The 10am Beer

But not just any brew, Not by a long shot. There is a fabled craft brewery in town called Russian River Brewing Company. They have a slightly grotty bar and restaurant right in downtown Santa Rosa.It's dark and a bit beat up looking but it is Mecca for lovers of their triple IPA called Pliny the Younger. It comes out in a very limited quantity in the first week in February and the faithful come from far and wide to stand in a line around the block,, often in the rain although not this year, for a ten ounce glass of the golden elixir. Period. That's all you got.  Not being a beer lover, I always viewed the whole thing with a certain amount of cynicism. It was somewhat akin to the queues in front of Apple stores when the latest iPhone came out. 

A few years ago they built a huge new facility in Windsor. It's very big, very light, very very noisy and a bit sterile. The old one is still open downtown and I must say, I do rather prefer its cozier, if slightly grotty  vibe.

Last year Covid prevented them from releasing Pliny the Younger to lines around the block, so they offered iPliny the Younger online.. The entire batch sold out in five minutes....

John prefers another Russian River Brew, Happy Hops, to Pliny and he buys it by the case from Trail House whose owner is apparently friends with the Russian River owners  Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo. Their story can be found here if you are interested in beer. 

We were sitting in Trail House having our traditional morning coffee. We had the place to ourselves until we were joined by Bob, another zoom Pilates classmate. We were talking about this and that when a nice young man came over with two ten ounce. glasses  of beer. We looked at him a bit askance as it was only ten o'clock in the morning , but he said. rather diffidently, that he knew we were regular customers, that he was from Russian River Brewing and these were official glasses of Pliny the
Younger. Brought to our table as we sat in comfort drinking our coffee.

They may have tipped him off to the fact that I am not a beer lover, or he may just some correct but chauvinistic assumption that I woudn't want any.

John shared his ten ounce glass with me and I must admit that it wasn't half bad. Not something I would stand in line for hours for, but half a ten ounce glass was just about the right amount. It was a little weird to be drinking beer with coffee, but not bad at all....

I just noticed on the website that they have postponed their release until March. That must make our little glasses of golden elixir (or us ) even more special....