American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
(Courtesy Russian River Brewing)
At a time when so many “event beers’’ have cooled off considerably, Russian River’s Piney the Younger release is still one of the most heralded beer events in the world.
Russian River’s hugely Pliny the Younger event drew almost 400,000 beer lovers to its humble Santa Rosa brewpub in 2017. And with the advent of its new brewery in Windsor, CA,that number only continues to grow.
But when Covid-19 showed a resurgence last January, Russian River moved its release to March 25th-April 7th, and if you are part of the thousands planning to make the trek for this year’s release here’s what the brewery wants you to know…
###
It’s Pliny the Younger Time!
After several months of planning, scheduling, rescheduling and waiting, we are finally ready to release Pliny the Younger! This year’s Pliny the Younger will be released at both our Santa Rosa and Windsor brewpubs on draft AND in bottles March 25th-April 7th, 2022! If you are planning to join us, please read on!
What to Expect When Visiting our Pubs
Both brewpubs will be open daily from 11AM-10PM, March 25th-April 7th, 2022 (last call for drinks at 9:30, kitchens 8:30/9). Guests usually start lining up outside in the early morning hours around 5-6AM. We are busiest on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, sometimes seeing twice as many people as we would on a weekday.
Pro-tip: come Monday -Thursday to minimize your wait to get in! Evenings, especially in Windsor, tend to taper off. Be prepared to wait 6 hours or more on a busy day, especially on weekends.
Line-cutting has been an issue in the past, and we are not fans. Our security team will be coming through periodically and stamping hands beginning early each morning. If someone in your party is not around to get their hand stamped, they will need to head to the back of the line. Anyone caught line-cutting will be sent to the end of the line or asked to leave!
Each of our guests are given custom, uniquely colored and dated wristbands upon entering the pub. These wristbands have 4 pull-tabs to be redeemed for the ability to purchase 3 (three) – 10 oz. pours and 2 (two) — 510ml bottles of Pliny the Younger. There is a limit of 3 draft Youngers PER GUEST, and these are non-transferable! However, if you do not want to buy your 2 bottles, you can transfer your allocation to friends in your party.
Bottles will only be available in our brewpubs during the release. Bottles will not be released online this year or available in our Gift Shops (just the pubs) and sold on a first come, first served basis.
There is no requirement to eat or drink in our pubs to purchase bottles of Younger. But if you are going to wait, you might as well stay for a beer! As in year’s past, there is a 2-bottle limit per person. We allocate a certain amount of bottles each day at both pubs to ensure that they last for all 14 days. Please note there is a possibility that we could run out on particularly busy days. We always say there are 2 things we cannot control- the weather and how many people show up on any given day. At the moment, the weather looks like it is going to be pretty nice!
Each guest/party will have a maximum time limit of 2 1/2 hours. This is a new addition in 2022 to allow our team to thoroughly clean and sanitize each table between guests, and to help keep the line moving so you don’t have to wait as long! In our experience, 2 1/2 hours is more than enough time to enjoy yourself!
Santa Rosa has outdoor dining available in our parklet, weather permitting. Our parklet and patio areas are equipped with heaters and are dog-friendly! Please know that that we are limited to the maximum occupancy for our building, including both indoor and outdoor dining, per the Santa Rosa Fire Department. You might see some empty tables inside when we are utilizing outdoor dining. We are not being jerks and making people wait. It just means that we are at our combined maximum occupancy!
Windsor also has a dog-friendly patio. Unfortunately, the Beer Garden will be closed for construction during the 2 week release. We are replacing most of the water-hungry lawn with walking paths, adding mulch and drought tolerant landscaping, and also creating a dedicated Corn Hole area!
Since we sadly were unable to gather in person in 2021, we kept this year’s Pliny the Younger recipe exactly the same as last year! We even kept the new addition of Elixir, which we affectionately call the “Strawberry Hop”. Elixir exhibits characteristics of citrus, spice and berry, specifically strawberry. The rest of the hops used in Younger 2022 are: Amarillo, Chinook, Citra, CTZ, Mosaic, Nelson, Simcoe and Warrior. It always finishes fairly dry and well-balanced, even with a higher ABV.
This is our 18th year brewing Pliny the Younger!
###
Russian River first brewed the Triple IPA in 2005 as a winter seasonal built upon the brewery’s much tamer Pliny the Elder recipe, pushing the malt, hops, and alcohol envelope to audacious levels that had never been seen before.
Part of Pliny the Younger’s allure is due to its very limited distribution. Up until 2020 it had never been bottled, so beer fans had to travel to the brewery or to limited outlets, primarily in California to enjoy each year’s release…
