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 Pale, Toppling Goliath brewmaster Michael Saboe said pseudoSue was first called Pseudo Tsu. However, “Tsu” […]
The Hops
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Beyond the Pale IPA is LV’s June 2014 brew of the month
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 never remember where it is). I search for the little red dot that is Mars […]
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Des Moines IPA is LV’s May 2014 Brew of the Month
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 have a balance of malt and hop characteristics. Instead of going overboard with abrasive hop […]
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12 oz. Curls: Deschutes’ Hop Henge IPA
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
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Frost Line Rye is our March 2014 Brew of the Month
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 temperatures rise and the days lengthen but the snow still flies, the trees are still […]
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Rare Vos is our February 2014 Brew of the Month
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.
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Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale is our January 2014 brew of the month
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…
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Snowstorm is our December 2013 brew of the month
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 forward to Schell’s Snowstorm. The 2010 weizenbock and 2012 biere de garde were superb, and […]
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November 2013 brew of the month: Thomas Beck Black I.P.A.
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, and also when I start craving darker, thicker, more malt-forward beers. Black I.P.A.s are darker […]
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O’Fallon Brewery’s Pumpkin Beer is our October 2013 Brew of the Month
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…
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Spice up this fall with a seasonal cider from the California Cider Company
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…
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Hop Wranger is our September 2013 brew of the month
‘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 to Kaleb Livingston, the operations manager at Peace Tree, Hop Wrangler is a different kind […]
