A Russian River Will Sweep Me Away Yet Again

At some point I may stop shouting every time some place rolls out a few Russian River beers.  That isn't happening anytime soon an especially not when the great beer location is Craft Ale House.  Not to play favorites but anyone who pops in on this site with any regularity knows that CAH is one of the places that manages to keep me sane.  Gary and Melissa offer a refuge from the unimaginative and tasteless sea of suburban chain restaurants. Besides where else am I going for my late night seasoned popcorn fix? Thus Craft Ale House has a special spot in my beer soaked heart. Alright enough gushing more about the beer. 

Wednesday at CAH is Rolling Down the Russian River Night.  The Vinnie creations on draft are Registration Ale, Blind Pig IPA, Consecration and Damnation.  A couple hop hits, a touch of the sour and a Belgian interpretation. A perfect mid week lineup. PAYG

Favorite Beer List of the Week

Resurrection Ale House draft board 8-5-10

After much delay I finally managed to make it over to Resurrection Ale House. On my long list of places to check out this one topped them all.  I'm embarrassed that it took so long to get there, but it was a perfect storm that allowed it all to happen. My rare day off, Shark Week and a celebration of Russian River.  Who could ask for more? 

Their beer board was no joke. Yes, that is the correct price for those RR drafts.  For the most part I stuck with the Vinnie creations only veering off course to finish with the Deschutes Black Butte Porter. 

A quick shout out to Rocco the man behind the bar.  Great on the taps and the beer IQ is impressive. Brendan and Leigh a huge thumbs up.  Guys you never fail to amaze.  At last I can say I've enjoyed all your establishments.

Mmmmm PBW Beer Scraps @ TJ's

Since Philadelphia is a true beer lovers paradise we've all come to expect frequent events that present an excellent opportunity to indulge in great craft beer. Think about it. When was the last time a solid month passed and there wasn't some beer tasting, dinner, special tapping, cask event, brewery promo, etc? Following that wonderful trend and with Philly Beer Week still fresh in our minds TJ's in Paoli rolls out PBW the Scraps.  Yes all those beers that didn't get their chance to shine during Beer Week take over the taps on Saturday (6/26).  Included on that draft list the much sought after Russian River Registration Ale. The naming plays off those infamous Philly beer raids that had the PLCB carting off all those "unregistered" kegs and bottles. The 7.5% abv even pays homage to $75.00 fee to register the beer in PA. The beer fun starts at noon. PAYG

TJ's what's on tap Sat

Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA - FIRKIN Ballast Point Simcoe Hopped Big Eye IPA- FIRKIN

Russian River Consecration

Russian River Registration Ale

Troegs Scratch 31 (Citra IPA)

Southern Tier 2XIPA

Arcadia Hop Rocket

2008 Eel River Tripel Exultation

2009 Dogfish Head Old School Barleywine

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Dogfish Head Festina Peche

Dogfish Head Sah'tea

Bear Republic Crazy Ivan

Stillwater Oliver's Channel Crossing

Petrus Oak Aged Pale

Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti

Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti

Meantime Chocolate Porter

Emelisse Imperial Russian Stout

FYI

If you can't make it to TJ's and you're near Lansdale make your way to Via Marconi's Pizza Pub for Russian River Fest 2.  Registration Ale and Pliny the Elder tap at 11:00. PAYG

Im Feelin' Younger

I haven't been one of the lucky ones who has had the chance to taste the latest batch of liquid gold sent from Russian River. Just like Pliny the Elder, the rare Pliny the Younger has taken Philadelphia by storm and hop fanatics, BAers and craft beer lusters have gone to tracking down and consuming the Imperial Ale as soon as it pours. Pliny the Younger, Pliny the Elder, Consecration and other Russian River favorites are so sought after that most places putting them on draft make sure to spread the word, turning their tappings into events. Events, of late, that I've unfortunately missed

During the final Sunday of Philly Beer Week a brunch at Local 44 was a Russian River love fest. Pliny the Elder and Younger, Blind Pig IPA, Consecration, Damnation, and Salvation were all scheduled to pour. I was in Pittsburgh. Somehow I also managed let Younger sneak by at Memphis Taproom. It happened again last Saturday when TJ's got it's R.R. groove on along with some KBS from Founders. I spent the afternoon working. However at least I was able to catch some details about the day here. I am sure there are a couple more places I am forgetting but it's obvious I've dropped the ball more than once. Now with the weekend fast approaching I have my eyes set on Capone's for a bit of Younger on a Sunday morning. I won't miss it this time. I do have to admit that I am probably more interested in the Consecration (very appropriate for a Sunday) than the Younger. My sour urge is still dominating my hop side and I can't seem to get off the barrel aged beer high. Truly I'm just glad to have another chance at both.

