Can’t go wrong with this classic.
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I’ve had it a couple of times, but I don’t even really beer so its quality is wasted on me.
It also annoys me once I learned everyone pronounces it wrong.
How do you pronounce it?
I’d say PLY-knee.
That’s what they say at the brewery, too
Pliny rhymes with skinny.
The OG Pliny the Elder’s name was Plinius. Pliny is the short form of that. Even with never having heard of it, everyone seems to pronounce Plinius correctly. Pliny is just the first two syllables of that.
That’s why it’s so tilting!
I thought it was PILE-knee.
I would say a 2-3 week old keg of younger tastes worse than basically any IPA on the day it was kegged. Fun to try again though. I got to wear my 2014 younger shirt that I got at Russian River. Yes, I wore the shirt of the beer I was going to drink to the bar, I was that guy.
Okay, Mr Gaetz.
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Went deep into the archives tonight. Pulled out a bottle of:
Older Viscosity, a barrel-aged imperial stout by Port Brewing.
I have absolutely no idea how old this was, or when/where I bought it. I’m pretty sure Port hasn’t been distributed here in Ohio, so either I bought it when I still lived in Chicago or else mail ordered it.
Anyway, the cork was an absolute bear to get out, which gave me some optimism that the beer had held up. After a vigorous pour:
Completely and utterly flat. So, so flat. Undrinkable and down the drain after a couple of sips. Really makes me wonder how many beers I have down here in similar condition.
As a replacement, I opened this up from Three Floyds:
It’s very good with a tropical flavor that I really like, but not quite up to the heights of their elite double IPAs like Dreadnaught and Permanent Funeral.
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I know less about wine than you do, but I’ve heard this is a bad heuristic. Unless X is ridiculously low, there is (apparently) not a great correlation between cost and quality.
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Wine preferences are a very personal thing, and it’s also really easy to delude yourself based on external factors like price, label, age, and the favor of other people. Some rules of thumb for aficionados may not ring true for you. So, the only real way to figure out what you actually like is to try a lot of wine of a lot of different varieties, regions, and ages. My favorite ways to do this are at wineries, and hosting parties.
If you are lucky enough to live or vacation near a decent wine making area, go visit! Napa Valley in particular can be pretentious and expensive, but even in Napa Valley there are exceptions. Try stuff, even if you don’t think it’s in your wheel house. I didn’t think I was much of a pinot noir person, but I’ve found plenty I love. But, this is a great opportunity to taste how a particular region tastes, and potentially to taste different vintages from the same place. Schmoozing up and complimenting the people doing the pouring and the product goes a long way towards getting a gratis pour of something from the “library” or that wasn’t otherwise on the menu to try. And if you’re in a well known region, you can often find differences within the sub-regions of same region. Like, within Napa, Cabernet Sauvignon from Oak Knoll, Rutherford, and Calistoga all taste different.
Parties, though, are a great way to divorce yourself from labels and prices. Have a 6-12 friends over for a wine tasting party with one rule: Cabernet Sauvignon from outside of Europe, Chardonnay that is entirely unoaked, only dry Rieslings, anything from Italy, bubbles but any color, etc. Whatever you can think of. Everyone brings a bottle that conforms. You bag them in paper bags labeled with letters out of sight of everyone else. Someone else dumps the contents into a decanter out of sight of everyone else. Everyone pours a sample from the decanter to their glass, tastes, and makes notes before anyone says anything. Then go around the room and talk about it, starting with different people each time. What do you like about it, what flavors to you taste, what does it smell like, etc. At the end, everyone ranks their favorites, first to last. Sum the ranks, lowest score winning. You compare notes with the person who decanted to reveal from the least favorite wine to the most. You’ll quickly see how divorced flavor is from price and label, and you’ll also train yourself to taste what you actually taste rather than getting skewed by prejudice.
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Yes, for sure. I was mainly singling out Napa as a place that I know the best and that is well known. But I’ve also been more likely to have been completely disappointed by a winery in Sonoma relative to Napa. Pezzi King (in Sonoma) is absolutely killer if you like zinfandel, though.
Sounds like I have one to look out for, too, even if my proximity to them has gotten much worse.
Pezzi King is part of the Wilson Family Winery group. Most of the members of that group honestly didn’t impress us that much, including their namesake wines. Matrix had some pretty good pinot noirs. But Pezzi King absolutely floored us and is now one of two wineries we subscribe to (the other being Vincent Arroyo over in Calistoga).
I wouldn’t worry too much about price. There are plenty of good to great wines under $20. People will tell you they don’t let price influence their taste–but it does. If someone pays $100 or a bottle, they are more inclined to like it (otherwise they’d be an idiot for paying $100).
Some people will balk at this suggestion: but imo you can do worse than looking for Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate ratings. Just be sure the year matches.
Snobs might say “why let the magazines tell you what’s good, do your own research man!” And that would be fine if you have the time and liver to buy a whole bunch of bottles at random to figure out what you like. But if you’re not big drinkers, a decent start would be to find some Wine Spectator “top bargain” wines or whatever they call them. Or if you prefer, find a wine shop guy/gal to make some recommendations (note that you’re still having someone “tell you what’s good”) 
After you figure out what types of wines do it for you, you can try a few $30-$100 bottles to see if you think the jump in price is worth it.
If you like reading about things, the books Wine Folly or Wine Simple or other similar books might be helpful.
Oh, and drink the wines with food.
Two killer values imo:
Vino verde from Portugal. Great white summer wine, the particular winery almost doesn’t matter, they’re all good. And cheap
Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut, Spanish bubbly, great for the price
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Oh man I mow through this stuff in the summer. It is also pleasantly low in alcohol content so you can have a bunch by the pool without getting wasted. Its also great with spicy foods because it’s very refreshing.
Most of the time, I’m embarrassed and regretful about the enormous amount of beer I’ve built up in my office/beer room. But this weekend has been a reminder of how good it can be. Between last night and tonight, I’ve opened up 3 absolute bangers:
A 2014 Drie Fonteinen geuze:
A Revolution Cafe Deth (barrel-aged coffee stout):
And right now a 2015 Tilquin lambic with blackberries that is almost completely flat but nonetheless delicious:
There are a ton of beers down here that I’m sure are terrible and well past their primes, but man there are some gems, too.
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I don’t know if this would make you jealous, but a bar 5 blocks from mu house has one ot two tilquin beers on tap regularly. Pretty great place for sour beer lovers. I’m not one, unfortunately!
Some nice beers there. Would love to try some authentic Belgian sours*. It’s funny to think I like beer just like you do, except my beer fridge is empty, because I like IPAs and have to go to a brewery shortly after it is packaged if I want a good one. That’s kind of a pain.
*I would like to remind people (not u spider) that sours don’t taste like what people in the dark ages drank. They’re modern interpretations that are completely made up. You’re not drinking a real naturally fermenting beer because there is no such thing anymore. Those would be low alcohol and taste like ass. There is no way to get a magic mash paddle blessed by ninkasi containing enough yeast to make a good beer that way. Just admit you like weird ass sours because you hate the taste of hops and malt, aka the ingredients in real beers, you fruity sour drinking soy boys.