It was a perfect February night. The mood was a sober, impatient anticipation, waiting for what was to come. The line was only 30 minutes, the shortest wait time of the night, and the scent of wort was wafting in the air. After a year’s wait, Pliny the Younger had been released. Fans of microbreweries, Russian River Brewing Company enthusiasts and IPA lovers alike had been waiting for this moment for months. Beer-loving Sacramentans of all ages flocked to the brewpub in downtown Santa Rosa last Friday for the annual limited release brew. Still others have plans for a microbrewery tour before time runs out, hitting up Lagunitas Brewing Company and Bear Republic Brewing Co. on the way there.
The previous year, the beer was gone in eight hours. This year, thanks to careful planning and allocating and a ban on growlers of the Younger, the beer should last for a full two weeks, from February 4th to the 17th. In my humble opinion, this plan is still doomed. I would wager that, right now, they are already running over their limit (I mean, come on, it’s opening night), plus these workers have got to be slipping an extra 10 ounces here and there in the back room.
This triple IPA is delicious and well worth the $4.50. It’s sharp, fresh, and the beautiful blend of hops just melts in your mouth. They went easy on the finishing hops which normally give aroma, so the beer has a wonderfully clear, clean taste, like water going down. That said, you should certainly watch how many you drink. Don’t forget that the alcohol level is 10.25 percent.
There was a lot of great flavor without the overwhelming bitterness that sometimes comes with a super-hoppy IPA. I would wager that this is because of a strategy of dry-hopping rather than so many starter hops. Somehow, I ended up as the DD (women always get the shaft on brewpub nights), but, fortunately, they had lovely two-ounce samples for just a fraction of the price.
Homebrewer and beer enthusiast Matt Doyle couldn’t say enough about the Younger.
“It’s cool, because they’re able to take the IPA to the next level,” he said. “More hops, more malt, but the key is that it’s not too heavy. They were able to ferment it all the way down with the use of strong, healthy yeast. That’s what’s able to put it over the top in terms of drinkability.”
By 7 o’clock, there were already people making out by the bar, no doubt due to the double digit ABV of Pliny the Younger. (Sigh… these youth, they never settle down.) Just FYI, after three “high alcohol-level” beers (i.e. Pliny the Younger), they are allowed to cut you off.
This Santa Rosa microbrewery is now at the top of my list. To be perfectly honest, I would take a stout or a nut brown ale over an IPA nine days out of 10, so that means something. Their newbies, Defenestration (yes, that’s correct, their next beer shares its name with the German word for death from being thrown out a window) and Procrastination, are coming soon and will be worth checking out.
The only thing that was odd about the place is how I kept getting confused as to which waiter was ours. There were just so many servers with thick, Burt Reynolds-style sideburns.
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