So is it worth all the searching, running around and hop hype. Sure, Younger is a great beer. Is it the end all, be all of hops, water, malt and yeast? Probably not, there are just too many great beers of various styles for me to say one is the best (that also goes for Westy 12). Is Vinnie Cilurzo a brewing rock star? Yeah, who in the Brett Pack isn't? Will I get out of bed early Sunday, jump in the car, drive to Capone's and wait for Matt to open the doors? You know it. Don't laugh I know some of you will be right there with me in the parking lot, frothing at the mouth and staring at your watch until it's go time. Just embrace the hype and enjoy it along with the beer.

Capone's

Next Draft Beer promo: Will be Sunday March 29th. Open at 10am. Beers will be Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Consecration & more !

Devil's Den

1 Year Late Grand Opening. April 1st, 7:00pm. Pliny the Younger plus beers from Dogfish, Founders, Boulder and others.

Teresa's Next Door

Russian River Brunch. 6 R.R. on draft Blind Pig, Pliny Younger and Elder, Consecration, Damnation and Salvation. 11am April 5th.

Union Jacks on the Manatawny

Easter Hopfest April 11th, 1:00pm Younger and Elder plus about 13 other hop heavy beers.

Drafting Room

Hop Fest 5, April 25th, 12pm, Exton. Russian River is on the list. Younger, Elder or other ???

A Russian River Runs Through It

The Russian River continues to flow through Philly. This week there have been several Pliny and Blind Pig sightings.

Sidecar Bar & Grill: A very sweet voice on the phone let me know that as of 9/26 @ 4:27PM Pliny was still on but getting very low.

Memphis Taproom: They tapped Pliny on Wednesday and as of 9/26 @ 4:32PM it was still flowing along with Blind Pig.

TJ's Restaurant & Drinkery: Blind Pig will arrive on Saturday in time for the Oktoberfest celebration. Bryan at The Brew Lounge tossed that bit of info out earlier in the week.

Pliny and Blind Pig in Bottles

YES!!! It is official Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig are both in bottles and being shipped to Southern California distributors. This info was posted on the Russian River Brewing Company website. Portland Oregon will reserve a small shipment of Blind Pig by the end of July and in August Seattle and Denver should see cases headed their way. No real news on any getting to the east coast and I wouldn't hold your breath. It's great knowing that two more fantastic beers from Russian River are being bottled and we can hope that the powers that be will some how find a way to get them into the Philadelphia market.

Journey to the Left Coast

After two wonderful weeks we have returned from our honeymoon. The trip took us to Napa, Sonoma, San Francisco and Maui. Everything from the food, to the wine, to the island activities was top notch. I will skip the details of most of the food and wine we consumed and go straight for the beer. I made a point to stop at as many beer locations as possible with out driving Kelleigh over the edge. I have to hand it to my wife (that still sounds funny to say) she was more than a trooper when it came to exploring breweries. A lesser person would not put up with my beer geek ways. That's one of the reasons I married her.

Our first day was in Santa Rosa, CA and we started the beer exploration on a very high note. Russian River Brewing Company was the first beer stop. I wont say that everything after this was downhill but the bar was set high. It's very hard to beat sitting at a bar drinking fresh Pliny the Elder and Salvation with lunch. The room was wide open with a half wall that split the dinning room and bar area. High ceilings and huge windows across the front of the building add to the airy feel. A few chairs and table were also set up outside in front for those who want to enjoy the California sunshine. The bartender was very attentive but then again it was only 11:15am and Kelleigh and I and a few locals were the only ones in the place. He made sure to give us some good info on the beer and even tossed in a few samplers along with our orders. I drank Pliny the Elder, Salvation, Damnation and shared a sampler of Belgian style beers. I can't say anything bad about the place, all the beer was amazing. If I lived in Santa Rosa my butt would be planted on a bar stool at Russian River on a regular basis. Unfortunately this is not home and we couldn't spend the whole day here. So once we finished lunch I grabbed a bottle each of the barrel aged Supplication, Beatification and Temptation and continued our tour.

The second stop in town was Third Street Ale House which was only three blocks from Russian River. Walking in the first impression I got was this place feels like a beach/shore bar. That's not necessarily a bad thing just not what I was anticipating. We were there just after 12:30PM so the lunch crowd was flowing in but my guess is the place is packed with twenty somethings on Friday and Saturday nights. Kelleigh was set to start the wine tasting part of our trip so I had only one beer here, the Marzenfest. If I was smart I would have taken tasting notes. All I can remember is the Marzenfest was deep amber in color, fairly malty and had a well balanced roasted taste. Although the one beer I had was good I couldn't help but think that this brewpub and it's beers are always in the shadow of Russian River Brewing Co. Hopefully both will continue to comfortably coexist.

Next stop Healdsburg CA