Kyle Nabilcy
It wasn’t that long ago that a drop of the most pedestrian Toppling Goliath beer would drive Wisconsinites to a lathered-up frenzy. PseudoSue, the American pale ale that made Toppling Goliath famous, had crept up on Three Floyds’ Zombie Dust and just about become its equal in Midwest hop hype.
But we get used to things, hype wears off, and familiarity sets in. It’s a testament to Toppling Goliath that it can send production of some of its most popular beers out of state, weather the storm of complaints of reduced quality, and still get people excited when it brings all that production back to Decorah, Iowa, and flexes its muscles again. The latest hoppy releases from the new brewery facility show that Toppling Goliath is still the Big Guy from Iowa on Wisconsin shelves.
Imagine what it must be like to be a smaller brewer in Iowa and have Toppling Goliath as the in-state competition. In Wisconsin, competing with New Glarus comes close — but there are plenty of independent breweries in the state that can compete with Spotted Cow’s dominance. What’s it like in the Hawkeye State these days?
My good buddy Elliot, who has been mentioned in this column numerous times as a valued fellow beer explorer and well-honed palate, has hung his shingle in Iowa for a few years now. We pick up beers for each other on the regular, and every time we get together there’s a big unpacking ceremony that rivals any smartphone unboxing video on YouTube.
Thanks to this exchange program, I’ve been able to experience some of Iowa’s less renowned but no less tasty beers. A lot of Iowa’s game is hops, and Barn Town Brewing’s recent release of Double Hop Skewer IPA packed a wallop of pineapple aroma and flavor. This was my first exposure to the West Des Moines brewer, and based on this one, I’m game for more.
I was slightly less enamored of Big Grove Brewery’s Buster, a massive triple IPA the brewery alleges broke its equipment, there’s so much hops in it. It’s definitely not your typical (or trendy) hops lineup, mixing dank with citrus with a little allium note. It was unquestionably well-made, clear and clean with a big nose, but my body was not ready. I’ll keep an eye on this Iowa City brewery all the same.
Speaking of body, Iowa doesn’t flinch from big sticky stouts and other adjunct-laden barrel treats. I greatly enjoyed a bottle of Madhouse Brewing’s Carpe Diem (a whiskey barrel-aged “breakfast” stout with oats, chocolate, coffee, and barrel-aged maple syrup) back in 2016 after a trip to Des Moines; a bottle of 2018 Freedom Toast (a bourbon barrel-aged wee heavy with cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup) is waiting for the right moment in my fridge right now.
I’ve definitely been in a maple place for a little while now, so the Barrel-Aged Aurox Imperial Stout with Maple from Ames’ Alluvial Brewing was a true pleasure. Boozy and fudgy, this one delivered on both the maple and the barrel notes. The superficial appeal of this bottle — the austere labeling, the thick wax with a lovely hop cone stamped into the top — might inspire further exploration even if the beer wasn’t good. Which it is.
I asked Elliot about the Iowa beer scene as it compares to Wisconsin, and his main beef is that retail shelves are clogged with local beer that spans too great a spectrum of quality, while out-of-state breweries of note (Firestone Walker and Urban Chestnut, neither of which distribute to Wisconsin yet) are shouldered into obscurity after promising initial launches.
This is different from what I complain about here at home, where breweries outside of Wisconsin skip over us to get to Chicago or the Twin Cities or, heck, Iowa. It’s interesting to me that these breweries see Iowa as a fertile or competitive market, when on the ground it appears to be something else. Meanwhile, Madison and Milwaukee clamor for breweries from California, Missouri, or the greater Chicago area and they just keep on not coming here.
Elliot did tell me, in defense of his state of residence, that the quality of in-state brewing has definitely started to catch up to the quantity. 515 Brewing in Clive does some nice stuff, though only the Anniversary stouts have been packaged to date. Pulpit Rock’s hops game is strong (see: its collaboration with Untitled Art), and as the Other Decorah Brewery, it differentiates from its bigger neighbor with sour experimentation.
Will any of these breweries expand distribution to our neck of the woods? It’s perhaps unlikely, given their size and relative youth, but many make an annual Madison appearance at the Great Taste of the Midwest. Getting to know some Iowan beers this August would be a fine substrategy for Great Taste enjoyment, and you wouldn’t even have to wade through the Toppling Goliath line.
