Legendary Beer: Could Pliny The Younger actually be as perfect as it's purported to be?

Friday night after a tour of the Speakeasy Brewery, I joined Jay and company for dinner at La Trappe. I walked into the belgian bar and restaurant to discover that the beer fairy had been their recently and left a keg of a brew I never thunk would have the possibility to taste. Well I thunk wrong. Of all the beer bars in the world, I walked into the right one. Pliny The Younger was on tap for only $8.

Why is this such a big deal? While the highly rated Pliny The Elder is relatively available in well regarded beer bars across the West Coast, Russian River only makes the Younger once a year and in small amounts. It's available at a select few beer bars for a limited time (for only 2 weeks at the brewery), and it isn't bottled. If the Westvleteren 12 is the Cup of Christ for Belgian Beers, the Younger is the Holy Grail of IPA's. Why? Because it's rated...

Which explains my reaction:

The happiest of faces on the happiest of men.

Hallelujah! Hallllllelujuah! Ohhh Gloooria. I can't believe I had found it! There was a happy dance involved too, but sadly there's no footage available. Naturally like any good friend, the first thing I did was text David and Karl and unnecessarily gloat at my blind luck. Then I got down to brass tacks and tasted my second bucket list beer in as many months (Bruery's Black Tuesday in December being the other).

My first sip yielded goodness but not greatness, which surprised me. But then the wheels started to turn. Beer nerds speak of Pliny The Younger as if they are Ponce de Leon seeking the Fountain of Youth. The proportion of people speaking about it in hushed tones vs. those who have actually had it are very lopsided, which leads to exorbitantly high expectations. Regarding my first sip of the Younger, I had heard so much about its greatness that in my head, I was expecting to be either cured of cancer, live forever, or if I was really lucky, magically transform into Sam Malone. But what I've learned from tasting beers like the Westie and Black Tuesday is that you have to reign in your assumptions, break down the different elements of the beer (malt, hops, aroma, body, etc) and take the beer as a beer, not Unobtainium.

Cheers owner Sam Malone's Fountain of Youth

The Younger has a beautiful hop infused aroma that is both fruity and piney. The malt is smooth and almost creamy, and as the beer warms the hops flavors really shine. It does not cure cancer but it is basically a perfectly balanced beer and at 11%, this is an incredible feat. There is little or no trace of alcohol even as the beer nears room temperature. So do I agree this beer deserves a perfect 100 point rating? Yes. A hundred times yes. The Younger is a Triple IPA (which is unheard of, style wise) and so this beer must have an incredibly high IBU. In the hands of lesser brewers, the intense bitterness would most likely overwhelm the malt body and compete with the alcohol. Instead, all the ingredients are as perfectly balanced as I could perceive and result in a sublime symphony of flavor. BAD BOYS rating.

And yes, I had two glasses. When will I ever have a chance to drink the nectar of the gods again? It was glorious. Thank you La Trappe for being awesome.