West Coasters Help!!!!

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I can get them. I live about an hour from the brewery and work up that way often. Where on the east coast are you? I've been trying to get some heady topper if at all possible.
 
They are hard to find even in CA. Russian river markets through scarcity. Its the most frustrating thing as a customer of their beers.
 
I saw an article (forget where) that as Russian River is undergoing some upgrades, they are contracting Firestone Brewing of Paso Robles, CA to brew Pliny for them. This may account for it being MORE difficult to find than normal.

:off: I grew up downwind of Firestone's brewery, and DBA was my first good beer, so I'm stoked to hear that Russian River deemed them worthy to make Pliny for them :rockin:
 
Western PA, I got people that monthly make a trip up to VT for HT, I'll let you know if we can trade up. I never had a Pliny, desperately want to, and will pay what's needed. I also want to try and culture their yeast to make in IPAs, I cultured Headys and all I need now is Plinys
 
I don't understand why these brewers don't want more people to be able to drink their beers. In fact, I believe they purposely make it as difficult as possible to get them. I told this to John Kimmich when I took the a heady tour 2 years ago, and his response "sorry you think it's a bummer".... I don't think it's a bummer I just love your beer and wish more people could drink it
 
rhythmsteve said:
Western PA, I got people that monthly make a trip up to VT for HT, I'll let you know if we can trade up. I never had a Pliny, desperately want to, and will pay what's needed. I also want to try and culture their yeast to make in IPAs, I cultured Headys and all I need now is Plinys
Click to expand...

Isn't Pliny yeast just the Cal ale/Chico strain? If so you might as well buy fresh yeast.
 
I thought the same but learned RR used to use 001 but now use their own variety for Pliny
 
rhythmsteve said:
I don't understand why these brewers don't want more people to be able to drink their beers. In fact, I believe they purposely make it as difficult as possible to get them. I told this to John Kimmich when I took the a heady tour 2 years ago, and his response "sorry you think it's a bummer".... I don't think it's a bummer I just love your beer and wish more people could drink it
Click to expand...

RIGHT??!?! They absolutely do it on purpose. They don't want people finding out that Pliny isnt something worth seeking out. '

To comment to the person saying they are "upgrading" they are not. They are simply replacing their current brew house with a new one. Same size! What a joke!

There is no motivation for them to make more beer. If everyone was able to get pliny, no one would want it. Honestly there is nothing amazing about that beer. Their Blind Pig IPA is much better IMHO
 
If there was nothing amazing about it it wouldn't win best beer in America 6 years in a row. You're certainly welcome to your opinion of course. But it comes across as sour grapes.

It's an interesting debate though, the idea of marketing through hype. Surly does that here in MN as well. It can drive me crazy. But the flip side of it is that breweries don't owe anyone a damned thing. They can make as much or as little beer as they please (or as their system allows) And you don't have to buy it. Or you could choose to line up the night before a release to get 6 bottles before they sell out.

But I do think that as a general rule most Brewers WANT to make as much beer as possible, but there are limits to making a QUALITY product. A few mediocre batches of Pliny ruins its reputation.



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
chemman14 said:
Even if that is the case, pliny is not bottle conditioned.
Click to expand...

Correct, Pliny is not bottle conditioned. It's made to be released ASAP to get that fresh hoppyness it is famous for.

But the op's intent is to cultivate the yeast. Which is possible.
 
geoffey said:
If there was nothing amazing about it it wouldn't win best beer in America 6 years in a row. You're certainly welcome to your opinion of course. But it comes across as sour grapes.

It's an interesting debate though, the idea of marketing through hype. Surly does that here in MN as well. It can drive me crazy. But the flip side of it is that breweries don't owe anyone a damned thing. They can make as much or as little beer as they please (or as their system allows) And you don't have to buy it. Or you could choose to line up the night before a release to get 6 bottles before they sell out.

But I do think that as a general rule most Brewers WANT to make as much beer as possible, but there are limits to making a QUALITY product. A few mediocre batches of Pliny ruins its reputation.



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

OK then, riddle me this. If it is the "best beer in America" Why is it that most of America can't get it? I am guessing that a lot of those votes for best beer in America were by people that are just buying into the hype and haven't even tried it.

It is not even the best beer Russian River bottles. That would go to Consecration. (In my opinion)

IMHO Blind Pig is WAY better than Pliny.

I have talked with MANY MANY MANY people that agree with me (blind pig better than pliny)
 
Belavida said:
Correct, Pliny is not bottle conditioned. It's made to be released ASAP to get that fresh hoppyness it is famous for.

But the op's intent is to cultivate the yeast. Which is possible.
Click to expand...

I don't see how its possible to cultivate a yeast from a beer that is not bottle conditioned. I highly doubt there are any yeast cells left in the finished product.
 
chemman14 said:
OK then, riddle me this. If it is the "best beer in America" Why is it that most of America can't get it? I am guessing that a lot of those votes for best beer in America were by people that are just buying into the hype and haven't even tried it.



