Russian River Brewing Company in Windsor offers guided and self-guided tours. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

If you’ve heard of the beer Pliny the Elder, then you know Russian River Brewing Company.

What you might not know is this Sonoma County brewery was founded in 1997 by Korbel Champagne Cellars in Guerneville.

Vinnie Cilurzo was hired 40 years ago as the first brew master. He created Pliny the Elder in 1999; it remains the brewery’s most popular beer.

In 2003, Korbel decided to stick with bubbly and get out the beer business. Vinnie with wife Natalie obtained all rights to the brewery and beer names, as well as recipes. They’ve grown the business into quite an enterprise, having bought out the investors so they are now sole owners.

While the original downtown Santa Rosa facility remains open, the making of beer—and therefore tours—are in Windsor. October will mark eight years since this facility opened. The 85,000-square-feet of developed space includes beer production for what’s known as clean beers as well as sour barrel-aged beers, administrative offices, brewpub, outdoor beer garden, gift shop, tasting room/growler fills and parking.

The Cilurzos own 15 acres here, with about 4 acres of it wetlands.

About 10 percent of RRB’s beers are sours, also known as funky beer. I can pass on all of those. But there are plenty of styles to choose from, so it’s hard to imagine not finding something for everyone in your group.

A souvenir glass and beer tastings are part of the tour. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

The brewery offers guided and self-guided tours. Last month Darla, Sue and I went on the guided tour. The only real disappointment was no action was taking place—as no making of the beer or bottling/canning it.

No matter, it was still interesting. Plus, we were able to sample a few beers along the way.

Cory, our tour guide, was so full of information my head was swimming—I’m sure it wasn’t all the beer. After all, I’d had a flight with lunch before the tour even began. Seriously, he had so much information to share it was a bit overwhelming.

Trying to be as environmentally conscious as possible is one goal of the brewery’s. In 2025 the brewery made a sizable investment (actual dollar amount was not revealed) to be able to reuse the carbon dioxide released during fermentation and reuse it in the brewing process.

Cory said it’s already paying for itself, which was seconded by a Facebook post this summer from the brewery that said in one year the system captured 300 tons of carbon dioxide from fermentation, supplying the Windsor and Santa Rosa locations. The reuse means those greenhouse gas emissions are not going into the air.

Exiting the tour we walk through panels of information that are part of the self-tour. One is about the CO2 recovery. “During fermentation, the yeast eats the sugars and creates CO2 as the byproduct, which is usually bubbled into a bucket of water and then released. CO2 is later purchased for use in carbonation, packaging and pressurization. This industrial CO2 is often purchased at an inflated price and sometimes with an unreliable supply. Recovering CO2 onsite offers a smarter, more sustainable alternative.”

The brewery also recycles much of its water—at least the water used in the brewing process. This is done via an onsite wastewater treatment facility. That reclaimed water is then used for cleaning the brewery.

Non-potable water is purchased from the city of Windsor for use in toilets and landscaping at the brewery. When you see the purple pipes you will know what’s going on.

If you are in the area, the beer, food and tour will be worth your time.