best chance for a seat and whatever bottle availability they have left from the holiday weekend.

 

Thanks, I think checking will end up being the best option. The ULine shipper already comes with a cardboard box and I can always add another to double-box if I think it needs it.

I ran a quick quote on the FedEx website last week and I was getting $35-40 I believe. But the dimensions and weight may not have been exactly what I'll end up with. The next thing I have to figure out is how I am getting the packing supplies out there with me. I am assuming I can put each individual piece of the styrofoam shipper along with the outer cardboard box broken down into a normal sized checked suitcase? It will waste a lot of room, so I'll have to pack light for the trip.

 

The best I could do is get there around 4-5PM on Sunday evening, we get into SFO at 12PM local time and are heading up to Napa for Monday/Tuesday night. But Sunday evening before a holiday Monday would probably mean a wait and much more hectic than Tuesday when they open at 11AM.

I'm just happy to be going, hopefully this thread can provide some useful info for anyone else wanting to visit RR and wondering how likely you are to find PtE. Sounds like more likely to find it than not, with the caveat that after a busy weekend there is always the chance that they could be temporarily out of stock for bottles.

 

Sorry for resurrecting this one again, but I am still debating on which day we should plan on heading up to Santa Rosa / Russian River.

My options are below, and while my primary goal is just sampling some of their tap list, I am also banking on being able to bring back (12) bottles with me to GA, which would hopefully include (6) PtE.

(1) Arrive around 4PM on Sunday (9/6) and grab dinner, sample some drafts, and bottles to go.
(2) Arrive at or just before opening (11AM) on Tuesday (9/8) and grab lunch, sample some drafts, and bottles to go.

Keep in mind Monday (9/7) is Labor Day, making it a holiday weekend. Not sure how that affects the crowd on Sunday and/or the bottle availability on Tuesday.