# finally! i had Pliny the Younger BEER.



## boomchakabowwow (Feb 18, 2016)

stood in line 2.5 hours last night. as far as lines go, this was the funnest line. everyone happy, some stoned..but happy. no bickering, no cutting in line. people making coffee runs, burrito runs..the stoners did a sushi run.
the heavy rain sucked, but most of the line was under canopies. the rest, umbrellas. thank goodness my wife had an umbrella.

Russian River Brewery. food is oookaaay. not bad for bar food, but i've had way better. 

the beer goes away tomorrow, and i am happy has heck to have gotten it last night. it is pretty spectacular. very tasty. i sat down, ordered two glasses, and wife and i took our maiden sips. i was prepared to be disappointed. it was super complex. bitter..big bitter, but it was tamed by this great sweetness. the flavors were amped up. i had only ONE since sadly i was designated driver. one was enought to get my lightweight wife past any legal limit. we sat and ate for hour and a half..and i drove her to her temp home and drove myself to our other home.

we are moving to the neighborhood in a few weeks. buy a house...it wont suck to be walking distance to Russian River Brewery.

there were people from all over in line. the world.


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## alterwisser (Feb 18, 2016)

Sounds awesome. Always wanted to try it...


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## mikedtran (Feb 18, 2016)

Awesome! I enjoy the younger quite a bit, but as a daily drinker the older hits all the right notes for me. 

On the beer front have you tried alpine Nelson?


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## boomchakabowwow (Feb 18, 2016)

mikedtran said:


> On the beer front have you tried alpine Nelson?



no..good?

for my more regular beers..i like less hops.

i like Racer5 and Ballast Point Sculpin. i think The Elder pushes the hops to much for a regular..i like it, but they tend to get heavy fast. (with me)


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## Cheeks1989 (Feb 18, 2016)

Congrats on Pliny! It's a ***** trying to find it on the east.


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## mikedtran (Feb 18, 2016)

Alpine Nelson is one of my favorite IPAs its got fresh hops, medium/low bitterness for a IPA.

My preference for IPAs is high hops with minimal bitterness, of course they are related but I dislike beers that are overly bitter for their hop levels.


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## strumke (Feb 18, 2016)

Hmmm, so I send you $$ via paypal and you send me beer?? This can work out well.


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## Chicagohawkie (Feb 18, 2016)

Pardon my ignorance, not familiar with the establishment nor the Bay Area, but 2.5 hours for a beer? That's a first for me.


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## Smurfmacaw (Feb 18, 2016)

It's good but not THAT good. Very clean malt flavor and serious hops. They have it and the Elder on tap here....I like it but you have to like a highly hopped IPA. Frankly, I've had better. Depends all about who says it't the schiznit....kind of like some of the knives around here.


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## Cheeks1989 (Feb 18, 2016)

Has anyone here had zombie dust or heady topper to compare it with?


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## lumo (Feb 18, 2016)

Haven't tried Pliny but have Consecration and Supplication on the way for the first time. Was supposed to go for a ride today up to VT for some Heady, Hills Farmstead and Fiddlehead but had to work. Tomorrow might be Tree House and Saturday will be Bissell Brothers. Stocking up for my move to DC.


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## strumke (Feb 18, 2016)

Cheeks1989 said:


> Has anyone here had zombie dust or heady topper to compare it with?



I've had all three and they're all a bit different. ZD is super tropical because of the heavy dose of Citra hops. Heady is a whole different animal, quite dank, poorly filtered (lots of floaties, but that's okay). All are delicious, but all in different ways.

Alpine Nelson is definitely one to seek out if it's available as well.


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## strumke (Feb 18, 2016)

lumo said:


> Haven't tried Pliny but have Consecration and Supplication on the way for the first time. Was supposed to go for a ride today up to VT for some Heady, Hills Farmstead and Fiddlehead but had to work. Tomorrow might be Tree House and Saturday will be Bissell Brothers. Stocking up for my move to DC.



I did that trip back in May, hit up Hill Farmstead, bought the limit on Heady, Fiddlehead was good but not as good as the others (being nit-picky here), and Tree House was awesome on the way back.

