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Thanks to the new production facility in Windsor, Angelenos have been getting a nice, steady supply of beer from Russian River Brewing. And that means that we will probably see more tap takeovers, like the one coming up at Mohawk Bend on August 29th.
As that date gets closer, check the social media to see if any tap list emerges but I would recommend starting with STS Pils.
Look for the highlights in this press release. I will explain at the end why I have highlighted them…
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“California brewery icons Russian River Brewing Company and Karl Strauss Brewing Company proudly introduce their collaboration beer, New California IPA. This modern India Pale Ale is the first collaboration between these storied institutions of California craft beer.
This beer focuses on each critical stage of hop addition: bittering, flavor, aroma, and dry-hopping. The star of this India Pale Ale is a rather new cultivar: the Pahto hop. It is a high-alpha hop that lends a palatable bitterness throughout the beer, while an all-star lineup of Strata, Ekuanot, Amarillo, and Idaho 7 hops deliver wildly diverse layers of flavors, from bright citrus to tropical fruit to resinous pine.
New California IPA will be available on draft and in 16oz can 4-packs beginning on August 1st (which is not-so-coincidentally IPA Day!)”
It is crazy to think that these two long-standing breweries hadn’t collaborated before. By this point it seems all breweries have collaborated with each other. Point two. Pahto hop? Where did that come from? Gonna have to look that up. Lastly, Russian River in cans, even if not done in Santa Rosa is a sign of change.
Ecliptic Brewing of Portland, Oregon is turning 5 years young and will be releasing 5 special beers throughout the year called the 2019 Cosmic Collaboration Series.
John Harris, Ecliptic Brewing’s Owner and Brewmaster has reached out to Brooklyn Brewery, Breakside, Bell’s and two California breweries too.
Here is the full line-up:
Ecliptic Brewing + Brooklyn Brewery: Tangerine Farmhouse Ale (February)
Ecliptic Brewing + Firestone Walker Brewing Co.: Galactica Hazy Double IPA with #692, Idaho 7 and Kasmir (April)
Ecliptic Brewing + Breakside Brewery: Nectarine Sour Ale (June)
Ecliptic Brewing + Bell’s Brewery: Juicy IPA (August)
Ecliptic Brewing + Russian River Brewing Company: Hoppy Belgian Strong Golden Ale (October)
As much as Twitter can be negative, it can also bring some joy. Like this…
I love that the first beer to be packaged is a porter. A cool and contrary move. Seeing more Russian River beer will be great.
FYI – the opening date has been set as October 11th!
File this away for when Russian River really gets their new, bigger Windsor brewery humming and maybe more beer heads to us in SoCal.
Not only will you probably get a really good IPA, but you will be learning some agricultural history….
I am a bit nerdy in liking the economic side of #independent beer so when I saw this infographic regarding Pliny the Younger’s 2018 release, I had to dig in.
What caught my eye was that 40 states were represented and 17 countries. That is amazing in a day and age when hazy IPA can releases rule the day. I would have thought that the bloom is off the rose but the stats say otherwise.
What you are looking at is not some country-fied mall but the long-awaited and even more anticipated larger Russian River Brewing facility in Windsor, CA.
And big it will be with close to 15 acres of empty land to utilize in the town of Windsor. The new Russian River facility will include: the bigger production brewery with the capacity to brew up to 50,000 barrels, a tasting room, a brewpub that is bigger than the downtown Santa Rosa location plus a gift shop.
I assume a Disneyland style line for PtY will be part of the grounds too.
Good News and Bad News from the Russian River Brewing Company. The Santa Rosa brewery has chosen nearby Windsor, California as the future home of its much anticipated second location.
A 16-acre plot in the city will house a new brewery that will contain a 175-seat restaurant, a tasting room and a gift shop. Plans for a hop yard and a garden to grow ingredients for the restaurant’s kitchen are also on the agenda.
Sounds great, but they also plan to swap out their Santa Rosa production facility for the Windsor one and brew up around the same amount of beer per year. So supply will still be thin on the ground and you can bet that the restaurant will be as packed as the downtown Santa Rosa spot before too long.
Maybe they will utilize their friendship with Firestone Walker more to keep supply flowing.
Every week, if not every day, I learn something that I did not know (usually something painfully obvious). Being Los Angeles based, I have pined to visit Santa Rosa and Russian River brewery but I have yet to make the drive north.
Then while talking with the aspiring Pipe Dream brewers over the Row 2, Hill 56 Simcoe beer, I was told that you can fly non-stop from LAX straight into Santa Rosa with a beautiful view of vineyards greeting your descent. Via…
Oh and while at Russian River, get the sampler tray. It is a glorious and large overview of the Russian River beer world.
It might be two late for this batch. But keep in mind when more is bottled at Russian River.
“Row 2, Hill 56 is our nod to the 3 Simcoe growing families in Yakima and a reference to the exact location in the experimental hop yard where it was first developed! 100% Simcoe hop pale ale, 5.8% alcohol, and being bottled for the very first time today! Will be released at the pub about 1m this afternoon. Sending a small amount out for local distribution and some to So. Cal, but that’s all we have for now! We only brewed one batch, so it will not be regularly bottled.”