Beer Snob top beer?

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epistrummer

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I've just recently dove into this homebrewing hobby and as I attempt to hobnob with bona fide beer snobs I have noticed a reverence amongst snobs for a beer called Pliny the Elder. My buddy from Oregon thinks it is beer sent from God himself, and says it is difficult to get. So I am curious. Can anyone tell me what the deal is with this beer?
 
The majority of the HBT community shuns away from the "beer snob" reference - it's typically considered a negative connotation.

Anyway, PtE is an amazing IIPA. If you drink it for the first time expecting to immediately blow your load and find $500 magically appear in your wallet while being groped by Asian twins - you'll be sadly disappointed.

But it is a great beer, nonetheless.
 
i've been trying to get ahold of that beer for 2 whole years now...no luck.

i even requested multiple times from friends in CA to send me some. they're BMC drinkers and unfortunately do not know what that beer means to me...

oh Florida...too far away from heady topper and too far away from PTE.
 
It's one of the better examples of a West Coast style double IPA. Like NineMil said, don't expect the heavens to open up and angels to rejoice when you drink it but it is definitely a great beer and worth grabbing if you have the opportunity. It is also like your friend said, hard to find even here in Cal. It is brewed by Russian River so your friend from Oregon isn't that far away.
 
Living in northern CA I am lucky to be able to get Pliny the Elder at any time. I think that it really is a well done "west coast IPA" which is a very low malt profile beer with high IBUs as expected. I find that other IPAs now have a high malt profile to compliment the hops ending up closer to a barley wine IMHO. DFH 90 minute for example. But honestly, to each his own. I show up each year to Russian River for the Pliny the Younger release. It is that good!
 
I've called in a favor to a buddy in San Diego, I will let you know if he comes through for me or not.
 
Snob considered negative? Get out!!

The term beer snob is negative, beer geek is positive.

A beer geek is happy to share his/her passion for beer while not being a dick about it. This is where (I hope) most of us fall.
 
I have not tried this clone off of 365, but have tired a couple more of his and they are pretty close

All Grain Recipe - Pliny the Elder ::: 1.074/1.012 (6 Gal)

Grain Bill


12 lbs. - 2 Row Pale Malt (American)
1 lb. - Corn Sugar
1/3 lb. - Crystal Malt (45L)
1 lb. - CaraPils Malt


Hop Schedule

1.5 oz - Chinook (First Wort or Mash Hop)
2.75 oz - Warrior (90 Min.)
.5 oz - Chinook (90 Min.)
1 oz - Simcoe (45 Min.)
1 oz - Columbus (30 Min.)
2.25 oz - Centennial (Flameout)
1 oz - Simcoe (Flameout)
3.25 oz - Columbus (Dry Hop)
1.75 oz - Centennial (Dry Hop)
1.75 oz - Simcoe (Dry Hop)


Yeast

White Labs California Ale Yeast (WLP001) - 1800 ml starter

Mash/Sparge/Boil

Mash at 150° to 152° for 60 min.
Sparge as usual
Boil for 90 minutes (remember to compensate your water if you normally do 60 min boils)
Cool and ferment at 66° to 68°

http://www.brew365.com/beer_pliny_the_elder.php
 
i've been trying to get ahold of that beer for 2 whole years now...no luck.

i even requested multiple times from friends in CA to send me some. they're BMC drinkers and unfortunately do not know what that beer means to me...

oh Florida...too far away from heady topper and too far away from PTE.

Try the internet. I order it online, ships fast and I get fresh bottles. :D



And OP, as others said, most of us home brewers aren't snobs about beer... that's the ratebeeradvocate crowd (and as you brew more, you'll realize most of them know very little about our beloved beverage). Like many others, I prefer the term 'enthusiast'.... but I'm no snob. Last night I drank 7 beers, 2 were homebrew and the other 5 were Pabst (one of my faves when it's hot out).
As far as Pliny goes, it's a pretty stellar IPA..... but a little over hyped none the less. It's a great beer, and I recommend trying it, but there're plenty of IPA's out there that're just as good..... or better..... and usually more readily available. One of my current faves that's just as good as PtE is Southern Tier's 2XIPA. :mug:
 
PTE is a good brew. i am lucky that one of my favorite beer bars, Monk's in Philly gets it on tap occasionally...

One of my current faves that's just as good as PtE is Southern Tier's 2XIPA

Southern Tier 2XIPA is also very good. Souther Tier makes several very good brews.
 
OP:You wont like it if you dont like ipa's or "imperial" ipa i believe it is.Its a great ipa,some people like it some people dont think its all that.I think its "one" of the greats though. If your palate isnt tuned much for ipa's then you may not even like it anyway.
The beer is not distributed,so you have to trade or travel or do like i did and got one sent from a wine shop out of San Fransisco.Shipping cost me 3-5X the amount of this 5 dollar pint.
 
What's better PTE or Stone's Ruination ?? Here Ruination is $17.50 a six pack. For that money it's got to be good!! :cross:
I haven't bought Ruination since it was $14 then I started making my own which I think is better.
 
The term beer snob is negative, beer geek is positive.

A beer geek is happy to share his/her passion for beer while not being a dick about it. This is where (I hope) most of us fall.



Yeah, the sarcasm, she don't translate too well on the interwebs.
 
The term beer snob is negative, beer geek is positive.

A beer geek is happy to share his/her passion for beer while not being a dick about it. This is where (I hope) most of us fall.


I am old fashioned but I think a beer schnob is much better and cooler than a beer geek..

