Toppling Goliath

Nice, thanks!

 

The Showboat in the Dells got a fresh keg of Decorah PseudoSue. Happened to be in the Dells this weekend and stopped in. Man did I forget how good that stuff really is. I think it's been over a year since I had real PseudoSue. I'd pay $10 for a Decorah bomber before spending $10 for a Florida 4 pack. Completely different beers.

 

Not that I'm saying you're lying, but it seems pretty strange that TG would have their stuff brewed in Florida and then shipped back to Iowa for distribution there, if it's not up to their standards. Isn't it possible you're just having fresher PsuedoSue on tap?

 

Has anyone ever done a blind side by side tasting of the Iowa vs. Florida brewed stuff? I hear lots of opinions about the Florida stuff not being up to the level of Iowa stuff, but I typically think of those opinions as similar to people who say a beer used to be better a couple years ago. I could be totally wrong, so I wondered if anyone has done some blind tasting of the two.

 

Yes, the cans are brewed in Florida. Kegs brewed in Decorah.

I thought this was me. I've only had 4 pack bottles and cans for the last year or so and thought maybe it was just me thinking the old days of Sue was better.

I can tell you for sure the stuff I had on tap was far better than the cans I had from this last can release. The tap Sue/old bombers is probably my favorite APA ever.

 

For packaged sales, is it only the cans now? No more bombers brewed in Decorah? If that's the case, I guess you can't do a side by side anymore.

I only had it from 12 oz bottles once, sometime last year, which I think were brewed in Florida. I thought it was really good, and something I'd want more of. I never had the chance to taste the Decorah bottles, and if it is kegs only from there now, I doubt I will get to (at least not anytime soon).

 

Second what kkleu357 said. Also had some at Showboat and it's a completely different beer. The cans/bottles from Florida are completely filtered, bitter, and have weak hop aroma/fruityness. I've had 7 day old bottles/cans and its just bad. The keg however was a little cloudy, had a great aroma, and had the nice fruity and hoppy flavor it used to when it was decorah bombers.

Cans/bottles have gone the way of a shelf/mass distributed macro pale ale flavor it seems.

 

Sorry, I worded my post ambiguously. I know the cans are from Florida, I was mostly saying that it seems strange that TG would be okay with that setup (seeing as those cans make it back to Iowa, Wisconsin, etc.) if the cans are truly that much different from the beer on tap/in a bomber. I would think they'd at least want Iowa to have their "best" stuff, even in cans.

Then again, this reminds me a lot of people's feelings about Zombie Dust. I hear people say after a few weeks it's just ordinary, whereas within a week or maybe two, it's phenomenal. I don't find it amazing either way, so I can't say I share the feeling, but it might be along those lines.

 

I usually stay out of these types of discussions as they are mostly as you describe, people remembering the beer differently, palates changing, etc. but in this case, IA Sue vs FL Sue are most certainly two very different beers. I've had Sue from countless IA batches both in bottle and on draft, as well as from the FL bottles and now cans, and there is a very clear difference between the two, in look, aroma, flavor and mouthfeel.

As for ZD, I've been picking up bottles every now and then for the last 3 years and it always tastes basically the same at the same age, and any differences I note are small enough to almost certainly be on my end.

 

I appreciate the insight. I wasn't really trying to cast doubt upon people's experiences, I mostly just think it's very strange that TG would essentially have two different beers under the same name. I'd be curious to give this cloudier PS a try, since I think the canned version is a very good (but overrated) citra beer.

I guess this brings up another question or two, then:
1) Is it just cans that come out of FL, or do their 6-packs as well?

2) Is it just PS that suffers from this quality drop, or do their other beers also pale (no pun intended) in comparison in distribution?

 

Has anyone inquired with TG on the difference in taste? Maybe it's been discussed before, but I'd be curious to know if they recognize the difference between the two, or acknowledge that they are continuing to tweak the FL recipe.

 

Im pretty sure only the bombers are from Decorah and all 4/6 packs are from FL. Id assume all kegs are from Decorah as well, but that's just a guess.

 

They have acknowledged it in the sense that they've made a reference or two to continuing to work on dialing in the FL products, a comment which only makes sense if they recognize a difference between the two.

I'm fairly confident they'll get it dialed in at some point, just hoping it's soon, I miss OG Sue! Poor me I'll just have to drink Pompeii, Zeelander, et al in the meantime

 

Good info - thanks for filling me in. I'd agree that if they acknowledge dialing in on the recipe, that they recognize a difference.

Regardless, I liked the PS I had in bottle from FL last year, so if I'm in WI, I plan on looking for some (and Pompeii, which was great).

 

I drain poured a one month old can of Pseudo Sue last night. Have had Pseudo Sue before, in the bottle, and loved it. Not sure whether I got a can from a bad batch but it was very disappointing.

 

I am heading to Sendik's in Whitefish Bay, WI and wanted to find out if anyone knows of any TG is stocked at that store.

 

That sounds like a bad batch; I just had a can from the middle of Dec. last week, and it still tasted great. I haven't had the bomber/on tap stuff though, so take that with a grain of salt.

 

Funny to see how many people see such a difference in Iowa vs. Florida PS. I had it on draft at the TG taproom in June. Then later that night had a bottle of one that I purchased at a shop in Decorah (bottled in FL). I couldn't have told them apart.

Perhaps a side by side at the exact time would do the trick, but maybe not.

 

I thought that I read somewhere that TG quit having Pseudo brewed in Florida, that they do it all in IA now but I honestly can't find where I saw it

 

@Hendrick24 @kkleu357
I just want to echo what these guys have said was buying and drinking pseudo sue before distributed to MKE I even had a case of bombers before they changed to the current label. The funny thing is I bought a case of 4 packs when they first started to hit my area (July?) thought it was awesome not exactly the same but so close as makes no difference, then it just kinda disappeared. Come January I get a 4 pack of cans and was less than impressed that Pseudo Sue goodness was not what I received.

I'm not saying I'm an expert but at the same time I dont see how my brain could alter my preception of a beer that much. I've had beers where they significantly changed the recipe and the difference wasn't even this significant. I'll concede my memory and perception are probably exacerbating the effect but its also clearly not just me. So Idk what's going on, especially since its something I've tried in basically every iteration its been available in (bombers, 4 packs, kegs, cans) for the past few years. There's got to be something more to this than just a distorted memory.

PS now that I'm thinking about it I also noticed this with golden nugget too. Though the opposite is true I actually like the 4 packs I've had better than the Bombers or drafts I've had.