Beer Review #98: Toppling Goliath pseudoSue

March 17, 20131 Comment

The clock is ticking down as Iowans all over the state await the much-anticipated release of Toppling Goliath’s bottling of their IPA, pseudoSue. Toppling Goliath brewery (www.tgbrewing.com) out of Decorah, IA is arguably the best brewery in Iowa. As beer lovers, we are always waiting for the next great brewery to bring their beers to our shelves in Eastern Iowa, when in fact, we have one of the best breweries within driving distance of our homes. I haven’t had all of their beers, in fact, I have yet to get to the brewery myself, (spring trip?) but of the beers I’ve had from this brewery, they are all comparable to the best that America has to offer and pseduoSue is one of my all-time favorite beers.

From the brewery:

This single hop ale showcases the Citra hop. Named for the largest T-rex fossil ever discovered, she roars with ferocious aromas of grapefruit, citrus, mango and evergreen. Delicate in body with a mild bite in the finish.

This highly drinkable, smooth-tasting IPA is singled hopped with that fantastic Citra hop. Citrus flavors with piney notes as well dominate the palate and finish with a bit of malt to balance this beer out wonderfully. Waiting patiently for the facebook message or the tweet telling us when the bottles are coming off the line and will be available for purchase, because I for one, will be waiting in line to buy a couple of cases of this fantastic brew. You always feel great when you support Iowa Craft beer, but Toppling Goliath is making it easy for us to do so by kicking out amazing tasted, well-crafted beers. Cheers!

REVIEW

Style: India Pale Ale

ABV:5.8%

Purchased at: Red’s Alehouse, North Liberty, IA on tap.

Pour: Orangish pour, nice medium-sized head, tons of lacing.

Aroma: All citra hop aroma. The smell is amazing.

Flavor: More citra hop, grapefruit, lemon, and orange mixed with a bit of pine. Wonderful!

Ratebeer.com rating: 98/100

Beeradvocate.com rating: 95/100

Overall: A

My recommendation: You don’t necessarily have to wait for the bottles to arrive, (hopefully 2 months?), bars and restaurants around Cedar Rapids and Iowa City continually have TG brews on tap, or make the trip to Decorah and get it as fresh as you can. These guys are the real deal!

515 Brewery Grand Opening March 23!

March 4, 2013Leave a comment

One of the Des Moines areas newest breweries is having their grand opening March 23. 515 Brewing Company will host the event at their taproom located 7700 University Avenue in Clive, IA. Free t-shirts will be given out for the first 50 guests to arrive along with other prize drawings. I have yet to try their beer but the word from many friends is that these guys are the real deal and their beers are excellent. Below is a list of their beers from their website (http://www.515brewing.com/beer.html).

LIL’ TART

Our version of a tart Berlinner style German Ale

NUMB NUT
A spiced ale perfect for a fall day or anytime the mood strikes

OJ IPA
Smooth and drinkable wheat IPA with citrus flavors

IMPERIAL STOUT
(yet to be named)
Flavorful stout with hints of coffee and chocolate

D.A.R.T. DODGER
(formerly known as West Coast IPA)
West Coast style IPA brewed with Citra and Simcoe hops

IN THE FERMENTER

(Coming Soon)

PALE KOLSCH
(yet to be named)
A light German style ale modified with more malt sweetness and
hop bitterness than a traditional Kolsch

BELGIAN PALE
(yet to be named)
A belgian style ale brewed with abbey yeast, grains of paradise and ginger

If you get to this event let me know how it went!

Talking with Toppling Goliath Brewery; Bottles on the shelves

February 19, 20131 Comment

We 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