Pseudo Sue Pale Ale by Toppling Goliath Brewing Company is a juicy hazy pale ale that highlights the Citra hop. Citrus juice flavors dominate the beginning and middle of this pale ale, ending with a memorable fresh mango note that lingers well into the aftertaste. This article covers a review and relation to Jason Tucker as a sports reference.
Technical Details for Pseudo Sue Pale Ale
- Beer Name: Pseudo Sue
- Beer Style: Pale Ale
- Brewery: Toppling Goliath Brewing Company (Decorah, IA)
- Brewery website: https://www.tgbrews.com
- Purchased: Cellar in Norman, OK
- Tasted: 11/2/21
- Glass Used: Rastal Teku Stemmed Beer Glass 14.2 ounces
Pseudo Sue Pale Ale Scoring Categories
Beer Review Toppling Pseudo Sue Pale Ale Scoring Categories:
- Can Design: “I’m simply saying that life, uh….finds a way.” Dr. Ian Malcolm quote from Jurassic Park.
- Appearance: medium thickness yellow to gold haze 4/6
- Aroma: lite grapefruit front end, orange and tangerine middle, single mango note on the back end 22/24
- Flavor: grapefruit juice yields to creamy peach and orange juice middle, sweet mango notes linger until a crisp and bitter finish 38/40
- Mouthfeel: almost perfect creaminess, refreshing lite taste 8/10
- Overall Impression: hazy pale ales are hard to brew well due to being too watery, all aroma or all hop flavor. Pseudo Sue clicks from start to finish and I could drink a crap ton of these. 17/20
- Total Score: 89/100
- This pale ale is an awesome year round release from a top notch brewery and is crushable due to being 5.8% ABV.
Brewery Background
Toppling Goliath Brewing Company (TG) is located in Decorah, Iowa and opened in 2009. Founded by Clark and Barbara Lewey after a very successful run in the home brewing market. TG focuses on hazy IPAs and barrel aged stouts. Current beer portfolio includes forty beers that rotate throughout the calendar year. Have strategically expanded distribution to thirty states in the USA as of 2021.
Beer Advocate named TG the #2 brewery in the world. TG’s Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout has held the title of #1 rated beer in the world since 2015 (current Untappd rating of 4.84 out of 5.00). Hazy IPAs and barrel aged stouts are TG’s forte, and their sours are improving on a daily basis due to unique brewing techniques and using top notch ingredients. TG gets a ton of beer geek hype across the internet, in magazines and in beer stores. Agree the hype is warranted, due to the TG beers I’ve tasted have been extremely good and complex. TG is very active in the social media market with timely posts on Twitter and Instagram.
Due to the annual rotation of forty beers, TG has focused on improving their “flagship” beer recipes, by tweaking with new hop profiles and adding fruit. Structures Brewing has a similar approach in Bellingham, WA. I’m now wondering why more breweries don’t follow this business model. Best guess is that most breweries don’t have solid flagship recipes that enable tweaking and testing during a calendar year. Nothing wrong with trying subtle changes to a baseline product, enabling the beer geek community to have debates about special releases and best batches.
Pseudo Sue Pale Ale Background
Toppling Goliath has brewed the following Pseudo Sue Pale Ale batches:
- Pseudo Sue – 5.8% ABV, Untappd Rating 4.14
- Double Dry Hop Pseudo Sue – 5.8% ABV, Untappd Rating 4.33
- Galaxy Dry Hop Pseudo Sue – 5.8% ABV, Untappd Rating 4.23
- Mosaic Dry Hop Pseudo Sue – 5.8% ABV, Untappd Rating 4.28
Pseudo Sue has had four different iterations brewed to date. Currently on a mission to find the Double Dry Hop version to taste even more Citra hops and their juicy notes. I’m making a 2022 New Year’s resolution to try all Pseudo Sue batches. Dream big or don’t dream at all!
Sports Comparison for this Libation
Justin Tucker, place kicker for the Baltimore Ravens. Matriculated at the University of Texas at Austin from 2008-2012, majoring in Music with a degree path in Recording Technologies. Was the placekicker for the Longhorns and finished his career by kicking the game winning FG against Texas A&M in 2011. Went undrafted in the 2012 NFL Draft and was signed as a free agent by the Baltimore Ravens 5/29/12. Beat out veteran kicker Billy Cundiff to win the opening day roster spot on 9/10/12.
2012 was a magical season for Tucker and the entire Ravens football team. Went 10-6 during the NFL regular season. Got hot in the playoffs winning four games in a row to claim Super Bowl 47 over the San Francisco 49ers in New Orleans. Turner led the Raven in points scored with 132.
2021 is Tucker’s tenth season with the Ravens and he is considered the best kicker in the NFL today. His NFL career kicking statistics are extremely good: 308 FG made out of 340 FG attempted for a 90.6% accuracy rate. Tucker has scored 1298 points and had 532 touchbacks. In this day and age of FG kickers and kickoff specialists, Tucker is an old school football player.
“Dinosaurs had their shot, and nature selected them for extinction”
Toppling Goliath named their signature pale ale, Pseudo Sue, after the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton at the Field Museum in Chicago, IL. Founder Clark Lewey has always loved the Field Museum and dinosaurs.
NFL has changed significantly over the decades in terms of offensive playbooks and schemes. 1970s focused on a RB, FB, two WRs and one TE to move the chains. 1980s shifted to QBs starting to throw 30-40 TDs per season, but the better defense still won the Super Bowl. 1990s focused on workhorse running backs and three deep WR corps. The last 21 seasons has been a blur of top tier QB play and the spread formation offense. Teams are focused on scoring TDs and two point conversions. Field goals and extra points are almost an afterthought in 2021, due to the statistical analysis of kicking success rate and subsequent risk of shifting game momentum.
That all changed with the last play of a game on 9/26/21 between Baltimore and Detroit. Justin Tucker calmly hit a 66 yard field goal to win the game for the Ravens, with a final score of 19-17. That kick occurred at an indoor stadium, barely cleared the crossbar and catapulted the Ravens into first place in the AFC North. Not to mention 66 yards is the new NFL record for longest field goal made in league history.
Placekickers may soon become extinct at the NFL level, but Justin Tucker has proven that it helps to have a Tyrannosaurus Rex in your back pocket for plan B and special occasions.
Are you interested in finding this beer? Check out this article that tells you how to locate great beer near you.
Cheers and keep it classy everyday!