It is not even the best beer Russian River bottles. That would go to Consecration. (In my opinion)



IMHO Blind Pig is WAY better than Pliny.



I have talked with MANY MANY MANY people that agree with me (blind pig better than pliny)
Click to expand...


I don't think it's much of a mystery to be honest. I think the demographic of the people who cast those ballots (AHA members) are craft beer fanatics who go out of their way to try a good thing. (regardless of whether it is distributed to them or not). And Pliny was one of the first of its kind. It leaves an impression that these folks haven't forgotten. It's an extremely well balanced IIPA and the quality is (from what I understand) VERY consistent.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Personally I don't think many people would vote for Pliny without first trying it. But that's not to say hype doesn't play a role in it. It's certainly not my favorite beer, but ive had it on a couple of occasions and was very impressed with it. So I think it's a beer that can live up to the hype.

So I can see AHA members voting on it year after year but only having tried it once or twice.



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
You can usually find it on tap in Philly. That being said I am in Jersey and just got back from SF last week and brought some home, if you are interested in a trade let me know.
 
Please forgive me if this is a thread hijack...which it probably is. As we all know there seems to be a perpetual shortage of the in demand beers (Pliny, HT, various sours) mainly because of the brewery's inability to produce enough. So people start to find the beer in other creative ways. Now this has bothered me for a while....but what is the difference between "trading/bartering" beers and outright selling/buying them on the black market (Ebay). It would seem to me that either they are both illegal or they are both legal (doubtful). I know that some breweries are going after people who sell beer on the black market.....yet apparently don't have a problem with trading/bartering.
 
Cool man, I feel the same way about heady topper. I've been trying for a long time to get my hands on some. Send me a direct message if you want to trade. If it's too much of a hassle to get heady then id be willing to trade for some other east coast stuff. It's really not that hard for me to get pliny so ideally I'd love some heady but like I said if it's a huge burden then it's ok. And from what I hear Russian River would love to expand their production but the just don't have the space.
 
I've had many HT this year, and hopefully (weather permitting) I can make a VT trip with the guys the week of Thanksgiving. It is one beer that is definitely worth the hype, and I suspect Pliny's are the same, but I don't want it on draft....I want to pop that top, smell the hops rise from the container and bury it
 
I don't understand this whole " you have to come here to get our beer"... Dogfish and Stone don't have to do that stuff and I highly respect their business practices and products. Same with Hill Farmstead.... I went up there this year to get some brews from Alchemist and HF, an you can only buy 4 at a time, drive for hours to find other places to buy it, it's really a hassle, and despite what you may here the VT locals do not appreciate us beer geeks running around their state. I dot get it, you don't have to sell out or anything, just let the people drink your product. I asked Kimmich if I could buy a keg of HT, said I'd pay whatever and he looked at me and reacted like I was saying the moon was made if cheese. I'm sorry man, my friends in western PA ( where your from John) need to try this beer
 
I can get fresh Pliny weekly it gets delivered every week to the little store by work. If your interested in getting some or a trade id love to get some heady topper. Never had that before. Let me know some times the get blind pig but thats rare. They also get some sours sometime
 
rhythmsteve said:
I don't understand this whole " you have to come here to get our beer"... Dogfish and Stone don't have to do that stuff and I highly respect their business practices and products. Same with Hill Farmstead.... I went up there this year to get some brews from Alchemist and HF, an you can only buy 4 at a time, drive for hours to find other places to buy it, it's really a hassle, and despite what you may here the VT locals do not appreciate us beer geeks running around their state. I dot get it, you don't have to sell out or anything, just let the people drink your product. I asked Kimmich if I could buy a keg of HT, said I'd pay whatever and he looked at me and reacted like I was saying the moon was made if cheese. I'm sorry man, my friends in western PA ( where your from John) need to try this beer
Click to expand...

Yeah, it makes it extremely frustrating as a consumer of a companies products.
 
rhythmsteve said:
I don't understand this whole " you have to come here to get our beer"... Dogfish and Stone don't have to do that stuff and I highly respect their business practices and products. Same with Hill Farmstead.... I went up there this year to get some brews from Alchemist and HF, an you can only buy 4 at a time, drive for hours to find other places to buy it, it's really a hassle, and despite what you may here the VT locals do not appreciate us beer geeks running around their state. I dot get it, you don't have to sell out or anything, just let the people drink your product. I asked Kimmich if I could buy a keg of HT, said I'd pay whatever and he looked at me and reacted like I was saying the moon was made if cheese. I'm sorry man, my friends in western PA ( where your from John) need to try this beer
Click to expand...


If you don't appreciate their business practices... Stop buying their beer. Go buy stuff you can get everywhere else and support the breweries who cater to folks like you who "deserve" to buy whatever beer they want wherever they want.

It seems rather simple to me. Not sure why you feel like you have a right to buy wherever product you want to and it must be available in your own back yard. That's simply not how this economy works.

