Toppling Goliath in Chicago (2018)

Personally I have no sense of when anything TG comes in, because of the two places I've gone, one will sporadically have cans of PS/Rover and Dorothy which are delivered when they're already around a month (or more) old, and the other place seems to just randomly have bombers of TG all the time.

 

I guess since I have a lot of experience drinking their regular beers I can give you a run down:

Tsunami -- Pretty meh. I think I gave it a 3.25 out of 5 on Untappd and that's with a homerism bump. It's just not super flavorful, but probably worth trying a can of once if someone happens to buy it.

Dorothy's Lager/Rover Truck -- I think the only reason to try these is so you know how low TG's quality stuff can go. They're definitely drinkable and worth trying once, but are the butt of many jokes on the Iowa boards. Solid 3/5 for me from the homerism bump.

Golden Nugget -- Cans are fine and a drinkable average IPA. The bombers with Mosaic hops are much better, but it's just not my favorite. If the Imperial Golden Nugget is ever distributed to you guys, pick up as many as possible. Those bombers come out like once a year and are very very good. 3.5, 4, 4.25 respectively.

Pompeii -- Great beer and fantastic on tap. This is usually pretty available, but definitely look at the bottling date on the neck. Some times stores can get bottles that are a few months old randomly. Solid 4/5 and usually buy if I don't have anything from trades.

ZeeLander -- Super solid and if you like New Zealand hops, this is for you. I'm not the biggest fan of those hops, but I still like this. This is pretty available now so you guys will definitely get it. MoZee is the Mosaic hopped version that doesn't get made too often, but is great and definitely worth picking up if you see it somehow. 3.5, 3.75 respectively.

Lightspeed/1492/Sol Hunter/Intergalactic Warrior/Thresher -- I grouped these all because they're all slightly above average to good IPAs that you should try once to see if you like them. They all see varying amounts of distro and it really depends on the time of year for them. I'd say solid 3.5-3.75 for all of them.

Xhops (varying colors) -- I would have grouped this with the last group, but the Xhops Gold variant is fantastic. Definitely pick them up if you see them because they are very good. There's usually a color being distro'd, it just depends on the time of year. Gold gets a solid 4.25, others are about 3.75.

Naughty 90 -- Hard pass. I bought 2 bottles, drank one and traded the other away. Hy-Vees here have this collecting dust on shelves forever. Might even like it less than Dorothy but I'd try it if I were you because I have different tastes. 2/5 (because it's drinkable and homerism bump)

Sosus -- Amazing. Worth trading for and much better than people give it credit for. It's the double IPA version of Pompeii so if you like that, you'll love this. It's been seeing a lot more distro lately but was absent for a long time. Solid 4.25/5

Sue Cans -- I know some of you have had bad experiences, but I think overall that's an outlier. I used to drink a 4 pack every two days for a few months and it definitely just depends on the batch. Mid November's batch was amazing, a solid 4, but recently it's been much worse. I'd buy a 4 pack if you see it for $10 just to try the batch, but otherwise I'd wait until they start canning in Decorah. 3-4/5

King Sue -- The King. I can't speak highly enough of it. It's no King Julius, but if you want to be wow'd, definitely pick up a fresh bottle of this. It doesn't see huge distro but sometimes it'll randomly hit and your city will have a ton. I was able to pick up like 6 bottles in Madison in December randomly and hadn't heard of them dropping. Just keep a lookout. Solid 4.5/5

Sue bombers -- This past summer there were 4 different variants and I tried them all. Citra, mosaic, DDH, and Galaxy hopped. Word is they made the Galaxy version because one of the batches was going to be weird so they wanted to balance it or something, but it turned out great and is actually my favorite Sue variant, even over King. I liked it so much I kept the cool label (sweet space themed bomber. I'll get a pic of it). These are worth getting and drinking yourself. I liked DDH over some of the Trillium and some of the TH stuff I've had. It's that good. Galaxy is mind blowing. 4.75 (for realz)/5

Sorry to say, but unless you go to somewhere special, you'll never see their stouts unless on tap. I'd give a review of the ones I've had, but I don't want to make you guys jealous. Needless to say, they're as world class as you've heard.

So yeah, just lmk if you have any more questions. Hopefully this didn't get too long ha.

 

Was chatting with the beer manager at Plum Market on Wells in Old Town today. He said they'll have TG for sale Monday the 6th. He didn't know yet what he was getting and seemed to think he would be getting bottles not cans. We'll see!

