Beer Review: Fat Heads Head Hunter IPA

Been a while since I posted a beer review.  Doesn't mean I haven't been enjoying different brews, but it does mean that my life has been crazy busy lately with work and the family.  But when you run a casual beer blog sometimes you just need something that makes you stop and write.  Fat Heads Head Hunter IPA is the beer that made me stop to write.

Fat Heads is a brewery I know very little about actually.  I was at a DMB show in June in Noblesville and got to spend some time with someone from Ohio.  We discussed several brews.  He brought some Ohio locals and I shared with him a Zombie Dust.  Sadly, the Zombie Dust was past its prime and so I made a commitment to sending him some fresh Zombie Dust.  He sent some Head Hunter in return and I loved it then just as much as I loved his second shipment of it which arrived a couple days ago.  It's good to have friends in other states.

This is a small brewery based in North Olmsted, Ohio...southwest of Cleveland.  Head Hunter has been a medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup a few times in the past 3 years.  The distribution footprint is quite small.  Looks like the beer can only be found in Ohio and Pennsylvania.   Let's get to it:

I don't get in to the labels much, but I love this one.  A fat guys face that looks like it's about to explode from the massive flavors crammed in his hole.  Awesome.  First batches of this brew appear to be at 7% abv and 77 IBU's.  Seems that through the years this has crept up and now weighs in at 7.5% abv and 87 IBU's.  The more the merrier I say.

Choose Your Vessel:  The Bells 12oz Tulip.  Perfect for IPA's.

The Pour:  Clear deep orange in color.  A slightly darker orange hue than other orange IPA's.  Nice one finger head from the pour.  Lacing was outstanding as well....charting every sip on the inside of the glass as I enjoyed it.

Aroma:  Pungent hops.  Huge citrus on the nose from this one.  It really does smell like someone squeezed some fresh grapefruit into the beer.  You also get a prominent whiff of orange or tangerine.  Can not smell any malt in this one.  The hops are the star.  The description on the bottle indicates substantial pine, but I'm not getting that at all.  Mostly all citrus hops and maybe some sweet tropical fruit.

Taste:  Just like it smells.  Bursting with grapefruit goodness.  Fantastically bitter throughout with a touch of some pineapple sweetness that barely tames this hop bomb.  I'm not getting much pine in this at all, which for me is a good thing.  I am sure the only sweetness I am getting in this is from the sweet pineapple notes.  Also has a really nice earthy and grassy flavor.  Solid dankability.  Incredibly drinkable for me due to the bitter and slightly dry finish.

Overall:  It has to be up there as one  of the top IPA's I've been fortunate to try.  Many thanks to my buddy Walt for the brew.  Luckily he sent 2 more so I may go enjoy another after this review.  This beer hits all the right notes for me.  The label description indicates that this beer is a representation of a west coast IPA.  Typically known for heavy citrus and piney hops.  I have had a couple west coast IPA's like Sierra Nevada Torpedo and Green Flash West Coast IPA....and I would say that both of those beers could learn from this one.  Those two, in my experience, were heavier on the pine than the citrus which makes them less enjoyable for me.  This one focused more on the citrus with minimal pine which was right up my alley.  Hopefully some day they are able to distribute to Indiana because this could easily be an every day drinker for me.  Give me a grapefruity IPA any day....or just let me put this computer down so that I can have another Head Hunter.  Seriously, if you haven't had this one, get yourself a friend from Ohio or make a road trip.  This one is worth the effort.  Cheers, and happy hunting!! (no pun intended).

Beer Style #2: American IPA

Imagine, if you will, an American Pale Ale hopped up on steroids.  This is basically how I describe an American IPA to people.  APA's, if you recall from my previous post, have good hop character to them, but American IPA's the hops are kicked up several notches.  The flavor profiles can range from citrusy to herbacious to tropical fruits and so on.  Often some earthiness and floral tones to them as well.  The aromas of an IPA are incredibly intoxicating.  Common aromas again are citrus, pine, tropical fruits, and floral.  The aroma is what pulls you in to the beer.  There are few things beer that I like better than the aroma of a fresh, juicy IPA.  The color of an IPA can also be quite broad in range.  They can be a golden yellow to a deep amber color.  Many of them have a nice orange color to them.    .

