CulturAle Press

Fat Heads Hop Stalker Wet Hop Ale, Middleburg Heights, Ohio

Date:  November 14, 2018

The Story— Fat Heads has become somewhat of a major player in the western part of Eastern America.  Starting in Cleveland  and Pittsburgh and they continue to add breweries and now have locations in Canton and Middleburg Heights, Ohio.

This is in some ways a classic wet hop ale.   According to the web site, they obtained West Coast hops for the beer.  We assume they flew them back.  Whatever they used and however they got them to the East, it was a stunning success of a beer.  Maybe not the Grand Slam Wormtown was able to do with local hops, but a Home Run without question.   Dry hopped beers tend to be somewhat restrained, but this one pulled no punches.  A big 7.5% alcohol matched a bigger 80 IBUs giving a fine malt sweetness and a rich hop spiciness to every sip.

The Beer—A rich malt blankets the hops briefly , but the very distinctive hop flavors muscle though as it drinks.  It settles into a very earthy hop foundation with hints of truffle, a bit of old bay crab seasoning and celery.   It’s pretty near to a unique flavor for us.

Value — Good.  $5.50 for an 8 ounce glass just isn’t a bargain for any but the best 100 beers in the world, but this fine wet hopped ale is worth the money.

This week we focus on the US to highlight some great American craft beers, some of which we’ve found in researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

Next week we return to  HIGHLIGHTS OF EUROPE–  Surprisingly good beer in “bad beer cities.”  The best we’ve found in researching our next book – a guide to great beer in European tourist cities. (Planned publication 2019.)   We’ll shift back to great American beer finds next week.

 About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.