This Pliny ONLY Goes To 11
This Pliny ONLY Goes To 11
Drinking & Thinking Newsletter
Welcome to Drinking & Thinking. The newsletter that helps your beer-drinking go to 11.
It’s Time For Pliny to Live The Quiet Life.
There is a new USA Today article (yeah I didn’t think I would be posting a USA Today article here either, thanks @hops_hound) that lists 40 beers craft beer drinkers think are the most delicious.
Russian River’s Pliny The Elder came in at number 11.
There was once a time where I would have lost my shiz at Pliny getting ranked that low. But not anymore. I kind of like that rank. It’s appropriate.
I still think it could be considered number one but it certainly can’t handle the weight of being ranked that high anymore.
Too many haters. Too many good beers.
It might be nice for Pliny to kind of fade away into the background of our beer consciousness. To the point we kinda forget it. Then one day, as it hung out for a few years, being passed over but never changing, another generation of beer geeks “discover it” and Pliny makes a big comeback.
If It Only Wasn’t A Sour
Untappd is turning 10 and they are celebrating by teaming up with Dogfish Head to make a project beer called “I Remember My First Check-In”.
It’s a sour recipe that they are asking other breweries to join in on it and make their own version of.
You can check out the site and scroll down to see what breweries are already pledging to make their own. And you can download the recipe.
If you wanna watch the announcement, here is Greg Avola (Untappd) and Sam (Dogfish Head) talking about it:
How Is This The FIRST!?
Well done, Fair State Brewing! The first microbrewery with unionized workers! I can’t believe they are the first, but ya gotta start somewhere.
It’s been a slow process getting the beer industry to pay all their workers the way a normal business would. Hope this begins to rise things for the rest of the craft beer industry workforce.
Fair State is located in the Twin Cities of the Minnesotas there (please use your best Minnesota/Fargo accent while reading that). Not a bad looking little baby beer garden, I’ll have to check it out sometime:
not that I’ll be going anywhere anytime soon…
That’s A Good Question, Handsome
So many things in this (what I assume is pre-COVID) picture now makes me uncomfortable or feel weirder than normal:
The guy with his hand on the bar. Go wash yourself, man.
The dude at the end of the bar in the red shirt (without hat) leaning in close to talk to the bartender, spraying on everyone in that corner.
The bar itself. So many germs.
It looks like it’s probably loud so everyone is yelling their virus on each other.
But the answer to Mr. Finnin’s question is: Yes, of course. Things will get back to normal. It will. It might be two flipping years though.
But Things Are Kinda Normal In Other Places
Yeah, I’m jealous. I’m a sucker for UK pubs though. Not for two years, people.
Well It’s One Louder, Isn’t It?
I’m going to bookend this issue with the famous “…these go to 11” bit from Spinal Tap. Just because it’s always good:
Have a great week out there, even if you keep your ass home like me. Thank you for reading!
-Mikey
Such a good article!! I agree, Pliny’s had its day in the sun, still great but soooo many choices now!!
The bar picture was almost scary!! It seems that as soon as we opened the bars, the number skyrocketed! It made think of the Seinfeld episode, The Close Talker, if someone came up to us like that now, we’d probably push them away and then go take a shower, hehe!!