Meet the Iowa woman who names your favorite Toppling Goliath brews and designs the cans

Sarah Hedlund is Toppling Goliath Brewing Company’s marketing director — that’s her title — but her most important job is really much cooler. 

When beer drinkers tip back some Supa’ Sumo or Dorothy’s New World Lager, the art on the can is the work of Hedlund, a Lone Tree native who studied at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. 

She’s also tasked with naming Toppling Goliath's new beers. Her first was Dragon Fandango, a kettle sour made with a collection of blended fruit. 

But it's not as fun as it sounds, Hedlund said.

There are thousands of craft breweries out there, and each one makes dozens of beers. Repeat names are a big no-no. She’ll come up with a great name only to find out it’s already been taken. 

“It’s a really big timesuck,” Hedlund said. “It’s not my favorite thing to do.”  

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She does have a favorite name, though: Dolphin Sparkles, a double India pale ale Toppling Goliath brewed with Barrel Theory Beer Company.

The colorful label, featuring two dolphins jumping over a heart, stands out among the cans adorned with skulls and dinosaurs that decorate her office.

Hedlund said she enjoys “complete creative freedom” in designing and redesigning the cans. She rebranded the entire company — beers, artwork, logos and merchandise — after arriving in Decorah in 2016.  

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Scorpius Morchella, another double IPA, is currently her favorite can design. Hopsmack! was the most frustrating, she said. She tried about eight times to redesign it before finally breaking through under the haze of a fever. 

She laughs when people ask Toppling Goliath staff who does the graphics because “he” does a great job. Nah, dude. She's part of the 42% of workers who are women at Toppling Goliath, she said. 

Hedlund is one of the more veteran Toppling Goliath employees. She was the 12th full-time person. Now, the brewery employs more than 100 full- and part-time workers. 

She counts herself lucky. Not every brewery has an in-house artist. Some farm out their graphic design work. 

“For me, having an art degree, I’m just super happy I have a job where I can draw,” she said. 

Last Saturday, she was tending to another one of her wide-ranging responsibilities: coordinating Toppling Goliath’s largest beer release ever. Around 4,000 people shuffled through and around the brewery to get their hands on bottles of Mornin’ Delight, which Hedlund called a “bucket-list” beer. 

When she wasn’t being bothered by a reporter, Hedlund was a walkie-talkie-carrying traffic cop.

And when there was a shortage: “Taylor, we need beer,” she urged into the radio. 

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Hedlund attended the Minnesota College of Art and Design. 

Austin Cannon covers the city of Des Moines for the Register. Reach him at awcannon@registermedia.com or 515-284-8398. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Subscribe today at DesMoinesRegister.com/Deal.