Iowa Brewery Has Two of America’s Best New Beers of 2023

For nearly 15 years, Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. has transformed Northeast Iowa into a craft brew haven with a seemingly endless run of award-winning beers.

So it's no surprise that this Decorah-based brewery would put not one, but two of their latest creations on the list of the 25 Best New Beers in America, according to 24/7 Tempo.

The list is based on BeerAdvocate’s reviews in five categories:

Appearance
Aroma
Taste
Mouthfeel
Overall Impressions

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One of Toppling Goliath's newest beers landed in the top five on the list.

Toppling Goliath Brewing Co.

The Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout – Double Barrel Reserve scored a 4.8 rating (out of five), which is good for fifth-best in America.

This American Imperial Stout (ABV: 15.8%) is the latest version of the brew that's been around at Toppling Goliath since 2012 and in 2015 it was named the number-one beer in the world.

The 2023 batch is described as 'loaded with notes of chocolate brownie batter, waves of maple and espresso, and finishing with beautiful bourbon spice.'

TOP TEN BEST NEW BEERS IN AMERICA

Revolution Brewing (Illinois): Double Barrel V.S.O.J. (English Barleywine)
Tree House Brewing Company (Massachusetts): The Greenest Green (New England IPA)
Goose Island Beer Co. (Illinois): Bourbon County Brand 30th Anniversary Reserve Stout (American Imperial Stout)
Goose Island Beer Co. (Illinois): Bourbon County Brand Two-Year Barleywine Reserve (English Barleywine)
Toppling Goliath Brewing Company (Iowa): Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout – Double Barrel Reserve (American Imperial Stout)
WeldWerks Brewing Co. (Colorado): Summer Starry Noche (American Imperial Stout)
Tree House Brewing Company (Massachusetts): Green Machine (New England IPA)
Side Project Brewing (Missouri): Derivation Blend #16 (American Imperial Stout)
Revolution Brewing (Illinois): Coconut Deth (Oatmeal Stout)
Half Acre Beer Company (Illinois): Benthic – 2 x 4 ( American Imperial Stout)

Another recent Toppling Goliath creation landed in the Top 25.

Toppling Goliath Brewing Co.

Seismic Sue is a New England IPA (ABV: 9.8%) with a 4.36 rating, which was the 24th best in America.

It's described as having 'notes of mango, orange, and pineapple with a grapefruit aroma.'

Toppling Goliath was one of just ten breweries that account for all 25 of the top spots on the 2023 list.

American Imperial Stouts dominated the list with 10 of the 25 spots followed by New England IPAs with seven beers on the list.

LOOK: Best Beers From Every State

To find the best beer in each state and Washington D.C., Stacker analyzed January 2020 data from BeerAdvocate, a website that gathers user scores for beer in real-time. BeerAdvocate makes its determinations by compiling consumer ratings for all 50 states and Washington D.C. and applying a weighted rank to each. The weighted rank pulls the beer toward the list's average based on the number of ratings it has and aims to allow lesser-known beers to increase in rank. Only beers with at least 10 rankings to be considered; we took it a step further to only include beers with at least 100 user rankings in our gallery. Keep reading to find out what the best beer is in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.

Gallery Credit: Angela Underwood