russian river brewing
“For 15 years, all we heard from people [at the Santa Rosa location] is ‘all you serve is pizza?’ And now we release a new menu [at the Windsor location] based off peoples’ feedback and they all say, ‘what do you mean you don’t have Pliny Bites?” – Natalie Cilurzo, co-owner.
The opening of Russian River Brewing Company’s $50 million brewery and restaurant location in Windsor has a lot to offer to the hoards of Pliny lovers. But for all its expansive and modern amenities, the 85,000-square-foot location is missing one little thing, the cult favorite, Pliny Bites. The omission of the cheese and garlic-topped pizza dough is something that comes as a bit of a surprise to co-owner Natalie Cilurzo. “For 15 years, all we heard from people [at the Santa Rosa location] is ‘all you serve is pizza?’ And now we release a new menu [at the Windsor location] based off peoples’ feedback and they all say, ‘what do you mean you don’t have Pliny Bites?”
Pliny Bites aside, the new Windsor location has been a smashing success, freeing up space to allow more people access to the original location on weekends. Cilurzo says the design of the Windsor location is intended to feel different, yet familiar to the Santa Rosa location, which has more of a lived-in, brewpub feel. “Windsor has the homey feel that the Santa Rosa location does, but in a different way where we want you to feel like your coming into our home,” says Cilurzo.
With the Windsor location, the 2019 release of the brewery’s famous, Triple IPA Pliny the Younger became one of the most anticipated releases in the beer’s history. The beer’s release had quite the economic impact on the region, generating more than $4 million in revenue from visitors traveling to Sonoma County.
The gaudy numbers and high volume of visitors are a reflection of the immense popularity of craft beer 
presently, and a far cry from the brewery’s humble beginnings 15 years ago. “When we first opened the original location, we only needed one server and one bartender during the day, and then maybe two servers and two bartenders at night,” says Cilurzo. “It was a different time for craft beer back then. We opened with 28 employees and now we have 200. We went from brewing to 3,000 barrels to 50,000.”
Though Russian River is now a world-famous, household name among beer lovers, Cilurzo says it’s still a huge honor to continue to be recognized locally. “It’s a big honor [to win Best Of] because it’s voted on by the readers. It’ nice to be recognized again.”
The award isn’t without competition, as the North Bay has exploded into one of the premier craft brewing locations in the world in recent years. A fact not lost on Cilurzo. ”There are a lot more breweries in our area and beyond,” she says. “It means more now than it would have maybe 10 years ago when there were fewer breweries.”
The future for Russian River looks to be as impressive as its storied past, as the brewery plans to launch a beer-and-food pairing at the new Windsor location, in addition to hosting private events in the giant space. However, Pliny Bites lovers shouldn’t expect to see the cult favorite on the Windsor menu anytime soon. “I don’t think we’re going to do a complete redesign on the [Windsor] kitchen to add pizza ovens,” says Cilurzo, with a laugh.
