Pliny the Younger, our Triple IPA, is released once a year at both our Downtown Santa Rosa and Windsor breweries on the fourth Friday in March, rain or shine! It is available for 2 weeks on draft. We started brewing Pliny the Younger “Younger” as a seasonal winter release in 2005. Our brewmaster, Vinnie, wanted to make a higher alcohol and hoppier version of our flagship Double IPA, Pliny the Elder. The beer was quietly released each February with no hoopla or fanfare. In 2010, Younger had gained notoriety and popularity among beer enthusiasts and changed the way we release this beer forever! More information about the beer is available on our beers page. While we do not fill growlers of Younger, we bottled it for the very first time in 2020! Bottles were only available to our brewpub customers with a limit of 2 per person, per day. Our annual seasonal Winter release of Pliny the Younger has become a pilgrimage for beer fans from all over the world.
We are self-distributed throughout the Bay Area, and have several wholesale partners in Northern, Central, and Southern California, Oregon, Colorado, Philadelphia, Reno, Seattle, and Maine. Follow this link to see a list of our wholesale accounts.
As of February 2022, both of our brewpubs are open for normal business hours. Our Santa Rosa Brewpub continues to thrive offering small-batch brews and tasty pizza, and our Windsor Brewpub encompasses beer production for both clean beers and sour barrel-aged beers, administrative offices, a brewpub, an outdoor beer garden, a gift shop, and guided & self-guided tours
We welcome guests at our Santa Rosa Pub on a first come, first served basis with a maximum party size of 12 – including babies and kids, who are always welcome!
For our Windsor Pub, we are unable to accommodate parties larger than 10 without a prior reservation (including babies & kids). Parties up to 16 guests may request a reservation by calling our pub and speaking to the host or GM. For parties greater than 16 guests, please visit our RRBC Events Page to request a large party reservation or event booking. Thank you!
Our brewery family loves animals of all kinds! But the Health Department only allows service dogs recognized by the ADA inside both our brewpubs due to the open kitchen designs. Under the ADA guidelines, a service animal is defined as “a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability”. Due to our ability to expand outdoor dining in Santa Rosa, we are able to accommodate furry guests more easily. Our Windsor location can seat guests with their pet dogs in our full-service patio, and it has a large outdoor dog-friendly beer garden complete with a dog bowl/water bottle filling station. Dogs must remain on a leash and with their owner at all times.
A limited number of tours are available Friday -Sunday! These tours will show you the entire brewing process from start to finish and pour 3 different beer samples along the way. Each tour begins in the brewhouse with the crescendo at our Koelschip, where we make spontaneously fermented beers. This is a one-hour guided tour and tasting experience with your very own RRBC souvenir glass! The self-guided tour will also be open Wednesdays – Sundays (11-5 PM)! Private tours for groups of 8 or more can be arranged by emailing events@russianriverbrewing.com
We fill BLANK 32 oz., 64 oz., and 128 oz. which are clean and of high quality. We may also fill another brewery’s branded growler IF it is brought in with their logo completely obscured with tape or plastic wrap. Removable brown paper bags don’t count! Clear glass, green glass, plastic containers, and metal or plastic screwcaps are not to our quality standards. Brown glass, ceramic, and stainless steel with high-pressure ratings and good closures are the best for beer. Our RRBC branded growler, the brown glass 2 liter Palla bottle with a flip-top closure, will hold beer for up to 2 weeks if left unopened and refrigerated. Once opened, any growler needs to be consumed quickly or it will lose carbonation and become oxidized. Further, beer expands when it gets warm. While this is not a problem in bottles, it can lead to quality and safety issues in growlers which, by nature, do not have a tight seal. Please store all growlers, not just RRBC’s, cold at all times.
The answer is a resounding YES! But only to customers within the state of California for now. Direct-to-consumer laws are quite complicated and vary from state to state. There are only 8 states where shipping from a brewery to a consumer is even legal. And the permits, fees, and compliance in these states can be overwhelmingly complicated. We hope to bring on a couple more states in the future, but for now we will remain focused on California where there are no restrictions. Check our website and social media sites for the latest offerings. We usually post offerings on Fridays, with some exceptions, and ship Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.
Our new Windsor brewery has accomplished exactly what we were hoping it would by relieving some pressure from the Downtown location. The same great beers, great pizza, and many of our original employees still remain!
While we have been able to take on a few new accounts, we are not flooding the market with beer. You can send an email through our Contact Us page to inquire about carrying our beer. Or check with one of our valued wholesale partners listed on our website here.
Important to note: It is ILLEGAL for retailers (i.e. bars, stores, restaurants) to buy beer directly from brewery pubs, taprooms, and tasting rooms in California. Retailers are required to buy beer from licensed wholesalers at the posted wholesale price in their County. Buying beer from anyone other than a licensed wholesaler (including other retailers like Costco or Whole Foods) is a violation of Business and Professions code number 23402.5 and AB 776 and enforced by the California Dept. of Alcohol Beverage Control . Retailers caught bootlegging our beer are turned in to the ABC.
Are You 21 or Older?