It may be a first.
We’re so beer crazy around here that The Platypus has decided to pre-sell tickets for eight ounce pours from a keg they think will draw a crowd this Sunday.
It's a keg of Pliny the Younger from Russian River Brewing Company out of Sonoma County California. The beer is an Imperial IPA and, like it’s precursor Pliny the Elder, is a cult classic among beer lovers.
Very few of the kegs are distributed in Oregon and they only come out once a year, in February.
In 2011, The Abbey Pub got the only keg of Pliny the Younger in Bend and was mobbed within 45 minutes of opening.
“I went through it in 10 to 12 minutes,” said Geoff Marlowe, who owned the Abbey Pub, but sold to Broken Top Bottle Shop late last year. “To get from one end of the bar to the other you had to go outside and come inside the other door.” (Full disclosure: Marlowe is my brother-in-law).
The Platypus is attempting to avoid that chaos by pre-selling the tickets, said Tom Gilles, a co-owner of the bar and The Brew Shop.
Tickets, which run $10 and must be purchased in cash, will go on sale Sunday morning and holders will be phased in starting at noon to get their taste, said Gilles.
Half the proceeds from the tickets will go to The Humane Society of Central Oregon. The bar will also hold a Russian River raffle.
