Tag: iabeerbaron

Talking with Toppling Goliath Brewery; Bottles on the shelves

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toppling goliathWe are getting close to the moment when we can head to our beer fridge, open the door, and stare in awe at a bottle of Pseudo Sue or maybe even Golden Nugget from Toppling Goliath. Yes, the bottles are coming! and they should be here soon. Nothing would be better than spending my time watching March Madness and downing a six (or 12) bottles of Pseudo Sue along with some grilled food or pizzas. With their bottling line operational I decided to ask them some questions, and they were polite enough to take the time to respond. Let’s get to know Toppling Goliath!

Hello Toppling Goliath!

1.The most important question: Which beers will be available in bottles and where can we pick them up at?

 – We will start out with pseudoSue and other hop partrol IPA’s and Pale ales.  We will fit Dorothy’s in at some point too.  Normal points such as Hy Vee and Dirty Johns…..Benz in CR.

 2. What is the story/background of Toppling Goliath brewery?

  -Started the brewery after messing around with home brewing and falling in love with the creation process of brewing and the detail required to produce a consistent, high quality ale that is hop forward yet balanced.

 3. Where did the name for the brewery come from?

 -We started a company called Toppling Goliath Inc in 2002 that helped start up businesses get over perceived and real obstacles such as business plans, financing, government regulation, etc.  Unable to achieve our goals with that, we kept the corporation active because we liked the name.  When we decided to start a brewery in 2009, after a 26 year career in the beverage industry, we did a dba because the named just seemed to fit in with our mission that goes against the global consolidation of beer, and focuses on the local dedication to full flavored, explosive beers that are fresher than anything produced for shelf life.  Cutting edge and ever changing, instead of pump the supply chain full, we are not worried about how much beer we ever make.  We are concerned that you find all our beer to be our best effort we can muster!

 4. You have been compared to many of the best breweries in the country and are quite often referred to as the best in the state of Iowa if not the midwest and beyond; what is your recipe for success? Do you try to use other breweries as inspiration?

   -I admire so many breweries, New Glarus is only a couple hours away and they have been pretty inspiring.  And the list of breweries I admire is basically a never ending smile in my history.  Our head brewer Mike Saboe joined me early and although like myself he has a long list of breweries he admires and draws inspiration from, we both really wanted to cut our own path with an extreme edge to existing styles and create styles of our complete own. 

 5. What led to your decision to put in a bottling line?

 -Our fans have requested to drink our beer in their homes.  We have to listen to them because they are, after all, our bosses!  Some day we will can as well.

6. Will seasonal be bottled?

   -Yes.

 7. Q: Would you classify your beers as traditional or more of a unique style?

  -A few of our beers are traditional, but more of them are our new unique style of hop forward, bold pale ales and IPAs unlike many of those similar styles in the world. 

Thanks for your time! 

                -You’re welcome, thanks for your business!

Clark Lewey

TG Chief

Dubuque Beerfest Review

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dubuqueSaturday February 16th brought the 2nd annual Dubuque Beer Festival located in the Mystique Ice Arena. Last year’s event was a huge success and from the looks of crowd yesterday, I would say year 2 was just as successful. Lots of high points from the day as well as some things that I think they can work on overall. Thanks to my brother-in-law Tyler for getting us the tickets!

The Good
*Live music makes beer events that much better, and the Lonely Goats did not disappoint playing a nice mix of music that paired well with the overall vibe of the day.
*Food- I think a must at any festival, and one thing that the Dubuque Beerfest did better than Coralville’s BrrrFest is having different meat and cheese vendors dishing out samples but also a restaurant parked in the back serving huge burgers, wings, and more.

*Bent River Brewing – stole the show again. Jalapeño Wheat, Uncommon Stout, Raspberry Wheat, Dry-Hopped Pale Ale, all sampled by me and overall the best beers available. I even asked one of their guys to mix their stout with the raspberry wheat for a 1/2 and 1/2 and they happily obliged to create a beer that was the best thing I tasted all day. These guys are the real deal and I’m looking forward to seeing their products on the shelves in Eastern Iowa.

*Potosi Brewing – I’ve been critical of their beers in the past and haven’t really enjoyed much of what they have offered but yesterday they had everyone of their beers on tap and also brought along their Hopsmith IPA, one of their newest offerings. The aroma of this beer was fantastic, with hops greeting you strongly. A very good brew.

