In the realms of great beer, there is one brew made out in Santa Rosa California that is highly coveted and released only once a year in beer pubs. That beer is a very large hopped IPA called Pliny the Younger from Russian River.The problem is in order to get a glass, you have to travel to only a few select places to get it. California which is the home of Russian River brewing company, offers a few places to get it. I've also seen Pliny Younger in Denver. For our hero who was always curious about this beer, there was one option that was a little bit more economical sense wise if I was to get my hands on this so called coveted "nectar of the gods".
Philadelphia PA often has kegs of it, and one of my favorite beer bars was holding a much publicized event to taste the beer. I took a day trip (and early day trip) to Monk's Cafe, to wait in line with many beer fans and also to get a sampling of many other Russian River brews.
Taking an adventure to try one of the most coveted beers in the world I found out takes a lot of planning. When I thought about everything I was doing, I couldn't believe I had to go to this much effort just to try one beer. However, I was very glad I did, since when I arrived 2 1/2 hours early before the bar opened, there were already 20-30 people ahead of me in line. 20 minutes later, the line snaked around the block with hundreds of people, many who I am not so sure were even able to get a glass once the bar opened 2 hours later.
I had to document this event for my channel being a big beer drinker and fan, and it turned out that the journey was probably the most memorable thing about it. There's always one thing about good drink, it's sometimes the chase which is more exciting than the actual reward.
Watch the video below to see how I made this day trip, which started promptly at 6:30 AM in the morning for a long drive to Philadelphia. Cheers!
