Toppling Goliath Dragon Fandango

Toppling Goliath Dragon Fandango Mango/Passionfruit kettle sour. Toppling Goliath Brewing Company, Decorah, Iowa.

On Sunday, the 3rd of September, I made my first ever trip to Decorah, Iowa and the Toppling Goliath brewery, at long last. Thanks to Jason for taking the wheel. On tap were many beers I've had before with two exceptions, Supa Sumo, which I've recently reviewed from the bottle brought back from here, and this one, Dragon Fandango, which I'm about to tell you about. One very hot commodity was on, the coffee stout known as Mornin' Delight. I'd love to review that one from a bottle, but I don't think I can afford one, if I'll ever see it on sale. I've had it and it's good, but not for the price that's being asked. We each enjoyed servings of 5 ounces for 10 dollars each. Let that sink in: $2 per ounce for a coffee / maple syrup stout. And the server marked our hands so that we could not order another. Only one per person, per day (or ever?). I've never seen or heard of a brewery doing that. I've never even conceived of any brewery treating any of it's beers as that precious. It's good, but it's not that good. Nothing is, really.

Jason's still on his MD, and I've moved on to one of
the IPAs (forgot which one).

Good for Toppling Goliath, I'm happy for their success. But I can't join in on these extreme prices. I'll keeping drinking their beers that I can afford (and this one, too, was expensive, but I paid the price in order to try it at home, no complaints). And that's about as far as it'll go.

So, let's talk about Dragon Fandango:

Thoroughly hazed, bright red, no head to speak of.

In the nose: Pulpy fruit, getting more dragon than passion and more of that than mango. Plenty of tart to play with the juicy.

In the mouth: Intense puckering to go with big, juicy fruit. A lot of sour, and a lot of fruit. Not too complicated. Sigh. Yep, pretty much. Fruit. Sour. Kettle. ....yawn.

It's tasty stuff, done well. But, I still feel like....I don't know, is this a boring beer (naw...), or am I just bored of these beers? What a sourpuss I would be to feel that way, but I think I can only take so much of it. This was probably the wrong beer to take home in a growler, in that case.

Also, if you read the copy below, I hate it when they tell you what to do. I ain't performing any damn dance, no thank you, sir.

Join the dragon in a dance to celebrate this unique kettle sour, blended with dragon fruit, mango and passion fruit puree. Raise a glass, dance the fandango and celebrate the magic of these tropical fruits.