Toppling Goliath PseudoSue

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Tonight we delve into a beer sent to us from Iowa, not available outside of Iowa and a few locations in Wisconsin. Lucky bastards. This is a highly touted beer from a brewery that just medaled at GABF a week and a half ago. Reading the comments on Toppling Goliath's website, as well as the high praise that our beer trade partner has continuously lavished, I'm definitely excited. I also noted that it received a perfect score of 100 on BeerAdvocate. I typically ignore BA as I find that so many contributors and "The Bros" tend to be condescending beer snobs who borderline on the intolerable. For them to give a beer a 100, though, I know I'm in for a world-class treat that is deserving of its cult following.

We intended to review this the other night in a horizontal tasting with Seventh Son's Humulus Nimbus. Shit happened, our awesome neighbor showed up and hung out for the evening, and writing just doesn't happen as much as it should then. When this arrived in the mail and was dug from the bottom of the very well-insulated box, I actually squealed. I explained to my seven-year-old that beer mail is the equivalent of Christmas morning for adults. This beauty is an American pale ale that is single-hopped with Citra, which, if you've been paying attention, is one of our favorite hops. The expectation and anticipation are both extraordinarily high for this beer. I realized this evening that I would be so very disappointed if I were to contract ebola before I got to taste this (too soon?). So, without further ado, let's get to it already!

This pours a medium golden straw color that is moderately hazy with a smallish white head. We need to presently discuss this aroma. I wonder if it's possible to swim in a smell, because that is exactly what I want to do. My nose is seduced in the most pleasant manner imaginable with grapefruit, mango, an almost lemony citrus, and light cracker. The aroma is straight-up sensual, like an understated vixen on a sultry summer night. You feel yourself being pulled into this beer. Even if you wanted to (and why, oh, why would you??? If that thought even crossed your mind, you are not someone with whom I want to commingle). Taking a sip, I realize that this is the quintessential showcase of Citra hops I have ever encountered (take note, Zombie Dust). It's like I just bit into a giant, juicy lychee fruit at first, then my palate is overcome with freshly zested grapefruit, a hint of spruce tips, and a finishing punch of grapefruit. Yet it is exemplary for the style, with none of the flavors overwhelming, and it shows itself to be a perfectly balanced beer. You know there is a solid malt backbone, but it's so mild that the hops shine. The mouthfeel on this is soft yet well-carbonated, not overly sticky but with just enough to leave you wanting more.

Quick, while Nathan isn't looking, I'm going to sneak his portion.

We received another beer from Toppling Goliath in the trade, and I'm very much looking forward to it. This beer is a game-changer. Well made, I look forward to drinking every last one of their beers. Suddenly, a trip to my home state of Iowa is in short order.

5/5 caps

-Jennie

After wrestling Jennie away from my portion of this (joking, or am I), I jettisoned back to the computer in a stealthy haste in order to enjoy my portion. Jennie has a glimmer in her eye for this beer. It's a glimmer I once saw for me, but now, nearly 5 years later, I don't get the same glimmer from her, no. Sadly the sparks died years ago and the only shining that emanates from her eyes now is for fantastic beers. I wish I was a beer.

So, as she-who-will-most-likely-leave-me-for-this-beer stated, this pours a gorgeous color, medium straw. Mine has had time to warm up while she pined and tried to woo this brew, but there is still about a finger of white head floating on top, taunting me, reminding me "I got your girl, fool!" The aroma on this 50 IBU, 5.8% ABV, girlfriend stealing beer is amazing. Lemon, mango, lychee, and light biscuit. I'm starting to understand Jennie's lust over this as I take my first sip. Juicy lychee, like biting straight into a lychee. If you're unfamiliar with lychee fruits, go to the Asian section of any good store (or even an Asian grocery store) and pick up a can. After the fantastic lychee flavor starts to mellow out, my old friend grapefruit makes an appearance, riding off with me into the sunset. Fuck. I think I might leave Jennie for this beer. I get it now. This is smooth drinking with a nice finish. Fuck. Yeah.... I'm going to go pack a bag right now and move to the brewery. I'll live among the grain bags; undetected in the day, sneaking fresh bottles of this at night. Eventually, I'll grow and beard and walk among the brewers unbeknownst to them that I am a stow away.