*Grumpy Troll- Always like to try beers from these guys based out of Mt. Horeb, WI. Fun guys to talk with and always some fun beers to try.

THE NOT SO GOOD

*Bottled beer vendors- too much of this. I can go buy bottled beer from many of the vendors in the store, I was hoping to see a bigger selection of brewers bring in fresh kegs for us to try instead of opening bottles and giving us a very small sample.

*More Iowa and Wisconsin breweries – Coralville’s BrrFest had a ton of small Iowa breweries and while Dubuque’s had a few, I was hoping for more. I would have liked to see Madhouse, Worth, 515, Confluence, CIB, etc. coming from Iowa and Ale Asylum, Capital, Central Waters, New Glarus pulled down from Wisky, just didn’t happen.

*Toppling Goliath – they were advertised but were not there. My brother-in-law has yet to try their beers and I was bragging them up pretty good, but for whatever reason, they didn’t show.

Overall a great experience, caping the night off with a trip to Monk’s Cafe for a beer and I am looking forward to year 3 of the Dubuque Beer Festival.

Distribution News: Left Hand Brewing

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left handI just received an email in reply to a question about distribution to Left Hand brewing. Here’s the response I was given:

Hi Beer Baron,
 
Thanks for reaching out and your interest in Left Hand. I am the Midwest Regional Manager and I used to cover Iowa before we pulled out 2 years ago due to crazy distributor issues. Our plan, just recently discussed, will be to re-launch in Iowa late this year or first thing 2014. That’s the best news I have so far. 
Thanks!
 
Mike Walters
More good news for the state of Iowa and if you are not familiar with any of Left Hand Brewings products here is a link to their website: http://www.lefthandbrewing.com/beers
Cheers!

Beer Review #94: Bells Brewery This One Goes to 11 Ale

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 bellsA buddy of mine lucked into this beer at a Hy-Vee in Cedar Rapids. He saw it behind the counter and luckily the woman working had no clue that she wasn’t suppose to sell it and let him purchase a six pack of this beer and he was nice enough to share a bottle with me.

Categorized as an American Strong Ale or an Imperial Red This One Goes to 11 was rather obscure on the market this year. I know this beer comes with a hefty price tag but I do think a wider release of this beer would be great because this beer packed a ton of flavor and would be a definite buy again. Nice thick head with tons of lacing, the aroma of the centennial, simcoe, and mosiac hops stand out with grapefruit and citrus, followed nicely by the caramel and toasted aromas of the malts. Flavor resembles the aroma with a deceptively smooth finish.

Bells really brings their A game with this beer and they continue to impress with their limited release beers. Not as talked about as Hopslam is when it comes out, this beer should be on your list of beers to try, especially if you are into reds, ambers, or Belgian strongs, but watch out for that ABV, it can sneak up on you.

From the brewery:

“This One Goes to 11 Ale opens with bright, juicy aromas such as tropical fruits & ripe cherries, largely derived from massive kettle & dry-hop additions of Southern Hemisphere hop varieties such as Galaxy, Motueka, and Summer. The citrus & resinous pine notes of the Pacific Northwest hop family are also well represented, making their presence known through Simcoe, Citra, and the newly released Mosaic varietal, just to name a few. A wide range of specialty malts anchor the hops to this IMPERIAL RED ALE, contrasting the assertive bitterness & juicy aromatics with a robust, toasty depth of flavor. Fermented with Bell’s signature house ale yeast, This One Goes to 11 Ale finishes with a lingering warmth.”

REVIEW

STYLE: American Strong/Imperial Red

ABV:11%

PURCHASED AT: A Hy-Vee in Cedar Rapids.

Pour: Amber pour with a thick white head; great lacing on the glass.

Aroma: Grapefruit, caramel, toffee.

Taste: Very well balanced between the hops and malts, very drinkable for 11% beer.

Overall: B+

My Recommendation: Find it, try it. A great beer to try and if you are new to this style this is a good place to start.

Millstream Brewing Brewmasters Extreme Series Lineup for 2013

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The following comes from Millstream’s website http://www.millstreambrewing.com/Brewmasters_Extreme_Seri.html.

Some new sounding beers being added to their Brewmasters’ Extreme series.

Here is what we have for the 2013 line up:

January – ?
March – Wit-less Hop Meister
June – Big Honey Hefeweissen
September – Pumpkin Imperial Stout
November – Blitzed Bliteen Baltic

Sounds interesting! Makes me look forward to next fall for their Pumpkin Imperial Stout!