This Little Piggy Went to the Fermentor

Hi folks! Thank you all for joining me on our history lesson of California brewing two weeks ago. Since we started our tour in San Francisco, let us continue up the cost of Norcal for some more fermented malt delights, to the bustling city of Santa Rosa CA. I haven’t visited Santa Rosa. But, Google Maps tells me this city is home to fantastically named breweries such as Old Possum, Crooked Goat, and my personal favorite Henhouse Brewing. All within a few miles of each other as well, I’m getting thirsty just thinking about it. To my great despair, Henhouse will have to wait. Today, we are sampling a beer from the brewery much beloved by Belgian style snobs (Nerdgirl) and hopheads: Russian River Brewing.  

RRB is a relative youngster, founded in 1997 by Korbel (yes the affordable champagne company.) Its first employee and head brewer eventually took over the rights and molded the company into the hoppy spectacle we see today. The beer snobs, excuse me, aficionados, will exclaim of course she must be reviewing Pliny the Elder! Well, ever the contrarian, I decided to go with a beer that gets undeservedly less attention and accolades: Blind Pig IPA. Now, those who are close to me know I love pigs. I absolutely love pigs. The home screen on my phone is a closeup of a pig’s face, so that may have played a part in my choosing this particular bottle. I give no fucks. Now onto the beer!

As you slowly pour the piggie into your definitely not stolen from a brewery pint glass, you will notice one thing. This beer is an absolutely beautiful shade of auburn. The opaqueness of the liquid disguises any carbonation the drinker might remark upon, but that’s ok. I don’t need to see the bubbles to know my beer isn’t flat. For those drinkers that enjoy copious amounts of creamy head, I would recommend serving this in a tulip glass to really showcase that lush white goodness. I found that with each successive sip, while the head dissipated slightly, the rich lacing on the glass left a constant reminder that this foam would be staying with you til the very last drinkable end.

Two things about the initial sip of beer stood out: (once your lips manage to sift through the head) the smooth and velvety consistency and the astringent dryness. Now some say that these two descriptives cannot go together with regards to beer, I disagree. The combination is akin to delicately imbibing (pinky in the air of course) a rich Paso Robles syrah (of course I’m trying to get in as many Cali references as possible). Also, because I’m the writer and I say so, so there! One of the quintessential qualities of a West Coast IPA is the astringency (dryness for you noobs out there.) I tend to prefer it actually. Nerdy girl knows I’m typically not a malt-forward beer drinker, so anytime I can find a high ABV beer that doesn’t have a cloying malty sweetness (to me, some people like Nerdy girl love it), I jump on the chance to quaff!

Anyone who has ever suffered through a mid winter’s cold or suffers through year-round allergies as I do is quite familiar with the effect a blocked nose can have on your sense of taste and smell. Blind pig is definitely one of those beers for which you want all olfactory senses locked and loaded, because your nose is about to blast off into a vitamin C lovers paradise.
Take your fingertips and ever so pretentiously waft the aromas into your schnoz. Let those notes of lemon drops, candied orange, and ruby red grapefruit juice coat the inside of your nose thicker than a layer of coke snorted off a hooker’s ass. Imagine yourself on a leisurely stroll through a luminous SoCal citrus orchard. Pluck a lemon from a tree, ooh over there grab that grapefruit. And look! Lo and behold the odiferous white orange blossom! The warm floral essence of the flowers combined with the resinous luscious rind of those freshly harvested citrons gives you an idea of how fanfreakintastic piggie’s aromas truly are. 

The next stop on our magical malted journey is the part that tastes best, and gets you drunk-the drinking! As I mentioned before, this beer is both dry and velvety smooth and the initial notes of grapefruit and lemon/lime amplify that in a most delicious way. The fresh and bright citron notes give way to yeasty biscuit, toasted to perfection. Picture a beautifully browned candied orange/lime scone, glistening in the sun as you slather obscene amounts of lemon curd all over its naughty nooks and crannies. As you chew (glug like the porcine being you are) this glorious specimen of a sloppy baked good, a piece of candied lime releases a spray of acerbic and piney flavors, complementing the initial bright citrus burst. As you swallow, the beer finishes bitter but very clean.  

I’m not a huge IPA fan, and I enjoyed this very much. At 6.25% ABV you’ll feel great after enjoying. That’ll do pig, that’ll do.

4.5 out of 6 hop pellets