Toppling Goliath expansion through Brew Hub (FL)

You are correct about him being from The Green Room, sir!

 

Sounds right.

 

I finally made the trek from the Twin Cities to Decorah today. I ordered possibly the best flight I've ever had, Tsunami Pale Ale, pseudoSue, Easy Rider Pale Ale, and Regifter Double IPA (the latter two brand new). Easy Rider is similar to pseudoSue but for me actually slightly superior to that great beer. Regifter was very good as well, although not quite as awesome as I was hoping for a Double IPA from Toppling Goliath. I also walked out with bombers of the just-bottled Pompeii IPA (which was not on tap).

More to the point of this thread, I asked about various issues around Brew Hub, but, unfortunately, the bartender wasn't particularly well informed about the matter. The only two items of note that she was able to confirm were 1) they will be canning at Brew Hub (Brew Hub's canning line was a driving factor in TG's choice of Brew Hub) and 2) they plan to distribute those cans in both the Southeast and the Midwest (but she didn't strike me as quite as confident on the latter point).

 

Does anyone have any idea if the change in water used to make Sue will affect this beer (sure hope not)? I'm curious if the mineral content of the Iowa H2O will be the same or different as the FL water, anyone else curious?

All About Beer magazine published an interesting article (May 2009, Vol 30 No 2) about the importance of water used for brewing. They described the different waters in Burton England, Dublin Ireland, Plzen Czech Republic, etc as having a profound affect on the beers produced in those areas.

What are your thoughts, thanks

 

From a homebrewing perspective, they can treat the water to get it to be about the same as the water in Decorah. No problem. I don't know what the scales are like when it comes to the bigger batches, though but presumably if they wanted the exact same water chemistry, it's more than doable. I don't know the cost of doing that though, they may cut corners on that. But it's not a physical/chemical impossibility, if that makes sense.

 

Cool, thanks

 

Wasn't this the whole idea behind Menudo?

 

Decorah's water is horrible for brewing lighter colored/hoppy beers (very high in bicarbonate levels/alkalinity). TG uses RO water and builds back. If they know what the water profiles are for each beer, they can build that back with RO water anywhere.

 

Next Iowa announcement prediction: Mike announces a kickstarter *crosses fingers*

 

I have a feeling he's going to land a gig somewhere out east.

 

Hopefully Ithaca

 

Personally, having had Pseudo many, many times, Easy Rider was nowhere close. It had a profoundly grainy aftertaste that would have been fine (perhaps even welcome) if it were not so prominent. As it was, it tasted like a homebrewer who wasn't really sure what he/she was doing and screwed something up in hop-to-grain ratio. Regifter was okay, highly earthy, oniony, and garlicky, making it unlike any other TG IIPAs. Different palates I suppose. I've said this elsewhere, but if these two were any indication of where TG is headed without Mike, count me out. They've a ways to go if that's what they've got to work with to get back to their former glory.

I'm worried, but I will give them time to dial everything back in with the new guy. I really want them to keep being as awesome as they were.

As to the thread topic, I'm excited if this means similar quality, more easily available TG on shelves in WI, finally making the expansion to MN, and eventually taking care of IL. If it means just more beer for the FL area, though, that's stupid. They should work on taking care of the rest of the Midwest first (not to mention making it so their beer sticks around on shelves in their home state).

 

I just got back from Boston...where Mike just was for a week, so this is the first I've seen this thread. I don't think this was the straw that broke the camel's back. I think Clark was the bale of hay the camel has been hauling around for the past 5 years and the camel finally had enough. This is just part of that bale. Combine this with a touch of jealousy, a bit of arrogance and a touch of greed and I think you've got a good snapshot of the entire bale.

However, if I'm Mike and the beers I've poured my heart and soul into the past 5 years, and the beers that Clark has bastardized to turn a greater profit over the past 5 years are finally taken out of my hands, yeah...I want no part in that business if I'm Mike.

Straightforward: this is horseshit. TG can't even fulfill Iowa's demand, and now they're in Florida. If you TG homers haven't figured out by now that the brand is about the $ and not about the quality of their beers, this oughtta be your eye opener. I can understand growth as a company, but this is blatant greed and disregard for the beer which made the company what it is.

Who knows, maybe this will allow TG to actually start kegging again in Iowa. Doubtful though, Clark has loftier, more profitable goals and goals that are more northern than the satisfaction of their home state. I'm not butthurt because I haven't been much of a supporter for this company since the day I met Clark. This pisses me off because this is the loss of an Iowa company. These are Iowa jobs that are being lost. Rant over for now.

 

So I gather that this Mike fellow was the sole creative force behind TG, and the only competent brewer employed there, and now that he is gone their product will be shit? That's too bad, I really liked TG.

 

Stop being reasonable. This is the thread for meltdown and overreaction.

 

I think you make some very good points that I never even thought of. I can absolutely understand a company wanting to do this from a quality standpoint, consistency standpoint, and obviously the increase of production. I never even took into account the fact that this could free up some opportunity for the new brewer to brew some of his stuff.

To counter your points:

CCB is located in Florida. Brew Hub is in Florida. It doesn't take much time to ship within the state. Iowa is halfway across the country. Brewing your beer halfway across the country and shipping it halfway across the country doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I'm sure they chose Brew Hub for cost and the quality of the product, but logistically, this makes little sense.

Surly had been brewing, satisfying their local market, and expanding for 8 years. They expanded to Chicago and Iowa while still being able to meet the demands in their current market. TG is not in that position. They stopped kegging because they can't keep up with demand. There has not been TG kegs in Iowa's largest market for months. They can't keep up with bottle demand yet they keep expanding north. I see your correlation between Surly and TG and understand the cost constraints of expansion, however comparing the two is apples to oranges in my opinion.

 

You forgot wild speculation.

 

Great. More beer for everyone else then!