Russian River Pliny the Elder

Today's photo came from a user on the Beertography Facebook page named Joseph Povella. Joseph shared his photo of one of the best beers in the world, Russian River Pliny the Elder. On top of that, the pool in the background made me die a little thinking about how much I miss summer already. Pliny + pool = amazing Summer day.

If you would like to have your photos featured on the site, please email them to beertography@gmail.com. Or if you're on the go, you can tag your tweet with #beertography and/or mention me @beertography.

I also realized that due to a dumb setting on Facebook, I wasn't immediately getting notified of new postings on the Beertography page. That's fixed now, so if Facebook is your preferred sharing method, you're good to go.

PNW Trip Part III: Russian River Brewing Company

After spending a solid 3 days in San Francisco, we headed north on the 101 to Santa Rosa, CA, home of one of the most infamous breweries in the US, Russian River Brewing Company. The funny part about this place is that its located in what seems like a strip mall.



Unfortunately, this was to be a quick stop as it was already getting late and we still had a long drive ahead of us up the PCH. Its really overwhelming to finally arrive at a place you've wanted to go to for years and to only have about 45-60 minutes to take it all in. Just looking at the tap board had me quivering.



We got a plate of their Beer Bites to go along with the delicious sour, barrel-aged brews and I was in heaven. I believe I had the Perdition, Biere De Sonoma aged in wine barrels and Salvation, the strong dark ale.



The only downside to the visit was the slightly lackluster service. I guess we were there right at happy hour so it was quite busy. But its set up so you don't have a specific server, so there was a bit of confusion and double-ordering going on. But the beer more than made up for that minor faux pas.



As we were finishing up and realizing that our parking meter was about to run out, I ran around to inspect the other side of the brewpub and I was surprised to see just how many fermenters were crammed into the small space. I figure they must bottle off-site and perhaps even have a full production brewery somewhere? Of that I'm not sure.



And then there was: THE BARRELS! I had a really hard time resisting the urge to break into this room and sniff all of the barrels and the delicious goodness within.



I also walked away with a few take-home bottles of Supplication and Consecration that eventually got shipped back home. If you're heading out west, its only about an hour drive up to Santa Rosa from SF. It was a little bit of a weird feeling driving right by wine country and only stopping at a brewery BUT Russian River is SO good that it makes missing all of the vino just fine by me.

Beer in My Inbox

A few weeks ago, right in the midst of my move from Brooklyn to Jersey City, I participated in another "Beer It Forward" with some fellow beer enthusiasts. The best part about the BIF in comparison with a straight trade is the surprise. You send beer off to someone, but they're not the one who sends beer to you. And in most cases, you don't know who you're receiving from OR what you'll get until the day the box arrives. For reference, here's a post regarding the last one I participated in.

As you can see above, the box I got was pretty awesome. I've never had the La Folie before, which I've been hearing about forever. Then you've got two excellent Russian River brews that you can't get here in NY/NJ. THEN there's the beers from Deschutes (which I'll be visiting in Oregon next month) capped off with Port, Ska and Oskar Blues beers. It was a great package.

I've already had the Ten FIDY, Gordon, Hop Hendge and Red Chair, but have been holding out on everything else. At LEAST one of those bottles is disappearing this weekend.

Cheers!

Oh, man. Russian River Supplication. Do want.

This video is so mouth-watering, it's frustrating. Really, really wish I could get my hands on Russian River brews more often.


credit: chow.com via beernews.org

That's A Lot of Pliny

And it could never be enough. As I noted a few weeks ago, a certain bar in NYC was able to hook me up with an entire growler (that's 64oz) of Russian River's Pliny the Elder. The very same beer that Zymurgy Magazine and the American Homebrewer's Assocation recently voted the #1 beer in the world. I think this could honestly be my desert island beer.

I had previously traded one of my precious few Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stouts for a single 500ml bottle of this, so this was a nice treat as I figured it'd be years before I'd get my hands on Pliny again. A beer truly deserving of all accolades.