Toppling Goliath comes to NY!

I haven't had a 2+ month old TG beer myself (nor would I buy one) so I can't comment as to them falling off. I am just saying there are many out there who would drink it and be fine with it. Not everyone is hung up on freshness. I am, you are, and we can taste the difference but a good percentage of their customers can not. Doesn't mean they are trying to deceive them. Hell, 86% of beer drinkers are drinking AAL's so a 4 month old Pseudo Sue probably tastes very good to them.I don't think I checked the dates on any beers I bought the 1st 2 years I got into craft so who knows how old they were. And they all tasted pretty good.

 

That's really not the point at all. You can't say a freshness date isn't deceptive because most people won't notice. You could sell most people a fake watch and they wouldn't notice, does that make it okay?

If TG is saying the beer I'm drinking will be good within 4 months of canning, and I drink it at 3 and it has basically gone bad, for all intents and purposes, that's deceptive. It doesn't matter if a fallen off PS tastes better than a Bud Light, or if some Joe Schmo wouldn't notice.

 

Perhaps not deceptive so much as overly optimistic/naive – assuming that a 'best case scenario' takes place as far as how the beer is handled once it leaves the brewery.

 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...y-date-how-to-determine-packaging-date.18886/

Sixpoints dates used to be 6 to 9 months and people said they should be 4 months or so!

 

I don't think TG is trying to deceive consumers in any way, but having both a canned on and best by date is strange. Why not just post the canned on date? That's what 99% of breweries use.

 

Hill Farmstead actually puts both dates on their cans also but you won't hear any complaints with the 6 week window they have for their hoppy beers.

 

I had the (mis?)fortune of spending a week in the Midwest last month and spent the time drinking nothing but King Sue. When I got back to NY and I had a few beers from our favorite breweries and nothing came close to King Sue. It really makes me question our self-proclaimed 'craft mecca' status when King Sue sits on a shelf for under $15/4pack 1000 miles away from here. I'd trade it all for a beer that good, that cheap, that available.

 

I agree. Bought a 4 pack of King Sue the other day in NJ, cans dated 9/24. If I could get this all the time I am not sure I would need to be running to Other Half, Grimm, Treehouse, Trillium or wherever as I would take KS over anything those guys are putting out. Those in the Midwest will tell you it is a different beer than it used to be though (as is Pseudo Sue) as I think they hazed them both up in recent years. Here in NJ King Sue is in the $19 - $20 range and Pseudo Sue in the $14 - $15 range per 4 pack, but both well worth it IMO.

 

It is quite good, and actually compares well. Only downsides are sporadic small drops and the fact they're usually already 2 plus weeks old which means I generally don't want to get more than one 4 pack at a time unless my fridge is completely empty. That 4 month best buy date or whatever it is definitely is way too generous though. 6 weeks is definitely a good cutoff I think for "most fresh" or reprebeing truly representational of what the beer truly is.

 

I agree with all of this although Heady does have quite a different flavor profile than King Sue, either fresh or with some time on either of them - far more bitterness/sharper hop bite.

 

Send more to south jersey, I haven’t found it on shelves yet. I know it’s been around I guess people just buy it up fast and we must get less down here.

 

It goes in a day at the two places I bought. And one of those places was charging $7 per can. The other a more reasonable $21/4 pack. Not sure where you are but I recommend untappd alerts at the least. Only with seeing those did I actually get it l any. If someone knows the distributor maybe they can comment and then presumedly you can get in touch with them and see what stores they ship to. As a note it's every 2-3 months in my experience.
I see it in growlers at a couple places near me (a little over priced at $28-29/64oz and half for 32oz crowler and but if you just wanted to try it once might be worth it). And I know there are varied opinions on freshness but for that much $ might as well do it sooner rather than later for maximum aroma and flavor (and before it runs out)

 

Those 9/24 king sue cans are great. I was very happy snagging a 4 pack at Good Beer.

 

DI is too close to me to not stop by.

 

MD is a huge maple bomb. Definitely see why it's so hyped. I recently said in the OH thread that I'm not a fan of maple in stouts, but this beer converted me.

 

Well if you drank mostly maple stouts from the northeast, that's probably why.

 

Finally found king sue locally. Crazy how times have changed. Originally drank this beer year and years ago (3?) in a bomber traded to me. This time I drove 2 minutes and picked up a four pack for 18$. How the times have changed. It’s also amazing that TG has been able to increase their footprint so much and include beers like king sue.

 

Great price, I think a 4 pack I picked up on Long Island was $24.

 

That is correct (in my best Chris Farley voice).