IPA's really showcase the hops.  English IPA's are not as hoppy as American IPA's.  I remember trying Greene King IPA when in England last summer and my initial impression of it was that it was fairly light and the hops were minimal.  American IPA's also are medium bodied and have a nice malt backbone which holds the flavors together beautifully.  They often have a bitter finish, which is really what puts new IPA drinkers off.  Definitely an acquired taste, but once you get to the point where you appreciate an IPA, it is very likely to become your go-to style of beer.  This might be why the IPA is one of the most popular styles of beer in the craft beer world.

So what are some of my recommended IPA's....let's take a look:
1. Bells Two Hearted Ale:  A classic in the style and consistently one of the best rated IPA's in the world.  This is the beer that got me into IPA's and is always a good go-to beer.
2. Founders Centennial IPA:  Featuring the Centennial Hop in the very best ways.
3. Triton Railsplitter IPA:  Local from Indianapolis, this one packs an awesome hop punch with fantastic bitterness.  One of my favorites.
4. Ballast Point Sculpin IPA:  Another one that is consistently rated one of the best in the world.  But you won't find it in Indiana.  Definitely worth trading for or ordering online if you can find it.
5. Sun King Grapefruit Jungle IPA:  One of my favorite local Sun King brews.  Comes out twice a year and actually there is a tapping party for it on 8/30.  Amazing grapefruit flavor.  Crisp and refreshing.  Well crafted beer.
6. Surly Furious:  Possibly the best IPA I've had.  Can only get it in Minnesota. Again, very much worth trading for if you haven't had it.
7.  Stone IPA:  A classic west coast IPA and one of the most popular out there.
8.  Odell IPA:  Bold and complex.  Nicely bitter.  Not available in Indiana, but it's out there.
9.  New Belgium Ranger IPA:  A great starter IPA.  This beer renewed my faith in New Belgium as a brewery.

10. Three Floyds BrooDoo:  Only available in October, this fresh hopped IPA is one of my favorites from Three Floyds.  Be on the lookout for this one, don't miss it.
11. Fat Heads Head Hunter IPA:  Recently won an award for best in style beating out Sculpin IPA.  Massively hopped.  Can't get it in Indiana, but Ohio has it....and who doesn't love a road trip?
12.  Dark Horse Crooked Tree:  Definitely lives up to its description, crisp and dry.  Featuring the hops with a solid bitterness.  Great brew from Dark Horse out of Michigan.

Need some variation in your IPA life?  Well, there are some creative spins out there on IPA's.  Black IPA's, Rye IPA's, Red IPA's, and White IPA's have all really taken off in popularity.  Black IPA's are dark in color with roasted malts.  Rye IPA's are made with copious amounts of Rye malt.  Red IPA's are simply hopped up Red Ales.  White IPA's usually have a bit of funk to them. It's interesting to see brewers using creativity to create some of these spins on a traditional IPA.  Examples of these styles include:

1.  Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale:  Probably one of the best Black IPA's I have had.
2.  Firestone Walker Wookey Jack:  Not available in Indiana, but worth trying if you make it to Illinois or California.  Incredible Black IPA.
3.  Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA:  Don't sleep on this Rye IPA from Sierra Nevada.  It's really tasty.
4.  Troegs Nugget Nectar:  Is it an amber or an ipa? Always a debate.  For me I consider it a red IPA.  Seasonal from Troegs in Pennsylvania.  Just a quick trip to Ohio when it comes out and this could be yours.
5.  Grand Teton Pursuit of Hoppiness:  Strong ale or IPA?  In my opinion it's an IPA.  My second favorite to Nugget Nectar.  This hoppy red delivers all the goods.
6.  Anchorage Brewing Galaxy White IPA:  Massive funk and complexity....if that's your thing.