One good thing about DC is you've got OTWOA readily available (DC Brau), and you have the benefit of 3 states worth of distribution (DC/MD/VA)


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## DSChief (Feb 19, 2016)

If your familiar W/ Racer5, have you tried "Heritage" from Bear republic? It's not featured all the time,
due to availability of grain with hi-enough sugar content. it's a dark Ale that comes in around 8.2% ABV
My all time fav. Another good one, now that your going to spend more time on the 'Correct' side of the GGB
is kilt Lifter from Moylan's in Novato


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## Neens (Feb 19, 2016)

strumke said:


> I've had all three and they're all a bit different. ZD is super tropical because of the heavy dose of Citra hops. Heady is a whole different animal, quite dank, poorly filtered (lots of floaties, but that's okay). All are delicious, but all in different ways.
> 
> Alpine Nelson is definitely one to seek out if it's available as well.



Heady topper is unfiltered. I agree they are very different. If you're making a through CT New England Brewing is worth a stop depending on what hey have on, locust regin, coriolis, Gandhi bot in that order.


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## ignaurus (Feb 19, 2016)

Around Christmas I was visiting family and found a couple Heady Toppers in my Uncle's fridge. I was just going for a beer, didn't expect to see _that_. I asked him about them and his response was "I don't like hoppy beers, someone sent them to me. Go for it." That was a great night.

Nothing like drinking something your not sure you'll ever get a chance to. Would love to try a Pliney one day.


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## brainsausage (Feb 19, 2016)

We're experiencing a beersplosion up here in Maine lately. So I'm a little spoiled for options. Haven't had the Pliny(s) or zombie, but was fairly meh about the heady topper can I had awhile back. It was handled properly on the way to my possession, so no worries on that front. It's a decent beer, but it just didn't get me going the way the cult of personality surrounding it does. I really dig the grapefruit sculpin, but I'm worried that that'll change down the road now that they've changed ownership. Who knows. If anyone is interested in doing a beer swap, lemme know. Theres some serious talent up here right now, and a serious lack of distribution from the other coast up to our little corner.


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## Cheeks1989 (Feb 19, 2016)

Thanks strumke I will hunt down some alpine. Im with you brainsausage I wasn't blown away by heady either, but zombie was incredible! My go to ipa is stone ruination.


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## tkern (Feb 19, 2016)

If anyone gets a chance to try RAR's "Pulp" I recommend it. Sort of in the Deschutes "Fresh Squeezed" realm.
If anyone wants to send me a bottle of Pliny, I recommend doing that too.


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## strumke (Feb 25, 2016)

Just found out that Alpine is distributing nelson to the DC area!! Also, for readily available great IPAs, Lagunitas Sucks, Ballast Point Sculpin, or Bells Two Hearted are usually very available and delicious.


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## alterwisser (Feb 25, 2016)

strumke said:


> Just found out that Alpine is distributing nelson to the DC area!! Also, for readily available great IPAs, Lagunitas Sucks, Ballast Point Sculpin, or Bells Two Hearted are usually very available and delicious.



I never heard of Alpine before and then stumbled into a lonely Sixpack of Alpine Duet a day after reading about Alpine here for the first time. Really good...


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## dharperino (Feb 25, 2016)

A friend gave me 5 Pliny's that were "orphaned" due to her breaking up with her friend. My gain! Around here it is hard to buy more than 2 at a time and it helps to know the delivery schedule...


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## lumo (Feb 25, 2016)

DC guys, please fill me in on the local stuff...heading down next week for an extended work deal.


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## strumke (Feb 25, 2016)

lumo said:


> DC guys, please fill me in on the local stuff...heading down next week for an extended work deal.



Check out DC Brau (brewery + pints), Right Proper (brew pub), and Bluejacket (full service bar/restaurant and sells some stuff in bottles). There are a ton of awesome beer bars, churchkey is likely the flagship destination for awesome variety (same owners as Bluejacket), meridian pint, black squirrel, pizzeria paradiso. If you're heading out to VA at all there are a bunch of smaller breweries scattered around so it really depends on where you would be. Frederick MD has Flying Dog, but only worth it if you're up in that area with the other options all in DC.


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## tkern (Feb 25, 2016)

Also, Atlas brewery, Ocelot (VA), Denizens, Port City (VA), Hellbender, RAR (MD), 3 Stars. DC Brau's Wing of Armageddon and Solar Abyss are good if you can find it. All the breweries do some solid work.

RFD, located in Chinatown, has a large selection of beers. Brookland Pint (same guys as Meridian pint) has good stuff. Boundary Stone (my place) has all local beers on tap or canned from all those guys.


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## lumo (Mar 1, 2016)

Thanks for the pointers, I'll definitely be looking into them and stopping by.


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