 

Pic of the Galaxy for reference. It does't do it justice because it has that classic sheen you used to see on the pre-museum bottles.

 

Spoke to a Binny's rep yesterday and said cans of regular pseudosue should be coming in today. Next week should be a wave of the other regular line up.

On another note... just had DDH PseudoSue and that beer is amazing. I agree with @HawkeyeBeerLover this beer holds up well with trillium's DDH and treehouse beers.

Picture for reference

 

It's all about the hype, man. DDH Sue is hitting distro again in Iowa today so you guys might see it sooner than you thought.

 

*pitches tent in front of Binny's*

Yeah, I actually thought that was a sign that those bombers would be at the Field as well, so I was surprised that that's not the case.

Then again, I'm guessing they'd charge $20-25 a bomber, so that's mostly irrelevant, I suppose.

 

Wow, this is almost spot on for how I'd put it for every beer you listed. Only exception is I've only had the Gold version of Xhops and haven't had a few of the regular IPAs (Sol Hunter/IGW). Agree, I don't think King Sue is quite a King Julius, but it's very good. the one thing TGB does better than anyone, including tree house - is a pale ale. If I compare Sue to say Lights On - definitely Sue, and the DDH Sue is unreal.

 

I've only had a few of their bombers, and had KS on tap. Lightspeed did nothing for me and Sosus and Pompeii were excellent (although as I've said, I'll pass on them since I've got Navaja and shit here already). Golden Nugget is a good solid IPA (probably will pass on that as well), and Dorothy is just boring as shit (and honestly, there are enough solid lagers in Chicago that there's no need to pick this one up). Cans of Sue are perfectly good when they're fresh, and crap when they're not (I had a third one of my "bad" cans last night; it was at least enjoyable to drink, if not particularly citra-hoppy).

King Sue or one of the pseudoSue bombers, though... *insert Colbert "give it to me NOW!" gif*

 

Wow, passing on Pompeii? To me it is the TG equivalent of HA's BHA. Tough to pass up such a well made, tasty beer.

Thresher Wheat IPA was phenomenal. Spot on with the hyped Grimm and HF pales coming from the East Coast. Delicate in ABV, but full flavored and crisp.

X-Hops gold is fantastic, perfect beer. X-Hops Gamma was above average solid.

Of the 8 or so varieties of hoppy beer I've had from Trillium, the first thought was always- this tastes like stuff I've had from Toppling Goliath.

 

Late to the party here but I am pumped to have TG coming. Made the trip out to Decorah a couple times to visit my Fiance's family (Her mom grew up there). They were going to see family but I obviously had different motivation. Last Time I was there was over the summer and I think it was one of the first times that had DDH Sue at the brewery and it was absolutely mind blowing. The nose alone on the beer made me shed a tear.... and @SeanBond once we see that DDH Sue hitting this area, I will also be pitching a tent outside of binnys....just not the kind you buy at Cabelas...

 

I'm not saying it's not good, it just didn't blow me away (I typically lean towards slightly higher ABV beers) enough to make me replace my current mosaic rotation. I liked Sosus better. Not necessarily enough to replace Navaja, but it's very good.

Definitely want to try the X-Hops series; just never seen it in the wild.

 

If it is not in the System already you are most likley not getting any from Binnys untill Saturday at the earliest. I know from previous experience.

 

Some dude in one of my FB groups just posted Pseudo Sue on a suburban Binnys shelf. He wouldn't say which store, which is always obnoxious.

 

Whelp. http://www.binnys.com/all/toppling+goliath

 

Interesting that the new cans are pictured; have those been seen in the wild yet (anywhere)?

 

How fresh was it? As I said in my big post, places aren't afraid of putting up months old bombers of it. Fresh Sosus is a thing of beauty. I wish they'd do crazy stuff with their core beers though. It's great their putting out these beers, but I want something a little more like maybe DDH King Sue or DDH Sosus or something (if that would even do anything).

The first batch of Thresher last year was phenomenal. I had never had a wheat IPA and at the time, those were my two favorite styles. It was so good. Second batch I didn't enjoy as much but my tastes have also changed dramatically over the past year. I somehow enjoy adjunct stouts now o.0

Also, this might be homerism as well, but back when Sue was in bottles made in Decorah, there was always a big discussion over Sue vs ZD and I always chose Sue. I've had ZD many times in a variety of serving styles and I just prefer Sue. Food for thought.