Austin Homebrew Supply Pliny the Elder Recipe Kit

They had this on sale for about $48 for all grain, no yeast, priming sugar, etc. so I figured I would give it a try.  Has anyone made this kit?  I am interested in any feedback.

Thanks in advance

Vinnie from Russian River was very kind and shared that recipe with the brewing world some time ago, so the recipe is widely distributed.  While I have never ordered the kit from Austin Homebrew Supply, I have pieced together the recipe and absolutely love it.  If you are a hop-head, it’s a must brew!

Vinnie’s recipe handout is available on Fred Bonjour’s site.  I’d link it, but its on my favorites at home  :-[

$48 with no yeast or priming sugar?  Ay dios mio!  That’s expensive!  You’d be better off finding the recipe and buy your ingredients separately.

Assuming the recipe includes all 17 oz of hops as indicated, that doesn’t really seem too far out of line.  Unless I buy in larger quantities at hopsdirect, etc the hops will cost me on average $3/oz which comes out to $51 before I even buy any grain.  I will admit, though, that I might not buy ingredients as smartly as other folks because I don’t brew more than once a month and typically don’t buy in bulk.

It’s funny, that recipe was THE reason I started buying hops in bulk!

I wonder what hops they have in the kit?  They don’t publish their recipes so it would be a shame if they subbed something they have a lot of for any of the hops in that beer.  Maybe a call would yield the answer?

The price isn’t bad, I paid $50.81 in ingredients with 2008 hop prices (and an expensive LHBS on grain).

Here’s the link from Vinnie’s original homebrew recipe.  Note: his current recipe is different since he now uses hop extract in this beer, so don’t expect it to taste exactly like the commercial example (mine didn’t).

http://beerdujour.com/Recipes/1Pliny%20the%20Elder%20clone%20PDF.pdf

Forrest from Austin states the kit has thre following hops . . .

centennial, chinook, columbus, simcoe, and warrior.

Thanks for the info dhacker, and to all others thanks for the replies.