Some love for Toppling Goliath

Just to clarify, I really like TG. They are the best brewery in Iowa, but they don't make a beer as good as ZD. That's not a knock. Really, nothing but Heady Topper and some HF stuff is IMO.

 

Thank you! I'm originally from Decorah (now in MPLS) and love going to see my parents and making a side trip to the tap room. Don't get me wrong, TG makes some great beers but it's way too early to say they're on the same level as FFF, HF, Surly, or anyone on that level.

 

Thank you for calling my opinion absurd.

 

Nobody made any comparison of TG to Surly, FFF, etc. Are you saying that a small brewery can't make a beer of the same quality that larger breweries can?

 

Sorry but for my taste I enjoy the TG beers much more than Surly. With my hoppy beers I like light malt bills with a distinct and well placed hopping much like TG does. This is obviously not Surly's MO. I really like the light biscuity malt profile that TG uses. I'm not a giant fan of Citra hops, to me they are cloying and overly sweet tasting to my palate, but PseduoSue uses them nicely to attain a more rounded flavor profile from them verses what I get in a lot of Citra only beers including Abrasive, which I gave away my other 3 cans of. That and the hour I spent talking to Mike and Clark while I was in there last time makes me a bit of a homer. They know what they want to do in terms of beers and Mike is a dedicated brewer who cares about his end customers and has the right idea's on how he wants build the brewery. I anticipate good things from them in the future after they get the new brewery set up and get the bottling line in place. Now a tap room in DSM would be nice! BTW I think the best beer they make (that I have had) is the Galaxy IPA or the Zeelander (Nelson Sauvin) IPA. I was blown away by both.

 

I would really enjoy seeing more results or tastings like the one geneseohawk had. I would like to see how Assassin holds up in a blind tasting with GI Bourbon County, FFF Darklord, Surly Darkness, Founders KBS, Hoppin Frog BORIS and Bells Expedition for a Midwest impy stout throw down. I thought Assassin was great, but wish I would have had it side by side with some other impy stouts.

TG is making great IPAs and APAs along with some delicious stouts. I cannot wait until their new facility is up and running.

 

Pseudo Sue is amazing. Gnugg is also quite tasty. I did not try Rover Truck which I was bummed not to. The TG taproom is nice and I'll be making a return trip.