Toppling Goliath XHops Experiment

It's true, Toppling Goliath is releasing 5 brand new pale ales in a series called XHOPS Pale Ale. Each one is single hopped with a variety of hop, that up until this point, has never been used in production brewing. These are unnamed, experimental hop varieties. Each beer in the series will be distinguished by the label color on the bottle: red, green, yellow, orange and blue.

Red and Green were just bottled on 12/13, released at their taproom on 12/14 and sent to limited distro today, 12/16.

There is an e-mail address on the label where consumers are encouraged to send their direct feedback on each beer to. You are supposed to describe what characteristics you detect in the beer...the aroma, taste, etc. Based on this feedback, the hop varieties used could get an official name, could determine whether they will ever been grown again, or determine whether they will be used in more commercial brewing in the future, etc.

There is no guarantee that these hops will ever be used to brew again. It will be based on feedback and response from these 5 beers that determine if they survive to become new beers or if they fade away.

I had a bottle of Red label last night and it was amazing! I posted my review on here. Can't wait to try Green!

 

2 red and 2 green!! very excited to taste these. TG knows how to do hops. Probably the only Iowa Brewery to do hops well on any kind of consistent basis. Hope everyone gets to at least taste them! Cheers. And I think it is a great move to involve the consumer. Some craft brewers, like Greg Koch, would probably scoff at this because beer can be viewed as art, for the artist to create and for whoever likes it to buy it for what it is.

 

These just hit Casanova's today. They have a different color on part of the label, not on the cap. Be careful driving out there. Ice on 94 from Woodbury to Hudson was REALLY bad. I had a semi jack knife about 4 car lengths in front of me and plenty other cars in the ditch. I'm sure using 94 to hit WI tonight would be really slow as traffic was really backed up and rush hour traffic can't help. Maybe they finally did something about the ice but after everybody saw all the people in the ditch the average speed was down to 40 MPH. Two bottle limit on these bottles.

 

What is normally a 20 minute commute to Casanova's took just under an hour. However, I just finished a bottle of the Red and I would have drove for another 2 hours to get a few. Sooooooo good. Blood orange, juicy citrus, yup like everyone else is reporting. Now on to the green and then another red, etc...

 

Same here, almost an hour. Watched 3 cars spin out and hit the ditch on the way back too. Can't wait to try them!

 

Success!



Thank you TG for hooking us up in Cedar Falls with one of your limited releases again! And being early on the delivery schedule this time was a pleasant surprise.

I greatly appreciate the steady supply of the mainstays like Sue and Dorothys, but it's been a while since we've got one of your smaller batch items (last was Naughty Temple). After missing out on Sosus both times I was was getting a little cranky, but this makes up for it. Greatly appreciated!

 

Not sure where in MN you are from but it's almost always available in a growler at Casanova's in Hudson. They normally have 4 TG taps that you can get for $9.99. They will fill any growler. I would bring one as they charge somewhere near $10 for the glass which sorta hurts if you haven't planned ahead.

 

I'll make the trip. Just been lazy, weather is a good excuse.

 

@TgBC is brewing the next 2 XHOPS beers today!!

 

It would be nice to get a heads up when these next two hit distribution. I don't want to miss them.

 

Follow them on fb/twitter and you will.

 

Yah I need to get Twitter going for all these releases. I miss so much following FB.

 

IC/CR today it looks like. Has it landed anywhere yet?

 

Johncy's got 1 case of each, I picked up one bottle of Red and Green. My wife and I will be enjoying these tonight, and give our feedback to the greatness that is TgBC

 

Looks like if you check out their Facebook page it tells you exactly which stores are getting the bottles. Potentially not listing other future shipments but they are mentioning when a shipment goes out, who will be receiving it.

 

Nice. Guessing they won't still be there in 3 hours.

 

Yep, that's how they do it. If you follow the stores, most of the time they usually post when they receive them, too. Although, not as accurate or as often as we all hope

 

My guess is no. I'm lucky enough to work really close to Johncy's, but still miss out on the ever-elusive TgB.

 

Shoot, I almost missed out today. Usually I rely on fb but neither of my CR locations today posted! Oakland Rd got theirs this morning (knew I should've checked as they are usually first) but I called a bit ago and said they sold out already. Luckily Benz still had some. Wonder if they all didn't want a rush or if TG asked them not to post on FB. Johncy's didn't post either which they also usually do. Anyway, got 1 each and looking forward to consuming soon!

 

How long did it last in Hudson? When I was there around 3 yesterday, they had gotten about 5-6 cases of each it looked like.