Pliny the Elder....not as good as it use to be

I usually pick up a Pliny every few months or so. Id say during probably the past year Ive noticed the beer kinda falling off or not being the same. Aroma is not as pungent, flavor is not really bursting with hops. Still a great beer, just not how I remember it a few years ago. Maybe my palate has changed. Maybe its other DIPAs out there with combinations of new school hop varieties. Anybody else feel the same? I wonder if they lack brewing the original recipe cause of the high demand for distribution.

 

i just thought the same thing the other week when i picked up a couple of bottles.

I personally feel that Alpine's IPA's and DIPA's blow Pliny out of the water.

 

http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25406

"The beer has undergone some minor tweaks over the years, so you'll see variations posted all over the internet. The recipe below is based on something close to the original, scaled for our system. Today the brewery supposedly no longer uses mash hops (most brewers believe it doesn't add much to the flavour and it's rumoured that the cows that were fed the spent grains did not like it)."

 

I think it still varies. Bottle and tap can vary substancially as well as how fresh the bottle is. Numerois websites will tell you the freshest bottling dates.

 

It is my favorite but I just recently discovered it. if you think it isn't as hoppy now I would be scared of what it was like before.

 

I would love to try more of alpines beer. I had their hoppy birthday a few months ago at stone and it was so good. I have noticed a decline in pliney over a the time I first had it 2 years ago and now I don't bother trying yo find it now.

 

I think the reason for this has more to do with Lupulin Threshold Shift than it does with Russian River changing their recipe. Everyone wants something that reminds them of their first.

 

Chasing the hop dragon?

 

I hate to say it has never knocked me off my feet. Maybe I haven't had a good one.

 

hehe, exactly.

 

I don't hate to say it, but it didn't blow me away. I thought Blind Pig was better.

 

Yeah, I remember being a bit let down when I first had it. Then I realized it was because I had tasted so many beers like it. I'm assuming these beers were attempted clones. Still, Pliny does the subtle things better than most others.

 

I have had Pliny the Elder a few times, and while it's always exciting to try something new and highly regarded, I have never thought of it as super amazing. It's a great beer, but I think I would rather have some other DIPAs, Hopslam being one.

 

Freshness makes such a huge difference in my experience. Having a bottle that's <1 week old then having another bottle a week later proved this to me.

 

Pliny's taste changes significantly even day to day in bottles. I had three bottles that I had 3 days apart each. The first one was good. The third one was very good. The one I had in the middle was almost a religious experience.

 

I tend to drink it more on tap than in bottles. For some reason it is pretty easy to find it on tap around here, but bottles are a rarity and highly sought after. I have had it side-by-side from the bottle and from the tap, and the tap certainly tastes "brighter" even comparing with bottles that had just been released.

That being said, I feel like the hop aroma and flavor has definitely shifted over time. It does not taste the same as it did a few years ago. I believe that the hops have changed, and as a consequence the flavor has changed. It is still a very good beer, but it's not quite the same hops in there as previously.


My favorite hoppy beer nowadays is Alpine Nelson. Not an IIPA, but man what a punch of delicious hops. I buy it every chance I get.

 

I've actually never had it from the bottle, only on tap, and I love it when I can get it. But I don't have enough experience to say "it's worse now"... I do really enjoy the Blind Pig IPA, though!

One thing I can't get behind is beers made with Nelson Sauvin (sorry, Alpine folks and fans of Widmer Drifter Pale Ale). I hate the taste of that hop. Ick.

 

Some DIPAs that Ive grown to like better Pliny-

Bells Hopslam
Heady Topper
Surly Abrasive
Bootleggers Knuckle Sandwich
Kern River Citra
Pizza Port Poor Mans
Alpine Exponential Hoppiness
Avery Maharaja

 

Yep.

 

Head on out to Santa Rosa to the tap room and you won't be disappointed. It's still great there.

 

I agree. It's amazing from a freshly tapped keg. Out of a week old bottle, not bad. Out of a one month old bottle, it's just another DIPA.

It absolutely lives up to the hype when it's fresh, on draft. Too many people get month old bottles 2,000 miles from Santa Rosa, and are disappointed when it isn't the best beer they've ever had. That's the exact reason that RR doesn't sell it outside of CA, OR, and WA

 

RR does sell pliny in philly, so the 2000 mile problem can be overcome. The problem is that when you're buying anywhere that's not officially distributed by RR, you really have no idea how it was handled on its way there.

Having seen how much the pliny the elder clone i brewed degraded in just a few months stored at fridge temps, i can imagine what a week cross country in a hot truck could do, and i don't guess its pretty.

