Lines at Libertine Brewing Co. in Morro Bay stretched from the entrance to the sidewalk filled with beer lovers waiting to get their glass of just-released Russian River’s Pliny the Younger. The beer is only available for fourteen days after the first Friday of February, bringing out local beer lovers to taste the fleeting brew.
Doors opened early for members of the Libertine Bottle Club at 11 a.m. and the general public was let in at 11:30 a.m. Every seat was filled in the pub and Pliny the Younger went quick.
“We tapped out of one keg in 11 minutes,” Devin Snells, a bartender at Libertine said. “This is the biggest beer release we’ve had.”
Libertine had two kegs and completely sold out within twenty minutes, according to Sean Zurbriggen, general manager at Libertine. They received the shipment earlier in the week, but saved it for the Saturday release.
“This was the first time Pliny the Younger was released on the Central Coast,” Zurbriggen said. “We have beer releases every couple months, but it’s never this crazy.”
Pliny the Younger is a triple IPA with a 10.25% ABV, but is know for being balanced and smooth for such a high ABV. The beer has triple the amount of hops than a normal IPA.
“In 2005, we wanted to make a big, higher ABV beer as an alternative to barley wine, a style that many small brewers were making at that time during the winter,” Vinnie Cilurzo, owner of Russian River Brewing Co. wrote in an email. “In short, we also wanted to see how far we could take hops so we decided to create what we called a Triple IPA.”
In Santa Rosa, Russian River Brewing Company has seen six-hour lines to get the exclusive beer. There is a 3 hour/3 Younger maximum for guests at Russian River.
The San Luis Obispo location of Libertine Brewing Co. will have another keg of Pliny the Younger on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m.