5/5 caps

-Nathan-

Music pairing: The Lemonheads' cover of "Mrs. Robinson"
Food pairing: Sticky Burger (bacon cheese burger with grilled onion and peanut butter)
Cheese pairing: A non-smoked gouda

Seventh Son Humulus Nimbus

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So to start off, yes, we've quasi-previously reviewed this at the Fiery Foods Fest back in February. With the palate shot then after a still-memorable inferno pizza, I don't believe we did justice to the 6% ABV, 53 IBU fantastic brew. It's still shocking to me that we haven't done as many local breweries as we should, as we have a fantastic brewing community that gets along all while producing fantastic brew. We've met a good portion of the professional brewing community here in town and I cannot speak ill of any of them. They're all good people and there's no animosity between any of them. To quote Frank Turner, "Colleges and friends condensed with a smile, yeah, but this is my culture, man, this is my home." The community is another reason I want to quit my factory life and get into the brewing scene. Even helping out different breweries with festivals or canning/bottling days, they treat their customers like they are part of their family.

So tonight, we thoroughly review a highly touted local beer; soon, we get into a highly touted brew that we obtained in a beer trade (Matt, we had every intention of getting to it tonight, I swear!). Seventh Son's website has this:
"A pale golden ale that is both super crisp and super hop forward with a refreshing mouthfeel and a summer friendly 6% abv. Mosaic & simcoe hops lend tart blueberry and fragrant pine to a pleasingly bitter dandelion finish. We wanted the hops to be the star in this seasonal offering taking its name from both the hop plant, Humulus Lupulus, and its light color and cloud-like feel, nimbus."

The color is, well, a perfect golden color. Good carbonation, leaving a nice white, foamy head that sticks around. The aroma on this.... yeah. Their website nailed most of it with blueberry and pine. I'm also picking up notes of almost mango-like notes. Amazing aroma.  The flavor on this is a wild trip of what you got in the nose, plus a whole lot more. It starts off with the blueberry, mango combo, and kicks in with some orange, all with a juicy blast that quenches your thirst. Midway through, there's some bitterness that starts to appear, with some faint earthy notes giving way to the pine notes that take hold at this moment, faint tea notes come through for a second. The hop stickiness is definitely making itself noticed by the time you get to the finish, which I will argue with their website's description. You get the dandelion in the finish, but there's so much more. The tropical fruits make a reappearance along with some faint grapefruit and orange notes. This finishes sticky from the hops. I don't really get much malt flavor from this throughout the entire thing. It's a great showcasing of the hops without overdoing it. Colin and Max rock.

4.8/5 caps

-Nathan-

Mmmmm. Mosaic hops, currently at the top of my hops list (no worries, Simcoe is on that list, too). They lend such a lovely, complex note to each beer to which they are lovingly added. At the North Market Microbrew Festival, I recall immediately identifying them in the flavor profile of a couple of IPAs (Truth from Rhinegeist and Musk of the Minotaur from Hoof Hearted come to mind, as well as a fantastic offering from Wolf's Ridge). Funny, as often as I have had this extra(ordinary!) pale ale, I have never picked up on Mosaic in here. It's most definitely time to remedy that.

Also, let me just mention how much I love Seventh Son's Seventh Son American Strong Ale. It's hoppy, yet lovely and just enough boozy. It was their flagship, and how I fell in love with Seventh Son.

As Nathan so well described, this pours a perfect golden color, with just a slight haze (and this has been sitting awhile). In the aroma, I pick up more grapefruit, but yet it's also blueberry and piney, with just a hint of mango and cracker. I am completely in love with this aroma. I want to swan dive into it. Alas, as my human form will not fit into a pint glass, let's reverse engineer this and force it into my body, instead of the other way around. Taking a sip, I would swear there were fresh grapefruit peel in here (proper subjunctive, bitches). Eh, fuck it, Nathan's description of it perfectly describes the roller coaster in your mouth, so go re-read his portion (if you have even made it thus far). Plus grapefruit zest. And just a hint of crackery malts hanging around in the back end. This is also perfectly carbonated, and leaves such a happy feeling in my mouth that I can't help but smile with each sip.

Do you remember the image of Snoopy doing his happy dance? That is what this beer evokes from me. Every happy moment I have had in my life flashes before my eyes as I drink this.

4.999999/5 caps

-Jennie

Food Pairing: Barbecued chicken, Wargoland style.
Cheese Pairing: Irish cheddar -- and this part is important -- on a Dill Triscuit
Music Pairing: "I Am Disappeared" Frank Turner (yeah. I know, I talk a lot about Frank Turner, but seriously, go listen to his music!)