Russian River Brewing

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Janx

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Wow! I hit a great pub last weekend that I can't believe I have never been to before. It's in downtown Santa Rosa, California in Sonoma County. Real nice room. Big bar. Good pizza.

The most unique and amazing thing about this place is their selection of barrel-fermented Belgian beers. They have many unique and unusual beers that use a combination of traditional yeast and Brettanomyces and other strange yeasts. And obviously fermenting in barrels is unusual.

The bottles of the primo stuff are very hard to come by. The barkeep tols me they sell out of cases almost instantly, and I can see why. Everything I tasted on tap (and I tasted all the Belgians) was great. They have a list of probably 15 Belgians that are available at different times.

But that's not all! They have another list of beers that also must have 10 beers in it that are more standard fare. One of their IPAs is called Blind Pig. When I was there, they were celebrating the end of Prohibition, so you could get a mason jar and a beer for like $5 and refills of the mason jar were cheap. I can't tell you how many jars I had.

In short, Blind Pig was possibly the most perfect IPA I have had. It is clean, hoppy, aromatic, and basically flawless. I bet it's a straight 2-row mash with little if any adjunct grains. I'd guess Centennial for hops, but it definitely isn't Cascade. Nothing extraordinary about the recipe - it's a very simple beer, but it's made very well, and if you like hops, you'll love it. What a beer! Perfectly hopped at every layer. Dry, crisp, delicious.

Stop in if you're going through Northern California! :D
 
Yep...had Pliny the Elder...serious beer that.

I get all the Belgians mixed up because they're all named something-tion like Damnation or Salvation...you get the idea ;) They had black ones and light ones...most of the ones on tap when I was there were not barrel-fermented, but had an abbey-type yeast.

Unfortunately they didn't have the one on tap that's a Pale Ale fermented with straight Brettanomyces (Deification I think?). I *really* want to try that one.
 
Janx said:
When I was there, they were celebrating the end of Prohibition, so you could get a mason jar and a beer for like $5 and refills of the mason jar were cheap. I can't tell you how many jars I had.
I'm confused...you were there 73 years ago? :confused:
 
El Pistolero said:
I'm confused...you were there 73 years ago? :confused:

Maybe...as much as I drank...

I guess they find it worth celebrating even after all these years. If you taste fresh Blind Pig, you would too :D
 
Haven't been there in years, before they started doing Belgians, but every one of their ales that I have tried have been great.

Wonder if we should tell them that their webmaster really needs to get his head out of the MicroSerf.? Does not work well with Firefox.
 
No, it's not Firefox friendly...

I think since you've been there, the brewery changed hands. Didn't they used to be out in Guerneville? Or they were associated with Korbel or something?

Anyway, it might as well be a new brewery as well as new location now. The head brewer bought it from the owner and really flexes his artistic muscles. The range and number of beers he makes speaks of someone with a real passion and a homebrewer's lust for variety and experimentation.

With the range they have now, there's really something for anyone there. It's just great :D
 
Janx said:
...a Pale Ale fermented with straight Brettanomyces (Deification I think?).

Of course, I read that wrong the first time.

I've heard nothing but great things about Russian River. I'd love to get my hands on some of their stuff. Esp. Pliny.
 
Can anyone in VA find this beer? I checked Total Wine last night and struck out.
 
I just talked to a guy in Wine and Beer. He said the last shipment from Russian River that was headed to the east coast was actually traded to some Belgium brewery for some of their "crazy beers". He expects to see more Russian River in a couple months. He did have some Damnation but I went with Stone Ruination and Otter Creek IPA instead.
 
HurricaneFloyd said:
I just talked to a guy in Wine and Beer. He said the last shipment from Russian River that was headed to the east coast was actually traded to some Belgium brewery for some of their "crazy beers". He expects to see more Russian River in a couple months. He did have some Damnation but I went with Stone Ruination and Otter Creek IPA instead.

That is messed up! Bartering with beer!

I'd still LOVE to try the Damnation.
 
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