Steel Toe Collision Course Review

Name: Steel Toe Collision Course
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: N/A

So I was originally going to review something else today, but I acquired a new offering from Steel Toe Brewing on a recent excursion to Minneapolis. I give to you Collision Course which is a Double IPA offering from Steel Toe Brewing.

The reason for the expedited review is because the bottle specifically says to drink this fresh which may or may not suggest that this is fresh hop IPA; It does say it was bottled on April 27, 2015 after all. When I purchased this, I was told that this was originally a draft-only release at Steel Toe's taproom but it became popular enough to warrant a limited bottle release.

Appearance - Hazy bright orange color with some moderate visible carbonation. The head is nice and foamy with some very abundant and sticky lacing.

Aroma - Rich grapefruit fruitiness and caramel maltiness, backed up by some robust mango and apricot sweetness. I'm also picking up on some light toffee sweetness in here as well.

Taste - Strong Mango and grapefruit notes on the front of the palate, with the caramel maltiness and toffee sweetness providing some much needed back up. The later half of the flavor is made up of toffee sweetness and bitter resin hops. As for the aftertaste, it consists mainly of bitter hops and light grapefruitiness

I can totally see why they wanted to bottle this instead of limiting it to just their taproom. The hop profile is nice and robust, while at the same time, retaining a nice and balanced malty backbone. It also helps that the price tag is quite reasonable for the style. Should you come across this, it would certainly be worthy checking out.

Steel Toe Collision Course - 9.25/10

Steel Toe Size 7 Review

Name: Steel Toe Size 7
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7%

I was recently down in Minneapolis with my wife when I decided to grab a couple bombers of beer to take back with us; The first of which I will be taking a look at today which is an offering from Steel Toe Brewing called Size 7, which is the brewery's standard IPA. Since this St. Louis Park-based brewery is not available in Duluth yet, I decided to grab it.

Interestingly enough, Size 7 is just one part of the brewery's IPA lineup; The other two being the Size 4 IPA (Session IPA) and Size 11 (Imperial IPA). Next time I'm down in the Twin Cities, I should try and acquire at least one of them.

Size 7 pours a dark orange color with a foamy white head. The amount of visible carbonation is low and the lacing retention is quite good.

The aroma starts out with some citrus hop and grapefruit notes with some apricot sweetness and a caramel maltiness lingering in the back.

Much like the nose, the flavor starts out very grapefruit and citrus hop forward with some apricot sweetness. However the caramel malt backbone plays a more active role here by keeping the hops from taking over the flavor, while at the same time providing a good malt sweetness. As for the aftertaste, it takes on a bitter citrus hop flavor with just a touch of maltiness.

The body is quite heavy and has a good amount of thickness to it. The carbonation is on the moderate side but it does help give the flavor a little more depth than it already has.

Size 7 is a excellent example of the IPA style. It has the strong hoppiness that many IPA fans crave yet it's malty enough to keep it from being too overbearing. I encourage anyone who considers themselves to be a fan of the IPA style to try this out!

Steel Toe Size 7 - 9/10

Steel Toe Provider Ale Review

I remember when Steel Toe Brewing opened up back in 2011 because it's opening was delayed due to the MN State Government shutdown during that summer. When it finally did open, the residents of St. Louis Park proudly had a brewery they could call their own. Their availability in liquor is slowly expanding and is currently available at only a select few liquor stores and bars in Minneapolis & St. Paul.

I had their Rainmaker Double Amber Ale last year and found it to be quite good so keep an eye out for that review in the near future. I'll be taking a look at Steel Toe's Provider Ale, which is their blonde ale. It's also the first Steel Toe beer I had ever had after it was recommended to me at the Four Firkins early last year.

It pours a wet yellow color with a fairly strong haze and carbonation. The head itself is decently sized but is rather soapy in terms of lacing and retention.

The nose gives off a strong yeasty and floral hop scent along with some malty notes. Along with that is a very slight earthy scent that reminds me of a Pilsener.

Flavor-wise it's not too different from the aroma. You have your yeasts, floral hops, cloves and malts, which all come off as surprisingly vibrant considering it's style. The earthy scent I mentioned before is not present here.

It's a heavier ale but with a light carbonation which helps add to the flavor, so you'll have no difficulty drinking this beer.

Provider is the beer I keep finding myself coming back to in case I'm unsure what I want to get. It's not complex or perfect but I know it's a beer that I can't really go wrong with and I know that it will go good with dinner regardless of what I'm eating. What I'm trying to say is that when it comes to Blonde Ales, Provider pulls it off quite well.

Steel Toe Provider Ale - 8/10