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Natalie and Vinny Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Co. join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha for the 2024 Pliny the Younger release. This is an annual event on Brew Ha Ha, for example, here is last year’s release show.
Natalie has been getting ready for this year’s release. This morning they had their kickoff meetings for staff at Santa Rosa and Windsor. Everything is ready to begin this weekend. The Pliny the Younger will be available until April 4.
The recipe is mostly his year Vinny says he has added more of a New Zealand hop called Nectaron. The 2024 Pliny the Younger is 10.25% alcohol, so the idea is to hide the alcohol with lots of other flavors.
“It’s still hard to believe.” – Vinny Cilurzo
It was back in early 2005 when the brewery was less than a year old, that they wanted to do a promotion during the otherwise slow season. Vinny decided to take the Pliny the Elder recipe and add more of everything, more hops, more malt and more alcohol. They released it without fanfare, for a few years. But in 2010, everything changed. Pliny the Younger had been rated the best beer in the world on some influential beer websites. That is when people started forming lines before opening hours. It’s great to hear Vinny tell the story again. This has become a favorite annual event for beer lovers from around the world.
Pliny the Younger has some new artwork this year, which is on the header of this web page, showing Vesuvius erupting with beer and hops.
When and Where
Both brewpubs will be open daily from 11AM to 10PM, from March 22nd through April 4th, 2024.
Russian River Brewing Co. will be a sponsor of the big beer history exhibition that is opening at the Museum of Sonoma County, called ON TAP: Sonoma County Hops and the Beer Revolution. We just had Eric Stanley from the museum on Brew Ha Ha.
This year Russian River Brewing Co. has raised purchase limit from two bottles to three. A three bottle purchase comes in the convenient carrying case pictured above.
RRBC has different menus at the Santa Rosa and Windsor locations. Vinny would have a Mamma Mia pizza (with halapeños) at the Santa Rosa 4th Street pub, to pair with a glass of Pliny the Younger. He remembers the time the first people met him four hours before opening time, in 2010.