[Kohlsdorf] Many travelers come to the Driftless to take it all in and explore everything the region has to offer.

But, for some, the journey is all about one thing.

The beer.

♪♪ [Ashley Shockey] I consider a destination brewery because here in Decorah, Iowa, it is an absolute destination.

It's gorgeous here.

The fact that we have this wonderful brewery kind of tucked away in here, it's a little bit off the beaten path, but the number of people that we have that make it a destination on their way somewhere or coming and going, it's fantastic.

[Kohlsdorf] Toppling Goliath Brewing Company is a craft beer landmark known for making award-winning stouts.

The original taproom opened in 2009.

Now Toppling is pouring drinks from a state-of-the-art facility, producing more than 30 varieties of beer and distributing its products nationally.

♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] On Saturdays, the team at Toppling opens the door to the brewery and gives behind-the-scenes tours of the operation.

Let's go find out how these famous brews are made.

♪♪ [Loran Storts] Welcome to Toppling Goliath Brewing Company in lovely Decorah, Iowa.

We are now in our cellar, which is where we ferment our beer.

Let's start our tour.

♪♪ [Loran Storts] There are four main ingredients in beer.

Number one is water.

So, if we don't start with good water, you don't make good beer.

Our reverse osmosis machine takes all of our water and strips it down to nothing but H2O.

This is our brew system.

We introduce water with grain.

When the grains come together, they start producing enzymes.

And what this system does here, it pulls the sugar out of the water and out of the grain to create what is called wort.

We had our wort that came from our brewhouse.

It comes into the cellar and we add yeast to it.

Every beer ages differently.

Anywhere from seven to 28 days the beer will sit in the fermentation tanks.

We'll add some hops in.

Every beer will sit here for a period of time.

It will be tested.

When it's ready to go and be moved, we transfer it on.

♪♪ [Loran Storts] This is our canning line.

When it's fully operational, we can produce about 14,000 cans an hour.

Welcome to our barrel room.

Here sits on full room about 600 barrels.

In these barrels are some stouts that have been aged for one year, two years, up to five years.

The beer actually takes on the flavor of the cask.

And we have bourbon casks in here, we have whiskey casks in here, we have maple syrup barrels.

So, the beer actually takes on the taste of the liquid that is in that barrel.

We also have one of the best recognized beers in the world that was ranked number one the last six years.

It's sitting in here someplace in a barrel just waiting to be released.

♪♪ [Loran Storts] We release that beer one week in a year and you have to put your name in a lottery to even be selected to get a bottle of that.

You must be present to get that bottle of beer.

And that beer sells for $100 for a twelve-ounce bottle.

♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] Toppling serves beer with local flavor and a world-renowned reputation.

The brewery is open seven days a week, ready to welcome visitors from near and far.

[Ashley Shockey] The fact that we get people from all over to come to us, it's amazing.

There's a great chance that on a random Wednesday you'll find somebody, a family who is road tripping across the country or making it from A to Z and following all of their breweries in between.

♪♪