Russian River & Firestone Walker’s mash-up STiVO Pils
Its rare that a pilsner obtains the kind of hype and cult status as Firestone Walker Brewing and Russian River Brewing’s collaboration small-batch STiVO. Created under special circumstances in 2018, the STiVO pilsner is making only it’s third appearance in 7 years.
More from a press release:
STiVO is a masterful mashup of the breweries’ flagship pilsners, STS and Pivo—two beers that helped spark a new generation of American craft pilsners. STiVO is ultimately born of a longtime friendship between brewmasters Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker and Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River, whose collaborative connection spans nearly 20 years.
Originally released in 2016, STiVO won a gold medal at the 2018 World Beer Cup and was later re-released in 2022. It now returns for a limited time at all Firestone Walker locations.
“Vinnie and I have such similar tastes in pilsners, and our recipes are so sympatico that it’s always felt like a match made in heaven—two breweries coming together on something they’re both super stoked about,” said Brynildson.
“When I made my first batch of STS Pils, I was inspired by a few European pilsners and one pivotal modern U.S. pilsner in particular—Matt’s Pivo Pils,” Cilurzo said. “Of course, Matt and I were friends long before that, and when he later asked me if we wanted to make a collaborative mashup of our two pilsners, how could I say no? STiVO has evolved a little over the years, but it has always stayed hop forward and super drinkable.”
Another Level
Brewed at Firestone Walker’s Propagator R&D brewhouse in Venice, California, this latest batch of STiVO builds upon the original recipe with some evolutionary tweaks that take it to another level.
Whereas the original STiVO featured all German Weyermann pilsner malts, the new edition is composed of 50 percent Dingemans pilsner malts—a reflection of STS’s own shift toward this Belgian maltster in recent years. The hops are once again split down the middle between Pivo’s German Saphir hops and STS’s French Aramis hops. However, the Aramis hops in the dry hopping portion come via a cutting-edge hop extract known as Aramis Quantum Brite, which was custom-made for Russian River.
“The extract just makes the hop aromas all the more vivid,” said Propagator Brewery Manager Sam Tierney. “These changes are subtle, and the beer will still be familiar for those who had it in the past, but the collaborative tradition of exchanging ideas continues to push us in new directions.”
Brynildson notes that Cilurzo was so excited about this latest batch that he’s thinking about brewing it sometime at Russian River’s brewery in Windsor, California. “STiVO is everything that we love about a new-age craft pilsner—clean and aromatic, with a subtle hop imprint,” Brynildson says. “It’s a true passion project.”