Sosus | Toppling Goliath Brewing Company
Brewed by:
Toppling Goliath Brewing Company
Iowa, United States
tgbrews.com
Style: American Double / Imperial IPA
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 8.00%
Availability: Rotating
Notes / Commercial Description:
In his most notable mosaic work, Sosus of Pergamon depicts doves sunning atop a golden chalice. The image was said to be so enticing that real birds flew into it while trying to reach their stone companions. This single-hop showcase is inspired by the beauty of divinity of the Sosus mosaics. Just as the doves discovered their golden nectar, discover the irresistible nature of the Mosaic hop.
100+ IBU
Added by nickapalooza86 on 05-05-2013
View: Beers | Place Reviews | Events
Ratings: 1,377 | Reviews: 164
2.75/5 rDev -38.9%
Mikeluzzjr, Mar 24, 2014
3.23/5 rDev -28.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3
Pours an orange-amber color with a smaller, bubbly head on top.
Smells or blood orange, peach, zingy lemon rind and a pleasant dankness, coated up by toffee malts. Herbal qualities turn more present among flowery biscuits, well balanced by juicy, ripe exotic fruits.
Has a medium carbonation with a medium body to it, revealing an intense clash between hops an malts on the tongue. Its mouthfeel remains pleasantly creamy though, leaving all nuances of the beer detectable, due to soothing yeast.
Tastes of an initial aqueous softness, establishing the beers great mouthfeel from the kickoff, together with comforting toffee malts. In a split second malts turn absurdly sweet, while the hops try to establish a working balance by introducing garden herbs and dry lime. Finds its peak right after the swallow by producing a dough coated, piercing toffee sweetness, while overloading the palate with bitter hops at the same time. Finishes surprisingly clean, leaving behind its staggering sweetness, now focussing on lemon, prickly kiwi and juicy blood orange.
Almost overpowers my tastebuds, once the beers piercing sweetness gets established from out of nowhere, while hops accept the challenge by creating an equally powerful bitterness. This misses certainly some balance to me, to form a pleasant drinking experience. Usually I would assume a dipa being ruled by its hops, in this particular bottle its been vice versa.
1,428 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3
Pours an orange-amber color with a smaller, bubbly head on top.
Smells or blood orange, peach, zingy lemon rind and a pleasant dankness, coated up by toffee malts. Herbal qualities turn more present among flowery biscuits, well balanced by juicy, ripe exotic fruits.
Has a medium carbonation with a medium body to it, revealing an intense clash between hops an malts on the tongue. Its mouthfeel remains pleasantly creamy though, leaving all nuances of the beer detectable, due to soothing yeast.
Tastes of an initial aqueous softness, establishing the beers great mouthfeel from the kickoff, together with comforting toffee malts. In a split second malts turn absurdly sweet, while the hops try to establish a working balance by introducing garden herbs and dry lime. Finds its peak right after the swallow by producing a dough coated, piercing toffee sweetness, while overloading the palate with bitter hops at the same time. Finishes surprisingly clean, leaving behind its staggering sweetness, now focussing on lemon, prickly kiwi and juicy blood orange.
Almost overpowers my tastebuds, once the beers piercing sweetness gets established from out of nowhere, while hops accept the challenge by creating an equally powerful bitterness. This misses certainly some balance to me, to form a pleasant drinking experience. Usually I would assume a dipa being ruled by its hops, in this particular bottle its been vice versa.
1,428 characters
3.47/5 rDev -22.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.25
Very unimpressed with this. Chunky with tons of sediment. Smelled and tasted like rotting onion. Really not an enjoyable experience. Reminded me a lot of 2-3 year old Founders Devil Dancer. Not worth the hype.
209 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.25
Very unimpressed with this. Chunky with tons of sediment. Smelled and tasted like rotting onion. Really not an enjoyable experience. Reminded me a lot of 2-3 year old Founders Devil Dancer. Not worth the hype.
209 characters
3.5/5 rDev -22.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.52/5 rDev -21.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 3.25
L - Dark, hazy, rusty orange with a finger of white, frothy head. Some sediment is sitting at the bottom of my glass too.
S - Interesting combo of black pepper and cedar with some grass.
T - Very odd assortment of fresh mint, wood, and dirty grass. Some slight sap and tree bark and hop resin.
F - Full-bodied without being syrupy or thick. No alcohol presence.