Of the variants, I would say that I enjoy them all, except White IPA's.  Generally they have been too funky for me.  My favorite IPA is Surly Furious and my favorite IPA variant is the Wookey Jack from Firestone Walker.

One more thing about IPA's.  One of the most important thing to consider when buying one of these hoptacular beers is freshness.  Check those bottle dates.  If it's old (3-4 months) or has dust on the bottle on the shelf, please pass it by.  Hop flavors fade over time and nothing is more disappointing that an IPA that has lost its hop punch.  So get those IPA's fresh if you can.  Look for a future post dedicated to the Double IPA.  What are your favorite IPA's?


Cheers!!

Mothers Brewing IPA's

Beer trades can be a great thing.  They often allow you to have a taste of brews you normally wouldn't get to try.  That's the case with these two IPA's from Mothers Brewing out of Springfield, Missouri.  Usually I review one beer at a time, but since I received these two in one shipment I will look at them both simultaneously.  These are two of the IPA's from this little brewery, one is called Lil' Helper and the other is called Trouble Maker.  Lil' Helper is a standard IPA and Trouble Maker is a double IPA.  Here we go:

Choose Your Vessel:  Went with the 12oz Bell's Tulip glass for these two brews.

The Pour:  Trouble maker poured an amber-ish orange, slightly hazy as well.  Lil' Helper poured a nice golden orange.  Both beers showcased a nice looking head with decent carbonation and the Lil' Helper had better lacing...pictured below.  Both beers looked beautiful in the glass.  Advantage: Lil Helper, seemed to have better lace retention throughout consumption.

Aroma:  Lil' Helper for me had a nice aroma of citrus hops balanced with some sweet malt and biscuit aromas.  Trouble maker was all floral hops for me.  Further sniffing revealed the sweetness of candied citrus.   Pretty big hop aromas with some complexity.  Edge on aroma goes to the Trouble Maker.

Taste:  Here's where we separate these two beers even further.  The Lil' Helper tastes like a very nicely balanced IPA.  Good hop bitterness.  Citrus, Pine, earthiness with some good sweet malt to back it up.  Nice bitter and clean finish.  The Trouble Maker was somewhat all over the place for me.  Has the nice floral hop flavors, but also getting malt and what seems to be a touch of honey sweetness followed by boozy notes.  Edge goes here to Lil' Helper because it seemed to more complete.

Overall:  The Lil' Helper was a nice standard IPA.  Had balance in aroma and taste.  Finished quite cleanly and really was a refreshing version of the typical IPA.  Not quite as bitter as I like them, but really solid.  The Trouble Maker bordered on a mess of flavors for me.  I like the individual components of aroma and the complexity of the flavors, but there was a distinct booziness and honey sweetness in the finish that was slightly off-putting for me.  Just didn't come together as a cohesive brew for me.  The advantage here for me goes to the Lil' Helper.  Both beers were good brews, no doubt, and I feel like the Trouble Maker could be something phenomenal with some more development.  Hopefully I get the chance to try it down the road.  

Lil' Helper in glass

Lacing from the Lil'Helper....beautiful

National IPA Day

This thursday, August 2, is the second National IPA Day.  It's a day to celebrate one of the most popular styles of beer brewed today.  Here is an article with more on this special day created to encourage people to honor what is likely the most popular style of craft beer.

So why should you drink an IPA on this day?  Why do we even have a day like this?  Beer geeks will obviously participate in honoring the IPA.  We don't really need a special day to consume such a great style of beer.  However, if someone tells me they are gonna have a special day to honor the IPA, then of course you don't have to tell me twice.  I'm going to participate.

My challenge is to you non-craft beer drinker, or maybe you closet craft beer fans out there. Step out of your comfort zone and try a couple different IPA's that you normally pass on when browsing the shelves of your local beer store.  Push yourself to drink two or three of them.  Many times people who aren't into IPA will take one sip and pass because "it's too hoppy".  Hey, you probably didn't love coffee or that first college sip of natty light in your initial journey down those beverage paths.  Those are acquired tastes, and the same can be said about IPA.  I didn't love my first taste of Bell's Two Hearted many years ago, and now it's one of my favorite IPA's on the market.

