Russian River Brewing Company Is Founded At Korbel

In 1997, Korbel Champagne Cellars founded Russian River Brewing Company at its winery in Guerneville, California. Vinnie Cilurzo was hired as brewmaster and initially served as the brewery’s only employee. He developed a brewing program centered on highly hopped ales and Belgian-inspired beers, including Damnation and the wet-hop beer HopTime Harvest. Russian River brewed Pliny the Elder at the Korbel location in 1999, making it one of the earliest commercially produced Double or Imperial IPAs in the United States. When Korbel left the beer business in 2003, Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo acquired the Russian River brand and continued the brewery independently, opening a brewpub in Santa Rosa in 2004.