Review: Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue Pale Ale


When I was at Broadway Liquor in Minot, ND a month ago, I immediately noticed that they had beer from Iowa's Toppling Goliath Brewing - I've been wanting to try them for several years now, many of my friends have raved about their beer and that was one of the first breweries I mentioned to one of my old coworkers when he was going on a trip to Iowa last year. I picked up a four pack of Sosus to sample while I was camping and absolutely enjoyed it.. so of course I needed to try something else, I decided on Pseudo Sue Pale Ale.

Pseudo Sue's description: "This single hop pale ale showcases the Citra hop for a well-balanced beer that is delicate in body with a mild bitterness in the finish. She roars with ferocious aromas of grapefruit, citrus, mango and evergreen. Pseudo Sue’s unique taste is clean and bright with just enough bite!"

Appearance: Pours a very hazy orange juice with a light amount of sediment floating around in the beer. The head is fluffy and off white - it doesn't last that long, so it leaves behind a moderate amount of lacing on the glass with a verrrry light amount of film on top of the beer itself.

Aroma: The Citra is the star of the show here - it's sweet, tropical and fruity (orange, mango, pineapple) with a bit of a leafiness to it as well. Light amount of boozy burn at the end. So far, so good.

Taste: Sweet, creamy and tropical. I get a decent amount of tropical notes right from the beginning - orange, mango and pineapple, again. There's a bit of a bitterness from the sediment that I can't describe.. but only a taste I get in really juicy ales like this one. There's a bit of a leafy hop presence to it, it's got a faint hint a creamsicle to it, but it's fairly dry on the palate itself. The aftertaste is a moderately bitter and metallic taste that lingers for a bit.

Overall Thoughts: Very solid Pale Ale - it's nice and tropical right from the very beginning, has a bit of a floral or leafy presence to it, a bit of creaminess and it's no wonder why I already drank 3 cans of this beer already. It's also got a tad of a boozy burn to it even though it's only 6.8% ABV. This is currently rated as the fifth best American Pale Ale in the world according to BeerAdvocate.com.

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