One delight of working for The Pivovar group is the amount of locations that we own in key spots outside of where I reside. Being currently based in York it allows me to visit my home city Sheffield & one of my Favorite cities London and be able to go to key spots for fantastic craft beer, namely The Sheffield Tap & The Euston Tap.
It was my venture to London last week that led me to this fantastic bottle of beer, Russian River Pliny The Elder. As I stopped into Euston tap and had the usual glance over the boards and fridges, I to my very pleasant surprise spotted this beauty in one of said fridges. Now let me explain in case this does not seem like much of a big deal....
Russian River Brewing Co whom are based out on the fantastic West Coast in the USA are known as one of the best and most desired breweries in the World. Distribution is rare, with most of the beer only finding it's way around California, though if you are lucky they distribute a small amount on the East Coast of America, namely Philadelphia. So of course this was a pretty big deal!
Pliny the Elder is a beer that has always eluded me, we are looking at a BIG double India Pale Ale, that is considered the holy grail of hops to many beer lovers around the globe! This is not the first time I have had the chance to experience a RR beer, during my time in the states I paid a couple of trips down to the Philly area which is where I came across the awesome Belgian style beer bar 'Monks Cafe.' It was at this beer bar where I first tried one of their beers and it was on draft! The problem is I had consumed quite a lot of amazing beer and I can't remember if it was Pliny or not, for the purpose of this blog i'm going to say it wasn't! So that's me & Pliny... A brew I have always wanted to drink and more importantly drink fresh.
It is far too often here in the UK that American beers find their way over but tend to be well past their ideal serving condition. This has always frustrated me because the British beer crowd are not getting the chance to taste or judge particular beers in their prime condition. This in particular refers to american style pales, I.P.A, strong ales all which have a prominent Hop presence which is the very backbone of the styles. Hop presence is something to cherish as it does not stay around forever, that is why it is important to enjoy 'hoppy' beers fresh and as soon as possible. West Coast breweries are always quick to point this out, and if you are lucky enough to get your hands on one of these bottles you will always be reminded when reading 'Pliny is for savoring not or saving' on the side of the bottle.
Going back to finding this at Euston, I was to find out this was a bottle owned by one of the employees down their who had recently arrived back from visiting the West Coast and doing so brought back some fine bottles with him. He was kind enough to part ways with this bottle... and now its mine! The bottle is only just under four weeks old so still in prime condition, tying in everything I have blabbed on about obviously means I will be opening this and reviewing it sooner rather than later.....
On Wednesday evening myself and @Pivovaryan will be heading to Leeds to check out a new bar that has just opened named Friends Of Ham . Last time we went around the Leeds scene we ended up in Mr Foley's where we met Tyler who worked their. He mentioned he had a new place opening soon that he would be head barman at and we have been excited for it to open ever since.
I also promised Tyler I would have a special beer coming with me. I didn't know at the time what it would be, but its seems the gentleman at Russian River have already decided that for me, after all its for savoring not saving!
If anyone happens to be around that evening i'm sure I can pour off a couple of samples, the magic word is please don't you know. Until next time...
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