Smiling Toad March 2020 Visit

March 19, 2020 Jesse

Well, the month of March started off with some very good news. After nine months of being closed to move to their new location, Smiling Toad decided to open their doors to the public after a very successful soft opening to brewers (pros and home alike). I missed the soft open, but Mike was able to make it and was pretty impressed. Impressed enough that when I suggested we head to the “new and improved” Toad for our weekly outing so I could give them a try, he didn’t hesitate to say “Yes”.

The only down-side to the visit for me was how much I was kicking myself for missing the soft open! Otherwise, it was a grate visit. The new space may be a little rouygh arond the edges, but nothing that detracts from the intent of the space which is to socialize and drink great beer.

It’s obvious they put in a lot of sweat into the place. The bar has ample room for quite a few people and the multi-level seating area has community tables if your feeling sociable as well as samll table for a few friends.

On this evening, we chose the latter option as it was just me, Mike, Bill and Scott.

{Mike} What Jesse failed to mention is that I did a horrible job of covering my visit to the soft open. When we arrived the line was something like 20 people deep waiting to get some delicious beer. I don’t know how many people Biff Invited, but lots of folks showed up. The amount of love that Smiling Toad gets from the Facebook crowd, and their loyal customers, is just awesome! It’s well deserved too. Either way, I was so wrapped up in talking with friends that were there that I didn’t take a single picture, or log a single beer. Shame on me!

Nevertheless, I’m glad that they decided to open a little early and unexpected, it was a really pleasant surprise, and the friendly crew there make it an easy choice to visit.

What Mike had:

Stout – No fancy names here, heck, I don’t even know the ABV / IBUs of this beer. Crikey is it good though. Smooth and creamy, chocolate and roast notes, this just hits the spot.

When I went to the soft opening, I had this one as well, and enjoyed it just as much. So much in fact, that it’s the first thing I ordered on this visit.

Black EyePA – Black / Cascadian IPA 5.6% ABV, 58 IBU (According to the stats on Untappd).

One thing you’ll notice at Smiling Toad, they love their IPAs, and you can tell they have some practice making them.

The bitterness level on this one is pretty subdued and very enjoyable. Lightly roasty, with a nice pine aroma and flavor. I could see drinking this pretty often, it has lots of flavor, and doesn’t destroy your palate.

Jesse’s selections:

Callipygian Pale – Pale Ale – 5.3% ABV 23 IBU

I don’t know if the photo to the left is an indicator of how long it had been since we visited a brewery as the COBrewTalk team or how much I really enjoyed this beer. Maybe a little of both.

I don’t often run across a word that I’ve never seen before, but callipygian was one of those words (I’ll let you follow the link to the definition). Even though it’s an obscure word and hard (for me) to pronounce, I’m glad I fumbled my way through the name to order it.

This is a nice pale ale with a slightly sweet /malty start and a mildly piney finish. I always appreciate when a pale ale is closer to balance – leaning heavily toward hoppy, of course – than not.

Belgian Farmhouse Ale – Belgian Ale – 8.5% ABV

As advertised. Definitely a Belgian ale. It has the characteristic flavor I was anticipating. The surprise was that it was a little hoppier than I would expect from a Belgian farmhouse ale, but not unpleasantly. The hops compliemented the sweetness of the beer very well.