Pre-Dawn Swarm Hits Santa Rosa Brewery To Sample Rare 'Pliny The Younger'

SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) - The line of beer lovers stretched for three blocks before dawn Friday morning outside the Russian River Brewing Company as connoisseurs awaited their turn to sample the rare Pliny the Younger release.

The triple India Pale Ale is revered for its intense full bodied flavor and 10.50% alcohol content. The 2012 version earned a perfect 100 rating from Beer Advocate, but the general public rarely gets a taste.

According to the brewers, the beer is "extremely difficult, time and space consuming, and very expensive to make." As a result, the beer is only being made available for two weeks, and supplies could be exhausted well before then.

"It's supposed to be some of the best," said Vinnie Cilurzo, who was first in line at 6:45 a.m. Friday. "We've been standing here since about 11 p.m. the night prior."

The beer has been sold for about a decade. This year you can only get it on draft in "VERY limited distribution locally and to distributors on draft only."

"Get it while you can, definitely," said Cilurzo.