Russian River – Post-Younger 2014 Recap

I know, I know- I really should blog more often. So here I am on a Sunday afternoon drinking a Sierra Nevada Pale  while Vinnie is napping (with the cats, of course).  My apologies for my irregular and infrequent blog posts.  Thank you to the 29 or so confirmed readers- this one is for you!

Pliny the Younger Release 2014 went exceptionally well, given the 15,000 people we somehow managed to get through our not-so-big brewpub in just 14 days.  Top news, other than the beer itself, was the weather.  You may have heard about, or experienced, the 8 inches of rain we received in Northern California that first weekend of the release.  We needed the rain so bad that we did not hear one person complain, not even after waiting up to 12 hours in line!  Vinnie and I were discussing the fast approaching storm while watching the news the night before.   One of us actually said "this just might be the first year that no one shows up".  Then I got the text from our manager at 11:49PM, "the line has begun".  I went back to sleep, but had a Younger with those first guys in line the next morning!

One of the highlights this year was that my Dad and his wife, Gina, came to see what all the fuss was about.  I think they had a good time but, honestly, I was far too busy to sit down even for a moment.  Remember your wedding day and all the planning to get there?  Picture that 14 days in a row, but dressed far more comfortably.  Then do it again every year!  What are we thinking?!!

Speaking of Anniversaries, we are fast approaching our 10 Year Anniversary at the pub!  We opened our pub on April 3rd, 2004, with 28 employees, payroll looming, indebted to multiple contractors and $6,000 in the bank. We had the crappiest used tables and chairs from 3 different defunct Chinese restaurants.   Anyone remember the carpet we stapled to the bottom of the tables for "acoustics"?   Simply awesome.  I remember standing in the corner where the jukebox now resides and wondered the hell we were doing.  This is a routine that would be repeated many times for the first few years when money was so tight and the challenges were seemingly never-ending.  It’s important to have those times to make you appreciate the better ones.

The Anniversary Party will be on April 5th with Wild Card Belly Dance and The Pat Jordan Band!  Pat is one of the first people to ever play at the pub (back when I was booking bands), and what’s a party without belly dancers?!  We are not sure what else we are going to do but our parties are usually pretty fun!  I think Vinnie is going to find something old and cool that’s been aging in our funky cellar.  Maybe we will pop some big bottles to share!  Hope you can make it!  Thank you for enjoying our beers and having a good time with us these first 10 years!
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