There are IPA's out there that are not insanely hoppy and can be quite enjoyable to the IPA newbie.  Let me give you some recommendations:

Sixpoint Bengali Tiger:  This beer, while not my favorite, is a nice entry to an IPA.  It's non-threatening with it's hop presence, is quite drinkable, and goes down smoothly.  Not as bitter as some IPA's can be.
Founders All Day IPA:  Extremely refreshing, full of nice hop flavors, and insanely light.  This IPA you can really drink "All Day" because it is only 4.7% ABV.
Bell's Two Hearted Ale: One of my favorites.  Maybe a little more hopped than others, but it is nicely balanced and is quite true to style.  Make sure you drink 2 though....because I said so.
Stone IPA:  A little more bitter than others, but still quite refreshing and crisp.  Easy to find and rather enjoyable.  Go for it!
New Belgium Ranger IPA: I was pleasantly surprised the first time I had this one.  A nice IPA by a brewery most people who are new to craft beer aren't afraid of and could definitely be on board with.

The best recommendation I can make, however, is to just go local.  These days most places have a craft brewery that's within driving distance.  Many of these craft breweries will have special IPA's on tap that day to celebrate.  Be watching your favorite brewery's twitter feed or website for more information on what they will be pouring.

What will I be doing this year for IPA day?  Well, being the beerdaddy, my evening will likely be spent at home with my wonderful boys and awesome wife.  I would love an opportunity to go out to my favorite local spots, but I wouldn't trade my time with my boys for anything.  What will I drink?  This is a great question.  I have many many options for this day, and I have not made the decision yet.  Look for another blog post about this later this week.

What will you drink for IPA Day?  Let me know via comments here or tweets.  Looking forward to hearing from people about this, and spread the word by adding #IPADay to your tweets to add to the celebration that is IPA!

Cheers!!

A Spunky Imperial IPA....Ska Decadent IIPA

I didn't know much about Ska Brewing before diving into their Decadent Imperial IPA.  So I decided to check out their website.  The first thing i noticed was the blaring Ska style music coming from the page, and then the really awesome web design they have.  It's an awesome website, I recommend you check it out.  These guys seem like they have fun doing what they do and this is part of the joy of craft brewing.  I also have a special place in my heart for Colorado breweries.  My sister lives there.  We vacationed there a lot when I was a kiddo.  It's one of the most beautiful states in our awesome country.  No coincidence that Colorado produces some of the most awesome beer in the country either.

I have had their Modus Hoperandi from a can previously and really enjoyed it, so when I landed the Decadent Imperial IPA in a recent beer trade I was ecstatic to give it a try.  One of the benefits of having friends located throughout the west coast and rocky mountain area is that I am lucky to receive some awesome beers that are not local.  These are real treats.  So let's dive into this wax-dipped gem....I mean, if it's dipped in wax it has to be awesome right?  Here is what the beer geeks at Rate Beer have to say about this one.

Choose Your Vessel:  For this brew, I went with the Bells 16 oz Tulip glass.  I do actually have a Ska Brewing Pint Glass I received from my sister, but it was for a different beer and I wanted to use a tulip.  The larger Bell's Tulip is awesome for these larger bottles.  Getting into this brew was a bit of work.  The wax didn't want to come off easily and I had to be careful to not get any wax in the beer during opening.  I like the look of wax-dipped bottles, but in actuality, I'd rather this practice disappear.

The Pour:  Deep orange in color and fairly clear.  As the beer fills the glass I thought for a minute that no head would form, but thanks to the design of the glass the head begins to form towards the end of the pour.  A solid one and a half finger white foamy head appears and really sticks around for a while.  Indicates to me that this will have some nice lacing, which it did, and would also be somewhat resinous, which again it was.

