Toppling Goliath in Chicago (2018)

I saw some Sue cans at the Arlington Heights binnys and thought what the hell they are back to being made in Decorah now so I picked some up. Had a can last night and was pleasantly surprised, not sure how much it tastes like the original from back in the day but it is a damn sight better and that swill they were making down in Florida.

Actually had a pretty clean taste, good flavor and a nice hop bite. I'm not going to go running every time I see a post for a release now but at least I can count on it tasting more like its old self should I decide grrab some.

Still don't know why anybody would contract Brew an inferior product thousands of miles away and then be part of one of the crappiest product rollouts in one of the biggest beer markets in the U. S. A. Would have been a much bigger fan if they'd have kept up with their quality and consistency but as I said I'm at least happy that I can trust what they're putting on the shelves again should I be in the mood to purchase it.

Cheers

 

My thoughts too. Good beer but I preferred the regular.

King Sue is incredible and I wish I bought more than one.

 

Had a King Sue last night. I'll preface this by saying it was great, as good as the previous bottles I've had. Very big aroma of citrus, nice hop bite. I believe my brother's quote was, "Wow. This is a really aggressively hopped and delicious IIPA." That being said, and not to sound crazy or anything, but compared to the previous bottles I had traded for in the past this one was more translucent than opaque and had a thinner mouthfeel. Less cloudy and thinner than the Pseudo Sue can I had the other night. It was still great, I was just surprsied. Previous King I've had poured like orange juice. This definitely did not.

 

Just had a ~4 week old Julius and IA Pseduo sue back to back......... preferred the sue TBH

 

I have some Sue I'll trade you for Julius

 

Haha... my binnys guy trades me pseudo $4$

 

To sum up the thread-
First two year- Toppling Goliath sucks and is a shell of its former self, don't buy it
Last two weeks- OMG!!!! Why does Binny's only let me use two carts at a time? I can't buy all the TG stuff in stock with only two carts.....

 

I think it worked exactly how it was supposed to. TG was shipping us shit, which most of the hardcore beer drinking crowd quickly abandoned and started criticizing TG for. Then TG started shipping us proper Decorah beers that weren't 8 months old and everyone was happy to buy their product.

If we had continued buying the Florida stuff and not made a big stink about it, who knows if the Decorah beers would have made it this way as quickly as they have recently.

 

King Sue was a good beer but not what I was expecting. Tasted more like a Maine Beer Company beer than anything else. Clean and light for a double ipa. Enjoying the cans of Sue much more.

 

Agree on this. Thin body, straw color haze and very good just not in the top tier of ipas readily available locally. Glad I got to try but wouldn’t buy again

 

Sorry I missed this over the weekend. King was looking down to less than 2 cases at the time. They still have Mosaic but there’s a mistaken Galaxy Sale sign in front of it. Basically the lesson with these Pseudo bombers is to take an extra second and read carefully

 

Logically, there's no reason to think they wouldn't have.. TG had every incentive in the world to get their Decorah canning operation going as quickly as possible. They were paying other breweries to produce beer with their name on it. They make more money and retain more control by doing it all in-house.

 

Having it brewed and canned at their own location isn’t the point I was making. It was the expediant nature in which they arrived from Decorag to Chicago (7 day old Pseudosue cans, 2 day old Mosaic Sue and 10 day old King Sue at the day they dropped at Binny’s). If they had sent us the same 3 beers with a 2-3 month delay, they would have been met with same skepticism as Florida stuff that was old.

Also, being cheaper at own brewing facility as opposed to a ‘toller’ is an unknown. That depends on manufacturing/brewing capability, supply chain, transportation, and pricing among other issues. Wouldn’t shock me if Florida facility could brew it for cheaper, it just wasn’t as good as stuff from Decorah.

 

Got to agree here. They have to choose where they’re gonna ship their Iowa brewed beer, it’s not unlimited like Florida Sue effectively was, and if the Chicago market wasn’t splashing as much as they’d hoped I would think it only helps us get those Decorah brews.

 

I think some people might have misguided expectations of what TG beers have been all about. The hazy PS is a recent development and definitely not the norm.

 

No doubt. Give me IA Sue over Julius or Green any day.

 

I just had a King Sue from the recent Illinois delivery and noticed that there was a fair amount of sediment at the bottom of the bottle. I stood the bottle upside down for 5-10 minutes, then turned the bottle as I poured it into my glass. This resulted in a totally hazy pour with zero light passing through the glass. I agree the body is a bit thin, but I think the bottle needs a little agitation to get the most haze for your money.

 

They’ve claimed things on twitter like we made “NE IA IPAs before anyone made NE IPAs” so if expectations are misguided it’s probably from the brewery itself. They make great beers though, regardless of expectations

 

One could also say that the bland old beers we've been receiving from TG are a recent development and not the norm and the norm is what we just started getting.

Didn't they just start Chicago distro in Q1 of 2017? And bomber distro in late Q3 or early Q4? And now they have Decorah cans coming here in a timely manner? Overall, I think this is pretty impressive turnaround over a year....