Day 46: Pliny the Younger!
Day 46: February 15, 2014: Santa Rosa
Pliny the Younger day!
After unsuccessfully chasing Pliny around SF this week (and discovering many other tasty tasty beers in the process), we opted for the journey up to Santa Rosa to the Russian River Brewery this weekend, to get in line early for the sure thing. I snapped this one a bit before 7 am, while dropping off the car in a quiet parking garage downtown. The streets were deserted, apart from the growing line stretching from the brewery down the block.
OK, so maybe camping out on the sidewalk for 3+ hours to taste a limited beer is a bit unorthodox, but it was worth the journey just to have done it once. The atmosphere was jovial as we all waited for the 11am opening, playing games, and making journeys off to the coffee shops and such in the vicinity. We even had a visit for an entrepreneurial Girl Scout peddling cookies to the captive audience. When the doors opened at 11am, we were among the last to make it in the first group before the brewery was full.
All in all, the Pliny was good, but I don’t know if it quite lived up to the hype. Though I’m not sure anything could have lived up to the hype that surrounds Pliny the Younger these days. It wasn’t my favorite beer ever, and wasn’t actually even my favorite beer in the Russian River sampler. I was definitely feeling their sours even more than the IPAs. Definitely worth a journey, though, and I’m glad we made it in the end. Give them a try if you’re in the area. Even outside of Pliny time, there’s much to be enjoyed. 🙂
That was a really nice day. A wonderful weekend, actually. I love the days when this project brings back the flood of lovely memories, even if the photo is just a parking lot.
(Canon 650 with Portra 400)