O - If blindfolded, I would not say this used Mosaic hops at all. Very off flavors and I think the faint peach and apricot made it tolerable. I was told it is a fresh bottle and there is no freshness date on the bomber, so I have to it as is, but this was a letdown.
632 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 3.25
L - Dark, hazy, rusty orange with a finger of white, frothy head. Some sediment is sitting at the bottom of my glass too.
S - Interesting combo of black pepper and cedar with some grass.
T - Very odd assortment of fresh mint, wood, and dirty grass. Some slight sap and tree bark and hop resin.
F - Full-bodied without being syrupy or thick. No alcohol presence.
O - If blindfolded, I would not say this used Mosaic hops at all. Very off flavors and I think the faint peach and apricot made it tolerable. I was told it is a fresh bottle and there is no freshness date on the bomber, so I have to it as is, but this was a letdown.
632 characters
3.52/5 rDev -21.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.58/5 rDev -20.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Did not live up to hype. I love mosaic and this didn't give me much of it. Generally a disappointment...and was high on my "wants" list.
136 characters
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Did not live up to hype. I love mosaic and this didn't give me much of it. Generally a disappointment...and was high on my "wants" list.
136 characters
3.61/5 rDev -19.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
3.65/5 rDev -18.9%
look: 5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Possibly my bottle isn't as fresh as the person I got it from believed it was. I was expecting a bit more from this one.
Kinda resembles Schlafly's T-IPA (mosaic) but not sure if it holds up beside it.
the malt is very subtle and the mosaic hops aren't as brilliant as I know they can be. The fade is musty bitterness.
Excited to maybe try this one again someday. Slightly hard to get a hold of in the first place.
420 characters
look: 5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Possibly my bottle isn't as fresh as the person I got it from believed it was. I was expecting a bit more from this one.
Kinda resembles Schlafly's T-IPA (mosaic) but not sure if it holds up beside it.
the malt is very subtle and the mosaic hops aren't as brilliant as I know they can be. The fade is musty bitterness.
Excited to maybe try this one again someday. Slightly hard to get a hold of in the first place.
420 characters
3.65/5 rDev -18.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
This is an Double IPA brewed entirely with Mosaic hops. I'll admit I haven't actually been a big fan of this hop in the past and this one was the test to end all tests for if that held true.
Aroma of lemon, orange peel, pineapple. Sweet marmalade. Appearance is light gold with a fine white head. The flavor rather bitter up front rather than the sweet I was expecting from the aroma. There is a distinct sharp hop clash and bitterness right away in the taste. Fruit flavors of papaya, unripe mango and tart berries as the hop bitterness fades a bit. A hint of sweetness but this beer is dry and bitter, bordering on astringent.
Overall I did like the beer but something about the balance on it didn't hit me right. I would have liked that fruitiness up front more and less astringency. I'm still not completely sold on Mosaic but this is certainly the best beer I've tried so far that features that hop. I know I'm the minority here, so no flame wars please!
962 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
This is an Double IPA brewed entirely with Mosaic hops. I'll admit I haven't actually been a big fan of this hop in the past and this one was the test to end all tests for if that held true.
Aroma of lemon, orange peel, pineapple. Sweet marmalade. Appearance is light gold with a fine white head. The flavor rather bitter up front rather than the sweet I was expecting from the aroma. There is a distinct sharp hop clash and bitterness right away in the taste. Fruit flavors of papaya, unripe mango and tart berries as the hop bitterness fades a bit. A hint of sweetness but this beer is dry and bitter, bordering on astringent.
Overall I did like the beer but something about the balance on it didn't hit me right. I would have liked that fruitiness up front more and less astringency. I'm still not completely sold on Mosaic but this is certainly the best beer I've tried so far that features that hop. I know I'm the minority here, so no flame wars please!
962 characters
3.68/5 rDev -18.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Very malt forward, little to no aroma and barely tasted hop presence. Might be an old bottle, but without bottle dating I am not sure. Underwhelming.
149 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Very malt forward, little to no aroma and barely tasted hop presence. Might be an old bottle, but without bottle dating I am not sure. Underwhelming.
149 characters
3.69/5 rDev -18%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.73/5 rDev -17.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.74/5 rDev -16.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
3.75/5 rDev -16.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Sosus from Toppling Goliath Brewing Company
4.5
out of 5
based on 1,377 ratings.