Aroma:  Mostly citrus hops.  Orange peel and some grapefruit.  I'm getting a hint of some sweet mango as well.  Also present is the slight smell of alcohol and a hint of some sweet caramel malt.

Taste:  Tastes less hoppy than it smells.  Definitely get the orange and grapefruit hops with a little bit of malt.  Alcohol swarms the palate towards the end but the beer ends up rather sweet and somewhat syrupy in mouthfeel.  Alcohol is not as well hidden as with other Imperial IPA's I've had.  However, in a strange way, the beer is quite balanced and incredibly smooth to drink.  Sweet and maybe just a trace of bitterness.  I definitely get some sweet tropical notes as I progress through the beer.  I also am getting more malt than I expected with this one.  Bottle says best before 4/2013 which tells me this is pretty fresh.  So I expected more hops especially with the advertised 95 IBU's.  Quite drinkable.  3/4's of the way through I really start to feel the 10% ABV.  A little more carbonation would make this brew more crisp, but I did enjoy it quite a bit.

Overall:  Not the most incredible Imperial IPA I've had.  Does have some uniqueness which is what I always look for in a beer.  I expected it to be hoppier than it actually was, but it definitely had a nice balance of sweet flavors with the hops which you don't see often from Imperial IPA's.  These guys know what they are doing. I look forward to trying more beers from Ska in the future.

An All Time Favorite

Quick love given to one of my all-time favorite beers. Three Floyd's Dreadnaught Imperial IPA. Intensely hopped, mango, peach, citrus and a massive malt backbone keep this complex brew incredibly balanced, smooth, and dangerous. One of my all-time favorites. What are you all-time favorite brews?

A Nice Piece of Glass

I love craft beer.  My friends and family are well aware of this.  What some may not realize is that I also have a special affinity for drinking glasses.  It started out as just a collection.  I collected pint glasses, the standard drinking glass you would find at any regular old drinking establishment.  My collection grew and grew.  As of today I think I probably have around 60 pint glasses.  I also have 12 or so specialty glasses such as Tulips, Snifters, Globes, and Imperial Pints.  I love glasses, not quite as much as I love beer, but it's close.

I was at a friends house a month or so ago and when we arrived for this beer tasting, my buddies wife brought out the good old "frosty mug".  Inside I cringed.  I couldn't possibly drink one of these fine quality beers from a frosty mug, but I wasn't going to be rude.  It was the first time I had been to this guys home and so I was determined to just suck it up and deal with the inadequate glassware.  A conversation ensued about craft beer and appropriate glassware which inevitably led to us switching to different glasses. After we switched to different glasses, a buddy of mine remarked at the astounding difference in aroma the beer had when poured into the more appropriate glass.

You are probably asking, "what's wrong with the frosty mug?  I have two in the freezer right now waiting for my next after work beer".  Do yourself a favor and, unless you are going to drink a Coors Light out of the frosty mug, please take the frosty mug out of the freezer and put it back in your cupboard.  Or find another use for it, like making root beer floats.  Just please, don't use a frosty mug for a good quality craft beer.  Craft beer is complex.  You want to enjoy your craft beer the way it was intended for you, right?  On this occasion at my friends home, we started with New Holland Dragon's Milk, a robust and rich Imperial Stout.  The frosty mug is one of the biggest enemies to a beer like Dragon's Milk.  It's essentially like dropping an ice cube or two into the beer.  The condensation from the inside of the glass turns into water which then dilutes what was a rich and robust stout and turns it into a watered down unhappy version of itself.  Please don't make your beer sad. Coors light and those other yellow fizzy "beers" are already watered down, so really you aren't doing any damage to them.....not that further damage can be done to the already inferior product...unless you add Clamato and Chelada to Bud Light....but that's for another day.

Back to the discussion of glassware.  I'm not going to go into all the varieties of glassware out there, just the ones I think you should know about.