I'm not clear on why people think it's so simple for breweries to simply make more beer, and to ship it anywhere in the world they want to. Life isn't made up with magic wands. There are capacity issues, quality control issues, distribution laws, hop contracts,... The list goes on. I'm not even a professional brewer so I don't know half the crap they need to deal with.

A guy wants to make the best ipa in the world and could give two ****s about making enough for the whole world to drink because he knows the quality of the product will suffer. Be glad that a craftsman like him still exists and count yourself lucky if you get to try his beer. If you don't like standing in lines or driving for hours, then go drink someone else's beer.

Rant over.





Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
rhythmsteve said:
I don't understand why these brewers don't want more people to be able to drink their beers. In fact, I believe they purposely make it as difficult as possible to get them.
Click to expand...

Supply/demand

Oldest trick in the book.

Sure, Pliny is a great beer. As are dozens (hundreds?) of I/IPAs on the market.

I'd love to try Heady some day, but I'm not going to go chasing it across the country, because at the end of the day, it's beer. I've probably had many beers I'd like more than Heady. Certainly true for Pliny.

If Pliny/Heady was as available as Bud Light, it wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is now.

But I will say this: when these I/IPAs are widely distributed, they are old and warm and sitting in distribution for how knows long before they get to retail. Had a Pliny from a bottle shop in Colorado once (didn't have the date on the bottle like all the others do), and it didn't taste anything like fresh Pliny I've had in CA.
 
GrizzAndFish said:
I saw an article (forget where) that as Russian River is undergoing some upgrades, they are contracting Firestone Brewing of Paso Robles, CA to brew Pliny for them. This may account for it being MORE difficult to find than normal. :
Click to expand...


About a month ago one of my local craft beer bars did a firestone takeover with David Walker as the host. He walked around all night and talked with people. When I was talking with him he had said this year they are brewing younger and elder for rr because they're getting new tanks.

For the op, where are you from? I think trades on here are pretty awesome, actually one of the reasons I joined hbt. But, if that doesn't work out, in San Francisco there is a bottle shop called ales unlimited. He has a website with his inventory, but he doesn't usually post his Pliny supply.
Last time I went there he mentioned he does shipping now, and some lady from out of state wanted Pliny so he sent her six of twelve for the order. He said he doesn't like to just take orders for Pliny all day so if bet if you call him and ask for some ca beers he would hook you up with Pliny too.
 
geoffey said:
If you don't appreciate their business practices... Stop buying their beer. Go buy stuff you can get everywhere else and support the breweries who cater to folks like you who "deserve" to buy whatever beer they want wherever they want.

It seems rather simple to me. Not sure why you feel like you have a right to buy wherever product you want to and it must be available in your own back yard. That's simply not how this economy works.

I'm not clear on why people think it's so simple for breweries to simply make more beer, and to ship it anywhere in the world they want to. Life isn't made up with magic wands. There are capacity issues, quality control issues, distribution laws, hop contracts,... The list goes on. I'm not even a professional brewer so I don't know half the crap they need to deal with.

A guy wants to make the best ipa in the world and could give two ****s about making enough for the whole world to drink because he knows the quality of the product will suffer. Be glad that a craftsman like him still exists and count yourself lucky if you get to try his beer. If you don't like standing in lines or driving for hours, then go drink someone else's beer.

Rant over.





Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

So, are you saying that Stone, Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas, Firestone Walker all make bad quality beers?
 
I live in the area and Pliny is really good but Lagunitas is better.....and less expensive.

And, IMO, Blind Pig is not as good as Pliny.
 
I think the limited availability has a valid point, with Pliny anyway. I agree with what someone said before about it being fresher and stored properly.

I noticed a huge difference in it being on tap at the brewpub, and it being on tap at some crappy townie bar in San Fran. It was significantly more delicious at the source.

Don't even get me started on them sours on tap at the source ;)
 
geoffey said:
No point in continuing the conversation since you don't get the point and this thread is derailed enough.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

But that is the entire point. What if those breweries I listed had the same mind set as Russian River does?
 
chemman14 said:
But that is the entire point. What if those breweries I listed had the same mind set as Russian River does?
Click to expand...

Then less people would enjoy their beers. So what?

Let's move the discussion to its own thread. I just started one that should be easy to find in the general discussion forum.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
What a fantastic business model " you can only buy ore products within a 20 miles radius"....if I could order it online it wouldn't be an issue
 

Similar threads

kurds_2408
Help Finding “Mountain IPA”
Replies
13
Views
1K
kurds_2408
kurds_2408
H
Spectrum hops
Replies
4
Views
713
HT Shen
H
D
Another hopwater question
Replies
16
Views
959
Brushwood Brewing
Brushwood Brewing
wandy404
4 Inch Full Color Coasters as low as $0.11 each!
Replies
0
Views
832
wandy404
wandy404
U
American hop combos
Replies
14
Views
1K
AmarikinBrew
AmarikinBrew
Williams Brewing 300

Latest posts

Back
Top