Pliny the Younger Release Brought $4 Million to Sonoma County
Beer is big business and one Northern California community is reaping the benefits.
Russian River Brewing Company released their Economic Impact Study for this year’s Pliny the Younger release and the numbers show the famous beer brought in big money for Sonoma County. It’s estimated that the tourism from the release brought in $4.16 million to the county through hotel stays and boost in local business. Last year’s economic impact was estimated at $3.36 million.
An offshoot of Russian River’s award winning Pliny the Elder, the Younger is so hard to make that the beer is a rare find throughout the year. The triple IPA has three times the amount of hops as the elder (and stronger at 10.25% ABV), making its batches small and brewed once per year.
The beer was released at the brewery’s Santa Rosa taproom and Windsor brewery on January 31 and the limited batch lasted until February 17. Visitors came from all over the world, waiting in line for hours just to score a pint of the rare brew.
The Economic Impact Study says that people traveled to the area from 14 countries, 42 states and 400 cities around the world to try the beer. They estimate that 96 percent of those visitors will return to the beer release in the future.
Miss the release? Sorry, you’ll have to wait until next year to try NorCal’s rare craft beer!
