PLINY THE ELDER: A VERY GOOD OVERRATED BEER

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24364002.post-74599676960323412002008-07-23T08:10:00.000-07:002008-07-23T08:13:24.192-07:00PLINY THE ELDER: A VERY GOOD OVERRATED BEER<a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_VsOOFXOWIvk/SIdKFdXar8I/AAAAAAAABX4/pZjm0ZJw0nc/s1600-h/russian-river-pliny-blind-pig-bottles-whole-bottles.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226227350229397442" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_VsOOFXOWIvk/SIdKFdXar8I/AAAAAAAABX4/pZjm0ZJw0nc/s200/russian-river-pliny-blind-pig-bottles-whole-bottles.jpg" border="0" /></a>Beer hounds the world over are gossiping about the arrival this month in bottles of <a href="http://www.russianriverbrewing.com/">RUSSIAN RIVER BREWING</a>’s double IPA, <a href="http://www.ibabuzz.com/beer/2008/07/21/where-pliny-the-elder-in-bottles-can-be-found-today/">PLINY THE ELDER</a>. This beer’s been an on-tap favorite of many for a few years now, with some folks describing it in rapturous terms and traveling through hell’s half acre to drink a mere pint of it. I guess, having had a few pints of this in my time, I’ve never quite really understood the whoop-de-do. Well now those very same pints are in bottles, at least in a few select markets, and I picked myself up a bottle last Friday to see if this very good, if exceptionally overrated beer, had any different mojo working when bottled. I report: it does not. PLINY THE ELDER is another rock-solid west coast IPA, with a distinctly piney, almost oily character that sets itself a wee tad apart from some of the others, and naturally it’s hopped-up as hell. It tastes quite bready, with grapefruit being the predominant fruit flavor, though again, it’s got that pine forest thing going on that must be what’s driving the kids crazy out there in the beer forums. Hard for me to understand why this IPA, of all IPAs, is so exceptional. It’s a good one, but in a blind tasting if you told me it was from Sacramento Brewing or Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing or Osprey Springs Ales & Lagers, I’d totally believe ya. 7.5/10. My previous score stands. PS – I bought a bottle of <a href="http://russianriverbrewing.com/wordpress/">BLIND PIG IPA</a> as well, and that one – well, that one deserves every bit of hype it gets thrown at it. We’ll see how it fares out of a bottle later this week.Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06153081608332918241noreply@blogger.com