Comment: Congratulations, Toppling Goliath!

Inside the new Toppling Goliath brewery

(The following is a comment by decorahnews.com's Paul Scott)

Nine years ago, Clark Lewey was brewing beer in his garage.  Let me write that sentence again: Nine years ago, Clark Lewey was brewing beer in his garage.

In Decorah we've seen other examples of projects which became hugely popular in a short period of time--the bald eagle webcam and the Trout Run Trail, to name a couple.  It's gotten to the point that some of us even say, "Well, what do you expect--it's Decorah."

But that doesn't do credit to people like Clark Lewey who had a vision and a passion for something and then worked hard to see that passion become a reality.  And now, for "Toppling Goliath," the company that took its name from the desire to topple the big beer companies, the move to its new 52,000 square foot building in the Decorah Business Park becomes a reality this weekend.

Here's another reality--Toppling Goliath brews seven of the top 100 beers in the world, according to BeerAdvocate, and is called the "Second-best Brewery in the World," with the "#1 Beer in the World" by Ratebeer.  Not a bad record for nine years of work in Decorah--even in a town where we've come to expect the extraordinary.