First: Let's Talk Tulip:

Palate Wrecker 

The Tulip glass is probably my all-time favorite glass to consume beer.  This glass has a stem and is in the shape of a, you guessed it, tulip.  The body of the glass is rather bulbous, with a slight inward curve in the middle, and at the top the glass flares out slightly.  It's no coincidence that my favorite glass is also the proper vessel for my favorite style of beer....the IPA or Imperial IPA.  Why is this the best glass for this beer?  Well, IPA's and Double IPA's have the highest hop content of most, if not all, beers.  Hops provide intoxicating aromas and when drinking an IPA you want that aroma to stick around as long as possible.  Once you open the beer, you inevitably start to lose some of that sweet hop aroma goodness.  The Tulip glass helps to prevent against aroma loss.  The curve in the middle keeps the majority of the beer below and the glass promotes incredible head retention, which also helps to keep the aromas in the vessel, unlocking them slowly and creating an incredible beer drinking experience as you work way through.

Zombie Dust in Tulip glass.  I know, Zombie dust is a Pale Ale, but it's so heavily hopped that a Tulip is  optimal.

Second: Snifter's.

Snifters are usually paired with Cognac or Brandy, but they are also the perfect choice for stouts, porters, barleywines, strong ales, scotch ales, and other heavier beer styles.

One of the most attractive qualities of a stout or a porter is complexity.  These beers offer a much more complicated aroma and flavor profile than most beers.  Snifters have a rather wide base and therefore it supports the "weight" of these heavier beers.  Fat glass for a heavy beer....makes perfect sense to me.  What does that wider base do?  Well, stouts and porters typically get better as they warm up.  This unlocks more layers of aroma and flavor along the way.  The wide base of the snifter provides more surface area.  More surface area means that heavy beer can spread out all over and inside that glass, which allows it to get comfortable and warm up a little sooner than if you were to put it in a regular pint glass. The other advantage of a snifter is the narrowed rim.  The narrowed rim again keeps the aromas inside the glass better than any other vessel.  It's also usually quite perfect when taking those precious sips because the rim will literally encircle your nose, trapping it in the glass and allowing you take a massive inhalation of aromas while your beer floods your taste buds.  This makes for the perfect stout/porter drinking experience.  If you don't have a snifter, a globe glass will essentially do the same thing

Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin in Snifter

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout in  Globe glass

Founders KBS in Globe

The Pint Glass:

There's nothing fancy here.  Pint glasses are probably the most well-known type of beer glass, and there are a lot of different ones out there.  I generally use the pint glass for American Pale Ales and Lagers.  These glasses are just easy to drink out of and are a solid choice when you aren't so concerned about intense aromas and complex flavors.  If I have been mowing my yard and I need to have a thirst quencher, I go with the pale ale in a pint glass.  Mostly just trying to enjoy a craft beer quickly and efficiently.  It's a versatile glass also, and if you are in a bar and want to enjoy an IPA or a Stout and they don't have a Tulip or a Snifter, then a pint glass will likely be an adequate replacement vessel.

Sun King Osiris Pale Ale in Sun King Pint Glass

Finch's Threadless IPA in an Imperial Pint Glass

The last glass we will look more specifically at is the Goblet or Chalice glass.  Goblets and Chalices have a stem and the body just flares straight out and up.  They don't narrow back inward at any point.  Goblets tend to be more thick and heavy.  Chalices are usually more delicate.  They both tend to resemble each other in style though and are rather majestic.  I like to think of them as glasses fit for a king.  Especially the Goblet.  It really is a solid piece of glass that you can wrap your big mitts around and they just make you feel like you are drinking something special.  They are designed to maximize head retention and the wide mouth enables you to take bigger sips.  They are also just badass to look at and you feel like a king when you use one.

Avery Goblet

Westvleteren 12 Chalice

There are also other styles of glasses out there.  From the flute to the pilsner to the stein, there are many options at your disposal.  To learn more about proper glassware, read this article presented by the experts at Beer Advocate.  Make your beer happy and use an appropriate glass, and please, promise me, no stouts/porters in frosty mugs. 

What are your favorite drinking glasses?  Pics are welcome!!