Background – Russian River Brewing
Russian River Brewing Company opened their doors in 1997 and has an interesting history.
Blind Pig Brewing Company
Vinnie Cilurzo grew up in Temecula, CA. where his parents owned a vineyard. It made the perfect laboratory setting for his home brewing activities. In 1994 Vinnie, his wife Natalie and others pulled the trigger and opened the Blind Pig Brewing Company in Temecula. Vinnie purchased some plastic fermenters from a guy named Electric Dave. “Electric” Dave Harvan is the guy who worked with the Arizona legislature to allow the establishment of breweries in Arizona.
Vinnie, a bit concerned the plastic fermenters might impart a flavor in the beer. As a result, he doubled the hops to help cover up any flaws and increased the malt on his basic IPA recipe and the first double IPA was born. As it turned out, people were not quite ready for the IPA style of beer. In 1996 he sold out his portion of the Blind Pig.
Korbel Champagne Cellars
In 1996 Korbel Champagne Cellars in Guerneville decided to get into the brewery business and hired Vinnie as their master brewer. In 1997, Russian River Brewing Company opened for business. Vinnie was allowed to do a lot of experimentation into hops and started a barrel aging program. It came as a big surprise when Korbel in 2003 decided they would close the brewery and laid the employees off. Vinnie wisely negotiated for the brand in lieu of severance.
Russian River Brewing Company
In April 2004, the Cilurzos, two business partners, and 28 investors reopened Russian River in downtown Santa Rosa. The next several years they worked hard to find ways to slowly grow the brewery. In 2008, business was good enough to open a production brewery down the street. The extra space allowed them to triple their capacity and increase their barrel aging program.
With the steady growth of Pliny the Elder devotees, the brewpub was soon packed from open to close. A new era for Russian River will soon begin in 2018 with the opening of their second brewpub in Windsor, just north of Santa Rosa. The new facility is being built with state of the art brewing equipment and a much larger brewpub.
Experience
On a recent trip to the bay area, we actually experienced Russian River near closing time and again in the morning shortly after opening. On both visits we found the place packed. The first visit was about an hour before closing and we actually did luck out and find a table in the back. We asked for a flight of their IPAs and Sours and enjoyed them. A warning, when they call last call, you better drink up as they like to close on time.
We went back on the way out of town to get a pint of Pliny and some bottles to go. I suggest you order a pint of Pliny to get the full flavor you can’t find in a tester. Honestly, we did not feel this is the best craft beer out there, but sometimes you just need to honor tradition and join the masses. We would love to one day try Pliny The Younger, but certainly not enough to stand in line for a day. We look forward to the new location that boasts larger brewpub and ample parking. There are other options for craft beer and good wine in the area to make the pilgrimage here worth the travel.
The downtown brewpub has pizza and sandwiches. We stayed not too far away at a wonderful Hyatt Regency, a short uber ride, but walkable too (less than a mile). Third Street Ale works is quite close though unfortunately, we did not check them out.
https://russianriverbrewing.com/
