FAQ

Pliny the Younger, our Triple IPA, is released once a year at both our Santa Rosa and Windsor brewpubs, rain or shine! Our 2025 in-person release is scheduled for March 21st – April 3rd! Younger is available for 2 weeks only on tap and in bottles at both our Santa Rosa and Windsor brewpubs. We started brewing Pliny the Younger as a seasonal winter release in 2005. Co-owner and brewmaster, Vinnie Cilurzo, 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, Pliny the Younger had gained notoriety and popularity among beer enthusiasts and changed the way we release this beer forever. In 2022, we were forced to postpone the in-person release to March/April which turned out to be a great decision and became a permanent move! While we do not fill growlers of Younger, we bottled it for the very first time in 2020 and continue to make them available to our brewpub customers only. Bottles are neither distributed, sold in our gift shops or available online. Our seasonal in-person release of Pliny the Younger has become a pilgrimage for beer enthusiasts from all over the world contributing millions of dollars annually to the local economy!

We are self-distributed throughout the Bay Area and work with several third party distributors in Northern, Central, and Southern California, Oregon, Colorado, Philadelphia, Reno, Las Vegas, Seattle, and Maine. See a complete list of where to find our beer.

Both of our brewpubs are open 7 days a week and closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and for our annual Summer employee family picnic. Our Santa Rosa brewpub has been open for 20 years in 2o24 and continues to be a gathering place for both the local community and beer lovers from around the world. Hungry? View the Santa Rosa pub menu.

Our Windsor brewpub encompasses beer production for both clean beers and sour barrel-aged beers, administrative offices, brewpub, large outdoor dog-friendly beer garden, gift shop, and guided & self-guided tours. We can also host smaller private events. Both breweries are family friendly, but children must be accompanied by an adult at all times. Dog-friendly patio dining available at both locations as well!

We welcome guests at our Santa Rosa Pub on a first come, first served basis for parties up to 8 people, including kids and babies. Parties larger than 8 may call in advance to request a reservation. We are unable to accommodate parties larger than 12 due to limited seating.

Seating in our Windsor pub is also first come, first served for parties up to 10, including kids and babies. Parties between 10 and 16 guests may request a reservation by calling our pub and speaking to the host or manager on duty. For parties larger than 16 guests, please visit our Private Events Page to request a large party reservation or event booking.

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 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”. We are able to accommodate dogs (and cats!) for outdoor dining in Santa Rosa. Our Windsor location can seat guests with their pets in our full-service indoor/outdoor patio. We also have large 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.

We do offer guided tours in Windsor Friday through Sunday! Our knowledgeable tour guide will show you the entire brewing process from start to finish pouring 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! Reservations can be made on our tours page. Our FREE self-guided tour is open daily from Noon-5 PM and is open to all ages. Private tours for groups of 8 or more may be arranged by contacting our Events Manager.

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 best for the 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. 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 legal. And the permits, fees, and compliance in these states can be overwhelmingly complicated. We also only ship overnight for quality reasons which can make shipping quite expensive. Check our online store and social media for the latest offerings. We usually post new 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! And we are celebrating 20 years in Santa Rosa in 2024!

While we have been able to take on a few new accounts, we are not flooding the market with beer. You can send us a message 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.