![]() ![]() The coast is often warm and clear with sightings of grey whales migrating south for the winter. The sun is lower in the sky casting a warm light on the vineyards and trees turning autumn colours. Who or what is your greatest California love? I love the fall in Northern California. It’s beautiful, has great weather, world-class wine and beer, dozens of local producers of dairy, meat, and produce, and the people are fun and interesting. Why there? Sonoma County has everything anyone could ask for! We moved here 20 years ago from Southern California and never looked back. (Pro tip: Go on Valentine’s Day or during the Super Bowl, when many beer fans have other obligations.) We asked Natalie to take the California Questionnaire and she gladly obliged. Plans are underway to open a second pub in Sonoma County, where the couple has lived for more than 20 years, but until then the long lines are likely to remain. ![]() This year alone the Cilurzos have poured Pliny for patrons from 48 states and more than 40 different countries, including China, Guam, India, Japan, Norway, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Thailand, and Venezuela. “We got schooled pretty quickly at how to manage large crowds at our pub and we’ve been refining it every year,” Natalie says. The couples’ flagship double IPA, Pliny the Elder, has received similarly exalted reviews and draws visitors to the pub year-round. The lines have only grown since that day, and now thousands of people line up to sample Pliny the Younger during a two-week window each February. Unbeknownst to the Cilurzos, 100-point scores from and had transformed their limited-release triple IPA, Pliny the Younger, into a craft beer phenomenon. “And they said, ‘Don’t you know that Pliny the Younger has been rated the best beer in the world?’” “Vinnie said, ‘We don’t open for four hours.’ “Vinnie asked them, ‘What are you here for? What are you waiting for?’ Natalie recalls. It was February 5, 2010-the first Friday in February-and as she and her husband Vinnie walked up to their cosy brewpub in downtown Santa Rosa they noticed a long line of people waiting to get in. Natalie Cilurzo will never forget the day everything changed for the Russian River Brewing Company. ![]()
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