This is because the schnob cares more about details that MATTER while the beer geek cares about NEGLIGIBLE details.

And because a snob is judgmental about things that MATTER and geeks about numbers that don't make any sense.


But I have been known to be wrong a lot.
 
I'm no beer snob, I consider myself a beer geek! For me it's all about Lagunitas Hop Stoopid or Founders Double trouble! And if I can find it, Dogfish 120 or Burton Baton. Can't forget Souther Tier PumKing!
 
PTE is a good brew. i am lucky that one of my favorite beer bars, Monk's in Philly gets it on tap occasionally...



Southern Tier 2XIPA is also very good. Souther Tier makes several very good brews.

Southern tier is quickly becoming my favorite brewery. 2xIPA is excellent. Gemini is good, chokolat is amazing, and pumpking is my favorite fall seasonal. Some I like better than others, but every one of them is respectable and has a point of view.
 
Southern tier is quickly becoming my favorite brewery. 2xIPA is excellent. Gemini is good, chokolat is amazing, and pumpking is my favorite fall seasonal. Some I like better than others, but every one of them is respectable and has a point of view.

Ever take ST Chokolat and mix it with ST Moka? Ahhmazing!
 
WortIfied said:
I'm no beer snob, I consider myself a beer geek! For me it's all about Lagunitas Hop Stoopid or Founders Double trouble! And if I can find it, Dogfish 120 or Burton Baton. Can't forget Souther Tier PumKing!

+1 Hop Stoopid. I had a bomber last night and another on deck.
 
Southern tier is quickly becoming my favorite brewery. 2xIPA is excellent. Gemini is good, chokolat is amazing, and pumpking is my favorite fall seasonal. Some I like better than others, but every one of them is respectable and has a point of view.

+1 on the Gemini...fantastic.

selfishly, i really hope southern tier decides to only distribute to the southeast so that we have leverage on the west coast's PtE, midwest's 3 Floyd's ZD, and the northeast's heady topper.

cigar city can only go so far in a beer trade nowadays:D
 
The problem is that with the beer snob/geek (whatever you wanna call it) mentality comes the "collector" mentality. With the collector mentality comes the hype machine.
I see guys on beer advocate with more beer in their cellar than they're ever gonna drink. Pics of them driving 600 miles to get 10 4 packs of "KBS" so they can sit in their beer cellar. Meanwhile i'm thinking, "No wonder i can't get any good beers. This guy has em all."
 
The term beer snob is negative, beer geek is positive.

A beer geek is happy to share his/her passion for beer while not being a dick about it. This is where (I hope) most of us fall.

I agree- Beer Snobs seem to hang out at Beer Advocate and there is a real dick attitude by any beer snobs that I've met in person. Just like with wine snobs, they've acted like they are superior beings to me.

I love beer, and I love brewing, but I'm no snob.

What's better PTE or Stone's Ruination ?? Here Ruination is $17.50 a six pack. For that money it's got to be good!! :cross:
I haven't bought Ruination since it was $14 then I started making my own which I think is better.

Ruination is pretty good, but I wouldn't pay $17 a sixer for it, as it's not great. It's a nice beer to try once. And then brew your own, for $15 a batch!

I love Pliny the Elder, as it's hoppy but nice and quaffable too. It's probably my favorite IIPA. Others that are worth trying are Bell's Hopslam (good, but "thicker" and heavier) and Hoppin' Frog Triple IPA.
 
brewski08 said:
+1 on the Gemini...fantastic.

selfishly, i really hope southern tier decides to only distribute to the southeast so that we have leverage on the west coast's PtE, midwest's 3 Floyd's ZD, and the northeast's heady topper.

cigar city can only go so far in a beer trade nowadays:D

For some reason, I doubt ST ever goes SE only, since they are based in the NE.

As far as Cigar City goes do you have any Hunahpu or Zhukov you would trade? I have loads of good stuff not available in the SE (including Zombie Dust and about 10 other FFF beers, Pliny, a bunch of Parabola, and lots more).
 
For some reason, I doubt ST ever goes SE only, since they are based in the NE.

As far as Cigar City goes do you have any Hunahpu or Zhukov you would trade? I have loads of good stuff not available in the SE (including Zombie Dust and about 10 other FFF beers, Pliny, a bunch of Parabola, and lots more).

i will keep a look out for you. Zhukov is usually pretty easy to find in the summer, but Hunahpu gets harder to find as we get further away from march.

both are excellent beers. the flavors in Hunahpu are out of this world.

if i find some, i'll message you.
 
brewski08 said:
i will keep a look out for you. Zhukov is usually pretty easy to find in the summer, but Hunahpu gets harder to find as we get further away from march.

both are excellent beers. the flavors in Hunahpu are out of this world.

if i find some, i'll message you.

Sounds good. I have heard good things about them, and was in line to try Hunahpu at Dark Lord Day but it ran out right before me. All their other stuff I have had was good, with Humidor Jai Alai probably being tops.
 
Score! My buddy in California is coming to visit me in July and is bringing with him 6 bottles of Pliny the elder to try.
 
When I finally got my hands on Russian River brews, I was disappointed by PtE -- maybe it was older but it didn't live up the reviews and the hype. I did think Blind Pig was exceptional though.
 
I am having a Pliny on tap right now at Oskar Blues Brewery. They have Blind Pig also which may be my next one. Both are great Ipas but there are a lot of great Ipas around. In my opinion RR's sours are what really stand out.
 
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