 

Very true. I brought back 6 bottles from my trip to Santa Rosa and they had lost some of their magic after only a few days.

 

Much better fresh. I was there yesterday for my birthday!

 

I had one sent and it was only about a week old. Ive had many many ipa's and double ipa's in the last year and i would say it would definatly be in my top 5 or 10.Of course i really cant say ive had too many others within weeks from botteling ,usually months. It was a great experience,I should have gotten 5 of them. Tried the blind pig also and it was a pretty good beer.I paid 2-3 times the price of the beer for shipping though.Temps were in the single digits around here and with a week long journey i thought it would burst and i dont know how long it sat out by my front door that day. I guess higher alcohol has a better cold tolerance which i was releived to find out during shipping.

 

Zodiac being in Auburn CA you need to try Knee Deeps IIPA can't think of the name but it was good They are out of Lincoln CA.

 

Haha, thats funny. I actually brewed my IIPA on Knee Deeps 15bbl system a few months ago. Jeremy was very cool to let me brew one of my homebrew recipes on his system. It was draft release only throughout Northern/Southern Ca and Nevada. It was called Zacks IIPA under his MEPS series. Yes, I have had his Hoptologist. Good beer...

 

I just a Pliny a few nights ago. It might have been 6-7 weeks old. It was good but I have had better DIPA's. Taste was fantastic but the aroma was lacking. For my money the best DIPA out there is Firestone Walker's Double Jack.

 

If you can get it drakes aroma coma is great, brew dogs hardcore dipa, ballist point sculpin or darado personaly I prefer kern river just outstanding ipa

 

If your ever in socal go to beach wood bbq in seal beach they pretty much have pliny on tap year round,

 

I bought a case of Pliny the last time I visited the brewery. The bartender said, "You're in luck. These were bottled yesterday". Yep. Birth date on the bottle was 24 hours old. The first couple of days the beers were just insane. Then over the next week or two they came back down to earth to something less than The Beer of the Gods to more like, "yeah, this is a good beer". It's amazing what a few days does to this beer. Fresh Pliny is one of Life's little pleasures.

 

Pliny has changed. I enjoy Ruination and Double Jack.

 

Living on the east coast, I never had a Pliny until a month ago. I have to say that it was rather underwhelming. Not terrible by any means, but did not live up to the hype.

 

I loved it. I have had it 4 times and every time it has been amazing. I love how it conceals the alcohol. That being said I think Sculpin by ballast point is better if not coming in right near it.

 

Pliny the Younger on tap? Now your talkin!

 

I agree and i can think of a few others(lagunitas) which are as good almost or close.I just got a fresh bottle in the fridge of Sculpin that the worker at the small liquor store pointed out. Hes a homebrewer also so a quick trip turns in to a long discussion sometimes.First time i tried it a few mo ago it was on the shelf for some time and i loved it i can imagine it fresher.
Although as limited as Pliny is regionally there are still lots of winners.

 

+1 maharaja

 

Just found some port brewing mondo ipa its amazballs, also sink the bismark by brewdogs but I passed $110 a bottle

 

Haha I am glad there is a Pliny bashing thread. You all better hide though, I can hear the pitchforks being sharpened.

Pliny was rated the best IIPA because of two reasons: first it is a benchmark for a balanced IIPA, not necessarily an example of a wow IIPA. Second, I think the low availability pushes up the hype and somehow the drinking experience of Pliny.

I have only had it once on a trip to CA and I was slightly disappointed when I had it because it wowed me in a sense of balance, not WOW I WANT TO SELL MY FIRST BORN FOR MORE!! If anything, it made me more proud of our MI beers here because I think they hold up strong vs Pliny.

 

Glad to see a local Drakes drinker... Black label is Epic...

I have found that most all CA micro-breweries make a damn good IPA. Russian River was the first to push the envelope and make a DIPA when Pliny came out, then the first push forward with Pliny the Younger as a TIPA.

That being said, IPA's are not meant to be aged. The fresher the better. A week old Pliny is still a good beer but Vinny's "Magic" has since fallen out... Off tap is by far the best ever and still great. Younger included. If you have ever had the pleasure of tasting Younger anywhere other than at the brew pub, just imagine that beer fresh off the tap. It is the holly grail of west coast IIIPA's.

Being a regular at Russian River (at least once a month) and being as i am hop head. I can attest that the beer is still just as good fresh as it has been the last few years.

Maby we are all just growing a tolerance for hops.