Just wanted to hit a few happenings in the QC area. Both Bent River and Front Street have opened up their second locations. Looking forward to visiting both new locations, if you have a chance go check them out. Also Blue Cat has unveiled its American Pale Ale. As they describe it as refreshing, medium light body with plenty of hops! 6% ABV and 40 IBU's. Great River has a small batch Golden Ale and their latest beer Dos Pistolas Negra. As they describe it as a Mexican-style Dark Lager that is light, crisp, and smooth with just a hint of caramel. ABV 5.6%.
So that is a quick update on the QC beer scene,
QC Beerguy
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Big Brew Day 2012
As with every year the first Saturday of May is Big Brew Day, this year it
was May 5th. My homebrew club participated as usual this year. This
year we were hosted by Blue Cat Brewery http://www.bluecatbrewpub.com/ and
the owner/brewer Dan Cleveland. We were able to utilize the grassy area
behind the brewpub for our brewing. Dan went above and beyond and found
out the necessary rules from the city of Rock Island so we could brew in peace.
After we fenced off both ends of the green space we were within the city's
rules. Thankfully the day was a warm and sunny day.
MUGZ http://www.mugzhomebrew.org/ had at least eight different brews going during the day. We had anything from light summer beers to hoppy IPAs. One particular beer was brewed by several women of the group. They annually enter their beer into the women's only events around the United States. All in all everyone had an enjoyable day.
Inside Blue Cat, Dan had a couple of special seasonal beers on tap, The first I tasted was the Maibock, it was a bit more caramelly than I would expect for this style, but it did have the desirable hint of pilsner malt and was rather high in alcohol as well. Also I noticed it was a bit dark for the style, but I did enjoy the beer overall. The second seasonal was Red Toad ESB. It was a really nice English style ESB. It had a noticeable hop presence with a really nice caramel presence. This is a beer that can be a good session beer. I thank Dan for having these good seasonal beers on tap during Big Brew Day.
As I said it was a very enjoyable day and before I had to leave for prom duties with our daughter I had a lot of fun. If you are looking for a homebrew group to join in the Quad Cities MUGZ welcomes all brewers. We welcome all levels of brewers from the beginners to the hard core all grain brewers.
QC Beerguy
MUGZ http://www.mugzhomebrew.org/ had at least eight different brews going during the day. We had anything from light summer beers to hoppy IPAs. One particular beer was brewed by several women of the group. They annually enter their beer into the women's only events around the United States. All in all everyone had an enjoyable day.
Inside Blue Cat, Dan had a couple of special seasonal beers on tap, The first I tasted was the Maibock, it was a bit more caramelly than I would expect for this style, but it did have the desirable hint of pilsner malt and was rather high in alcohol as well. Also I noticed it was a bit dark for the style, but I did enjoy the beer overall. The second seasonal was Red Toad ESB. It was a really nice English style ESB. It had a noticeable hop presence with a really nice caramel presence. This is a beer that can be a good session beer. I thank Dan for having these good seasonal beers on tap during Big Brew Day.
As I said it was a very enjoyable day and before I had to leave for prom duties with our daughter I had a lot of fun. If you are looking for a homebrew group to join in the Quad Cities MUGZ welcomes all brewers. We welcome all levels of brewers from the beginners to the hard core all grain brewers.
QC Beerguy
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Toppling Goliath Brewing Company
I have had the pleasure to have a couple of beers from Toppling Goliath and
have been very impressed with them. For those of you that are unfamiliar
with Toppling Goliath http://www.tgbrews.com/site/
I will help you become a bit more familiar with them. It is a
microbrewery in Decorah, IA with a tap room, so you can go to the source and
try their beers. Their motto seems to be "Big Beers Brewed in Small
Batches". They distribute their beer in North East Iowa
predominately with a handle full of locations in the LA Crosse, WI area.
From the website it looks as if they currently only distribute by the keg, they
are hoping to be bottling sometime this summer. They have 5 core beers
with many seasonals, a Hop Patrol Series and a few barrel aged beers. So
I am sure that they produce a beer that will meet everyone's likes.
I came across Toppling Goliath's beers at Bodega Brewpub http://www.bodegabrewpublax.com/ in La Crosse, WI. John, the manager of Bodega, a few months ago mentioned that Toppling Goliath would be doing a tap take over at Bodega. Unfortunately for me I was not in town when that happened, but fortunately for me the tap take over was a success and since then Bodega has had beers on tap from Toppling Goliath (TG).
The first TG beer I had was Golden Nugget, an IPA 6% ABV 56 IBUs. It poured golden yellow with a dense white head. The aroma was of floral and citrus hops and the taste added a good malt backbone to offset the floral and citrus hop flavors. It is medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation. Overall it was a very good and lively IPA.
The second TG beer I had was Biter Double IPA, they do not list ABV, but say it has 154 IBUs. With six different hops used int this beer it is a hop heads dream, I know I sure liked it. It poured a deep gold with a dense with head. They aroma is of hops and more hops. This beer bucks the trend of having pronounced garlic or catty hop aroma in DIPAs. A strong malt backbone equals out the hops in the flavor. Medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation. The beer became better as it warmed and I greatly enjoyed the beer.
Needless to say that after enjoying two of TG's beers I look forward to trying more beers from Toppling Goliath. Maybe even some day I can find my way to Decorah to tapping room to try even more of their beers. Hopefully as they grow they will find their way to some of the beer fests in Iowa and Wisconsin so more people can enjoy their beers. I suggest that if you have a chance to try a Toppling Goliath beer give it a chance.
QC Beerguy
I came across Toppling Goliath's beers at Bodega Brewpub http://www.bodegabrewpublax.com/ in La Crosse, WI. John, the manager of Bodega, a few months ago mentioned that Toppling Goliath would be doing a tap take over at Bodega. Unfortunately for me I was not in town when that happened, but fortunately for me the tap take over was a success and since then Bodega has had beers on tap from Toppling Goliath (TG).
The first TG beer I had was Golden Nugget, an IPA 6% ABV 56 IBUs. It poured golden yellow with a dense white head. The aroma was of floral and citrus hops and the taste added a good malt backbone to offset the floral and citrus hop flavors. It is medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation. Overall it was a very good and lively IPA.
The second TG beer I had was Biter Double IPA, they do not list ABV, but say it has 154 IBUs. With six different hops used int this beer it is a hop heads dream, I know I sure liked it. It poured a deep gold with a dense with head. They aroma is of hops and more hops. This beer bucks the trend of having pronounced garlic or catty hop aroma in DIPAs. A strong malt backbone equals out the hops in the flavor. Medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation. The beer became better as it warmed and I greatly enjoyed the beer.
Needless to say that after enjoying two of TG's beers I look forward to trying more beers from Toppling Goliath. Maybe even some day I can find my way to Decorah to tapping room to try even more of their beers. Hopefully as they grow they will find their way to some of the beer fests in Iowa and Wisconsin so more people can enjoy their beers. I suggest that if you have a chance to try a Toppling Goliath beer give it a chance.
QC Beerguy
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