Toppling Goliath in Chicago (2018)

First time I seen Sue on tap was 2012. It was hazy. Every batch since has been a little different on amount and overall color of the batch, but in my experience I've never poured a clear Sue till FL cans.

For reference from google.

 

It's almost appropriate that we went from the "what's the difference between FL Sue and Decorah Sue" controversy to "What is PseudoSue, anyway?"

I always assumed that PS would be at least somewhat hazy, because KS and some of their other beers are hazy.

Out of curiosity, do you know what batch you're drinking?

 

It's all BS. Too many variables. It's very hard to make a consistent beer at that level. Look at Zombie Dust. That never was made outside of FFF, but somehow ever time I try it it tastes different.....

The box PSue I had was excellent, it was not hazy, but it was much sharper on flavor notes than Florida stuff. Could that just be freshness? Who knows, but it popped. I found the Florida stuff more bland, but love the new stuff. Everything I've had from TG in the past few months, save a Galaxy Sue with no date stamp, has been remarkable.

 

I finally drank my King Sue from the December batch on SBS -- jeebus, that was a flashback to the old "Citra tastes like cat piss" days!

 

Purchased in early January. The batch that hit right after the initial super hazy stuff.

 

I agree with all of this.

 

I've only had 1 can of the 4 I got (so I'll have another in the next day or two), but the single can honestly didn't pop with citra the way the old Florida batches did, which is why I'm curious about batch consistency. It was a perfectly decent beer (lots of particulate/sediment, for reference), but wasn't as citra-forward as I'd hoped.

I'm glad to hear that others are enjoying the cans, though, because that leads me to believe that I either got an off can, or an off-batch. As long as the stuff is consistently good, that's all I really care about.

 

Drink it from the can like a Heady Topper. I enjoyed it much more that way. Kept the sediment from getting too kicked up.

 

I don't drink Heady from the can, but I'll give it a shot with Sue!

edit: That does make sense, though; I've mentioned before that some of HA's beers get less "crisp" and "bright" when the sediment mixes in, so I can see this being my issue with the PS cans.

 

Just found 1/18 batch of Sue in the burbs.

It’s pretty darn good. Not quite back to magic yet. I liked the Pompeii I had on tap last month more. And there is still plenty of junk in the bottom of the can so I’ll keep leaving the last ounce or 2 behind

That said, the beer in my glass tastes as good as many of the better APAs in Chicago. Good substitute for drumroll, lizard king, Brickstone, etc...

 

Stack of Pompeii cans at Binny's Grand on the floor. Drinking one now. It's good, very mosaic forward, lots of mosaic aroma, but lots and lots of floaters for some reason :/
To be honest at the price point, I'd rather drink a local mosaic forward beer whose taste profile I also seem to like a bit more (ahem ahem Lizard King ahem ahem).

 

I was very impressed with the Pompeii can I had last night. Will definitely be adding it to the rotation.

 

Yours wasn’t $9.99 a 4-pack?

 

Yea it was,sorry should have clarified, what I meant is that Lizard King is also 9.99 a 4 pack (and sometimes on sale for 7.99, which should be a crime or something) and I think I prefer the overall flavor of Lizard King more but that is just my personal preference in regards to comparing both as mosaic beers.
But don't get me wrong, I thought Pompeii is pretty good and if I don't pour out the last little bit of the can I avoid most of the floaters.

 

If you ever get a can of Focal Banger that is the king of the flaoters

 

I dk, I had a Noon Whistle Gummysicle once that was pretty brutal. Way worse than the few cans of Focal Banger I've had.

 

I see what you mean now, just didn’t get the price comment. LK was 7.99 all summer. I hope that returns to Binny’s again this June. I’m really loving this access to Decorah brews and am relieved to see that the date coder is working on Pompeii packaging.

 

Just had one in NYC. Delicious as always. I still respect the “Better out of can” so people don’t freak after pouring it into a glass.