Toppling Goliath Brewing Company’s pseudoSue is an American pale ale that puts other beers to shame with its ferocious aroma and flavors of citrus and tropical fruit. Created as a more hop-forward version of Toppling Goliath’s other pale ale, Tsunami […]
When camping on cloudless, moonless nights, it is hard not to look up and admire the vast, dark, star-stippled sky. My eyes are always drawn to the Big Dipper, and I fruitlessly try to find the Little Dipper (I can […]
May’s beer of the month is the well-balanced, Iowa-brewed IPA from Confluence Brewing Company: Des Moines IPA. Though some IPAs are overwhelmingly dry and bitter, John Martin, the head brewer at Confluence, proudly admits that he wants his IPA to […]
While watching the second half of the NCAA men’s basketball championship game earlier this month, I enjoyed a bottle of Hop Henge Experimental IPA, brewed by the Deschutes Brewery of Bend, Ore.
According to the beer’s webpage, Hop Henge is Deschutes’ “annual exercise in IBU escalation … it’s all hop, no apologies.” Available January through April, Hop Henge is brewed with “an outrageous amount of Centennial and Cascade hops.” The beer is also heavily dry hopped, a brewing process where hops are a […]
Just as March is stuck between seasons, the beer of the month, Summit’s Frost Line Rye, is a seasonal between seasonals. Offering spice and malt alongside an invigorating and energizing tease of citrus, Frost Line Rye befits a month when […]
February’s beer of the month is Rare Vos, a “Belgian-style café ale” produced by Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, N.Y. Rare Vos (“sly fox” in Dutch) takes its name from a pub in Schepdaal, Belgium, known for being the starting point of pigeon and bike races. Rare Vos is the perfect beer to celebrate an accomplishment or to cap a long day’s efforts. According to Ommegang’s website, Rare Vos is its “most quaffable” beer and what the brewers like to drink after a lengthy shift. Indeed, this ale makes for easy drinking: Not only is Rare Vos tasty, it lacks the high ABV of Ommegang’s other Belgian-inspired brews. […]
Finding Bigfoot is one of my favorite TV shows. Though I do not watch it religiously, I catch the reruns every now and then and am always sucked in. Why? Because… […]
While some breweries release the same, traditional holiday seasonal year after year, others keep consumers on their toes by always brewing something new. Anchor Brewing’s Christmas Ale is most well-known for surprising beer drinkers each year, but I always look […]
Though October is my favorite month, I love November as well. The temperatures fall, the shadows lengthen and the sun sets earlier. It’s a time when coats, gloves and stocking hats become preferred attire in the stands at Kinnick Stadium, […]
Pumpkin ale is the quintessential seasonal for October, and I prefer these beers to taste like pumpkin pie in a bottle. Many pumpkin ales are only halfway there… […]
For those who prefer a less intense pumpkin experience, I want to suggest a great alternative that is not even beer (this being a beer column, and all): Ace Hard… […]
‘Tis the season for football and saison! Oddly enough, the September beer of the month—Hop Wrangler, brewed by Peace Tree Brewing in Knoxville, Iowa—is not a saison; however, it offers flavors and aromas reminiscent of this traditionally spicy style. According […]
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