Yes, it’s true, we’ve officially adopted a new beer for this Fall steelhead season.  And the chosen brew is… Russian River Brewing Company’s, Pliny The Elder!

A pint of the elusive double IPA, and a selection of favorite fall steelhead flies.

After discovering that New Belgium Brewery was not going to rerelease last season’s fall favorite, the golden Hoptober,  we were lost and discouraged to say the least.  Hoptober, was our chosen beer for chasing chrome, last fall, and I was looking forward to its’ arrival on the grocery store shelves.  Alas, it was not meant to be.  But, as in life, change usually brings with it, amazing things.

Pliny The Elder, has been voted the best beer in the world many times by periodicals, blogs and websites, year, after year, after year.  For those of you who don’t like IPAs, Pliny is a double IPA, like nothing you’ve ever had before.  Only one word can describe it- smooth.  Unbelievably smooth.

But there’s a downside that comes along with this level of greatness.  Pliny The Elder is elusive, very elusive.  Much in the same way, a wild steelhead is.  Days of searching Whole Foods, trendy Valley wine shops and Bevmos galore, can leave you blanked, discouraged, doubting that they even exist.

But, then it all comes together.  You step into a certain store, on a certain day, at a certain time and ask the same question, for the thousandth time, “do you have any bottles of Russian River’s, Pliny The Elder?”  And, lighting strikes!  Eight bottles of Russian River’s most famous brew are lined up, each one of them as precious as the other.  Each bottle as special as a wild steelhead, to a swung fly.  You realize, for the umpteenth time, the more time you put in, the more grabs you get.

As with swinging flies for wild steelhead, Pliny The Elder is where you find him.  Let the hunt continue.