Vinnie Cilurzo Joins Homebrew Happy Hour to Reveal Pliny the Elder Origins

Vinnie Cilurzo, the Russian River Brewing Company founder widely credited with pioneering the double IPA, sat down with Homebrew Happy Hour for a 1-hour, 25-minute conversation that traces his path from homebrewer to the creation of one of craft beer's most revered recipes. Episode 469, released March 19, covers the full arc: the 1994 opening of Blind Pig Brewery in Temecula, the birth of the first double IPA at that same brewery, and the origin story of Pliny the Elder itself.

Cilurzo's homebrewing roots go back to college, when he was also a member of the San Diego homebrew club QUAFF. The episode picks up that thread at the 1:29 mark before shifting at 13:38 to his decision to open Blind Pig in 1994. A few years before becoming brewmaster at Russian River, Cilurzo started the Blind Pig brewpub in Temecula, brewing his first commercial batch on June 23, 1994, a beer widely regarded as the first commercially brewed double IPA. The episode devotes a full segment at 16:37 to that moment, framed under the title "Brewing the First Ever Double IPA."

At 33:30, the conversation turns to what that early work eventually became. Around the year 2000, a friend named Vic Kralj, who owned the Bistro in Hayward, California, organized a double IPA festival and invited breweries to participate. Cilurzo had brewed a double IPA at Blind Pig in 1994 but was not making one at Russian River at the time. He had an idea for the recipe but needed a name, and after research and deliberation settled on "Pliny the Elder." The name honors a Roman naturalist and author who wrote about "Lupus Salictarius," an early reference to hop vines, meaning "wolf among scrubs."

The episode covers six Russian River beers in total, each with its own dedicated segment: Blind Pig IPA at 28:54, Pliny the Elder at 33:30, Pliny the Younger at 40:51, Happy Hops IPA at 49:43, STS Pils at 54:17, and Consecration at 1:00:24. The back half of the conversation branches into technique, with Cilurzo discussing coolship use for making lambics at 1:10:01 and hop creep prevention at 1:16:31, making the episode useful well beyond the origin stories alone. The episode also includes a segment at 21:26 where Cilurzo offers advice for homebrewers considering opening a commercial brewery, a rare window into the practical realities behind that leap.

For homebrewers who want to brew the beer themselves, the episode description says Cilurzo shares his exact 5-gallon Pliny the Elder clone recipe in the episode. A forthcoming Brew Your Own Magazine article will also reveal homebrew recipes for the Russian River beers discussed, per the show notes. MoreBeer offers all-grain and extract recipe kits for Pliny the Elder, Blind Pig IPA, and Consecration for those who want to get started before that piece publishes.

Cilurzo first shared a homebrew-scale Pliny the Elder recipe at the 2004 National Homebrew Competition, approximately four years after the beer's debut, so his willingness to open up the recipe to homebrewers is nothing new. But getting the story directly from him, alongside five other Russian River recipes and a candid look at Blind Pig's origins, makes Episode 469 the most comprehensive account he has given on a homebrewing platform in some time.

The episode is available now on Spotify, YouTube, and the Homebrew Happy Hour website. Listeners with questions for future episodes can call in to 325305617.