RSSSo I’ve been kind of putting this beer off for a while mainly because it costs about $4.30 a pint at K&L and I have been kind of cheap lately, but a couple days ago I found myself back at K&L on a mission to pick up another beautiful bottle of Damnation…and I said to myself, Pliny the Elder is from the same guy and based on my mighty robo logic, it must be good…and guess what?…it is…
In the mouth this guy is super citrussy…is that a word?…eh, close enough… It is like drinking a glass of fresh lemonaid, and like my lady says, flowers, and then hops, oh beautiful Cascade or maybe Amarillo hops fills the nose and mouth…like chewing on a citrus hop sandwich …then, right then, I realized why this guy is so expensive. It is super fresh (actually mine was bottled 5 days ago…) and chalk full of delicious delicious hops and love…well love sounds bad…not man love…just care…
So where did this guy get all of it’s hoppiness?… answer, from being dry hopped a ton! (Dry hopping is the process of adding hops to the beer as it ferments in addition to adding it to the boil to get the base bitterness, flavor and hoppiness in the nose…) …well at least that is my theory…The malt is subtle but is caramelly and just as complex as the hops…there is also a beautiful bitterness to this guy…by beautiful, I mean freakin strong… This beer is not for someone who shy’s away from bitter beers. To compare; Racer 5 has the awesome hoppiness and citrus in the nose and mouth and is as close as perfect as I think an IPA can get, but Pliny has just a tad more hoppiness and complexity but the payback from this extra bit is a more bitter bite than Racer 5. This beer would be awesome in the cold winter months of Northern California…wait, do we get cold winters?…well I guess for us it is cold…but anyways, das es a nice beer and I suggest you pick up a bottle and tell me I’m wrong…
Summary:
Company: Russian River Brewing Co.
Type: IPA
Taste: Citrus, Flowers, Caramel, and hops hops hops
Alcohol Content: 8%
Food Pairing: Sausages, Pork Roast, breads, buffalo wings, etc.
Rating: 5 out of 6 (awesome but the bitterness is a doozie)
Website: Pliny the Elder
[...] out by the bitterness of the hops. I have to say, this guy, at least for me, is way better than Pliny the Elder and worth the $4.30 a pint. It is a little sweeter than Pliny and not as close to as bitter. I can [...]