Toppling Goliath in Chicago (2018)

Yup, all of what you Chicagoans are seeing is what Iowans, Wisconsonites, and Minnesotans have been dealing for a number of years now. It's a bit frustrating because when it's fresh, TG stuff is great and almost certainly better than whatever other shelfies there are.

I think it's a consistency issue business-wise. Hopefully all of these kinks will be fixed when Decorah goes 100%, but to be honest, unless it's fresh DDH Sue or King Sue, I haven't been buying bottles for anything other than trading them away.

 

Honestly, I'm not sure what percent of the craft beer market even checks bottle/can dates or even knows when beers are no longer "fresh." I know that I didn't for a long time.

We as the "nerds" of the community can complain about the product but at the end of the day, it must be moving.

 

Let's talk about the retailers though, too. I think this is a niche where places like Beer Temple have an advantage for beer geeks. If they are actively keeping track of freshness, they can provide a better experience to the consumer. If I'm going into a place that consistently has out of date beer I'm going to eventually feel burned and write them off. This could be an avenue for growth as these brewers start competing on freshness- give it to accounts who take care of the brand and the enthusiasts....

 

Lagunitas also offers a competitive price. If I buy out of date 6'ers from them for $8.99 I'm not going to feel as burned as if I buy an out of date 4 pack from someone else for $16.

 

I was thinking about that today (since I just saw a two-month old four pack of Sue when I was browsing at lunchtime) and I'm not sure that's accurate because will the "average" craft beer fan, not us super freaks, even know what Toppling Goliath is? And even if they do, I don't know if they'd even know what they are missing if it was two months old. It seems like by putting a date on there, unless you can deliver fresh goods, you're just shooting yourself in the foot with the fan base that actually checks the date in the first place.

Speaking of retailers, the owner of my go-to mom and pop shop: "Toppling Goliath really f'd this up."

 

I think that this point has been lost over the freshness issue. On top of these cans being delivered old THEY ARE THE CANS FROM FL. Not only are we getting an old product, we're not even getting their best effort. And before everyone jumps my shit, I've had the sue bombers before and the difference is night and day.

 

^This. At this point I've had DDH, King, and Mosaic. All were fantastic. The cans of Sue I've had have been okay, but are an easy pass now...not even a pass. I don't even consider buying them.

 

Stale beer is Florida's 2nd largest export after dead people.

 

Don't forget phallic shaped geographical based trivia too.

 

Lol, I thought it was "You'll never believe where this family found a gator..." stories.

 

When people aren't aware of what a difference the freshness makes then the problem becomes the general impression of the beer. I remember before I knew to look for dates on certain beers there were a number of great ones that I had old and wrote off. The first time I tried Lizard King I just assumed that the beer kind of sucked and I wouldn't be getting any more.

Anecdotally, I know a few people around here that feel the same way about TG. They don't know to look specifically for the fresh stuff. They just think Pseudo Sue is a bad beer.

 

I wonder if this is why all the "non beer-nerds" that think they are beer nerds (but have not actually tried much craft) think that their local brewery "has the best stuff." Met a number of primarily IPA drinkers that have said this before.

 

Judging purely based on distributor numbers, I would bet a fresh delivery of PsuedoSue 4 packs should be coming soon. As to how fresh they will be, that I don't know.

 

Not Sue, but, yes, Rover Truck is brewed in Wisconsin, possibly Dorthy's as well. At Wisconsin Brewing Company I believe.

 

Sue has also been produced in California, but it stays in that market.

 

Source on this? There's Decorah, Florida (BrewHub), and Wisconsin (Wisconsin Brewing) but this is the first time I've heard of something outside of those three locations.

 

That'd be nice, but my local Binny's has a six-case stack of Jan 23 cans collecting dust on the floor, so I doubt that I'll benefit.