{"id":1483,"date":"2011-01-22T00:01:17","date_gmt":"2011-01-21T11:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=1483"},"modified":"2011-03-12T17:33:23","modified_gmt":"2011-03-12T04:33:23","slug":"russian-river-pliny-the-elder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/01\/22\/russian-river-pliny-the-elder\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian River ‘Pliny the Elder’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Russian<\/a>
Russian River 'Pliny the Elder'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘Pliny’ is one of those stupidly-highly-regarded beers that make for a rather weird tasting experience. You always worry about the Emperor’s New Pale Ale effect, and when it’s brought over ‘unofficially’ (however carefully), there’s the vexed question of whether any Not Overwhelmed reaction is down to an over-hyped thing itself, or simply the result of difficult travel. This wasn’t a “grey market” import<\/a>, this was a trade; brought over by some travelling Americans and exchanged with one of our regulars for some local Good Stuff. From its time in a chilly bin filled with ice and water, it had lost its label, but that was smoothly replaced by an awesome tea-towel from Steph’s house (to help keep it cold on its trip to the pub), which I couldn’t resist including in the photo.<\/p>\n

I thought it was really tasty; properly big and fruity and resiny and just what you’d expect and want out of a West Coast Double IPA. But it didn’t completely melt my face and leave me overawed — I’d have put Hallertau’s bigger IPAs<\/a> comfortably in its league, for example — though there’s just no way to tell whether that’s because something genuinely face-melting had an imperfect journey or if that’s just what it was. Two out of the four of us had had it before, and did attest to it being better last time they had it, but that just opens up the batch-to-batch variance and the subjectivity cans of worms.<\/p>\n

Which is really the whole lesson, isn’t it? There is no objective “best” beer. You like what you like, and that’s just how it should be, especially if you can start to put your finger on just why<\/em> you react like you do to something — and doubly-especially if you remember to keep in mind what the brewer was trying<\/em> to do when you evaluate something. Personally, I thought this stuff was bloody good — but I don’t think you need to go so far afield to get something in its class.<\/p>\n

Verbatim:<\/strong> Russian River ‘Pliny the Elder’ \u00f7 4 w\/ Steph, Johnnie + Llew. Sample traded for some local goodies by Steph. Apparently treated about as well as you’d hope, but S+L still say it’s not at its best. The pine needle side is lacking, going more to melony fruitiness. To me, it’s Maximusesque; all those Northwest hops. It’s always tricky to try something so<\/span> ludicrously highly regarded — you always worry about the prospect of Emperor’s New Pale Ale. I really like this, but it hasn’t knocked me out of my shoes; maybe that’s a travel thing, or maybe the blessed subjectivity. The 3 are all agreed that I have to retry Moa Pale Ale<\/a>, so here’s hoping that was a dud. Consensus here [about ‘Pliny’] is both tastiness + disappointment. Not up to legendary status.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Russian<\/a>
Russian River 'Pliny the Elder', bottlecap<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Russian<\/a>
Diary II entry #57, Russian River 'Pliny the Elder'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Pliny’ is one of those stupidly-highly-regarded beers that make for a rather weird tasting experience. You always worry about the Emperor’s New Pale Ale effect, and when it’s brought over ‘unofficially’ (however carefully), there’s the vexed question of whether any Not Overwhelmed reaction is down to an over-hyped thing itself, or simply the result of … Continue reading Russian River ‘Pliny the Elder’<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,20,12,8],"class_list":["post-1483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary","tag-pages","tag-united-states","tag-pale-ale","tag-photogenic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3150,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/06\/05\/iipa-workshop\/","url_meta":{"origin":1483,"position":0},"title":"I\/IPA Workshop","author":"Phil","date":"June 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As the U.S. Hop Crisis -- 2nd Edition, after the 2007 price rice \/ demand spike \/ availability crunch -- starts to make itself felt, with stories of hop-fueled local beers being backburnered and put on hiatus for maybe-years, a tasting session like this seems absurdly decadent; the sort of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"I\/IPA Seminar lineup","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/IPA-Seminar-lineup-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2404,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/03\/31\/beer-diary-podcast-s01e01\/","url_meta":{"origin":1483,"position":1},"title":"Beer Diary Podcast episode 1: Emerson’s Pilsner and Grey Market Imports","author":"Phil","date":"March 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"An experimental offering from George (him of the original Diary) and myself, in which we enjoy a beer while pondering the history and various happenings that surround the stuff. We're aiming to keep things accessible and conversational (hopefully with some guest conversationalists along the way), so have a listen, join\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast episodes"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast episodes","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/podcast-episodes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4296,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2012\/06\/16\/beer-diary-podcast-s02e03\/","url_meta":{"origin":1483,"position":2},"title":"Beer Diary Podcast s02e03: Jo Wood & Mike Neilsen","author":"Phil","date":"June 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"George and I ventued into the (not really) wilds of Upper Hutt to have a chat with Jo Wood (of Liberty Brewing) and Mike Neilsen (of Tuatara); two homebrewers turned professional brewers (in very different capacities) who still love to get together on a weekend and knock up a random\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast episodes"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast episodes","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/podcast-episodes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Part of Mike's brew kit","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mike-Nielsens-brew-kit-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":403,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2008\/08\/28\/croucher-pale-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":1483,"position":3},"title":"Croucher Pale Ale","author":"Phil","date":"August 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Croucher Pale Ale, from Rotorua, but with none of that city's usual aromatic downsides. An after-work drink, and a pretty damn good one. It's a little bit Little-Creatures-esque, what with being a pale ale, but not being a thwack in the head with a fistful of hops. More just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Croucher Pale Ale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Croucher-Pale-Ale-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":152,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2004\/11\/06\/goose-island-honkers-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":1483,"position":4},"title":"Goose Island \u2018Honker\u2019s Ale\u2019","author":"Phil","date":"November 6, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Goose Island Honker's Ale. $?, 12oz, @home, Nov 6. More West Wing, so a Chicago ale with burgers. Darkish, but hints of orange again. Bubbles not so enduring, no haze. Lighter taste + smell, still flat, muted ale-ish. More an afternoon beer. Perfectly respectable + tasty. Great everyday stuff;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Goose Island 'Honker's Ale'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1016-Goose-Island-Honkers-1-300x138.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1405,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2009\/03\/24\/theresianer-pale-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":1483,"position":5},"title":"Theresianer Pale Ale","author":"Phil","date":"March 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Another Italian beer, and one I'd had before, with an altogether brilliant dinner at La Casa here in town, a while back. It's an appealing bright orangey colour, and definitely has appropriately citrussy twangs in the nose and the taste. It's a bit boozy, at 6.3%, and has a slightly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Theresianer Pale Ale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Theresianer-Pale-Ale-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1483"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1833,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483\/revisions\/1833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}