Fat Heads Hop Lightning

Brewed by Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon
Style: Barley Wine
North Olmsted, Ohio USA

Serve in Snifter

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Growler, courtesy miketd via CheeseMan. Pours a hazy, deep orange-amber color with a moderate head of bubbly, beige tinted froth. Settling to a thin, swirly film, the head leaves micro-spots and skinny flares of lacing scattered about the glass. The nose is monstrously hopped, showing basically like a double (or possibly even triple) IPA. Huge notes of grapefruit, grass, and pine resin dominate, while pepper and orange peel offer further hoppy depth. Underlying notes of toast and toffee struggle to keep up under the aromatic hops. Flavors follow suit, again ultra-hoppy and bitter, with biting citrus and grass, and strikingly powerful pine resin. Medium-full on the palate, the big, sticky body goes down with a good deal of alcohol burn, leaving a lingering bitternes on the back of the tongue. Very good if you’re into uber-hopped barleywines. This one is not for the malt-heads.

Sampled at Hell With the Lid Off. Juicy hop aroma, resin and citrus and light grassy notes. Mild sweet fruity notes and syrupy sweet tang. Orange amber with light haze, no head. Medium watery body, slightly oily, with medium carbonation and alcoholic warming. Big beer with tons of sweet malt, alcohol, brown sugar, and mild carbonic acidity. A big load of bitterness, too. Tons of hops from middle to finish. A real palate killer. Needs some aging.

On tap at brewpub
A solid all around effort this is a heavy hitting barleywine that almost demands your full attention. At 11% ABV you will not be drinking much of this. I can only imagine what happened to it in the cask. If it were not so strong I probably would have asked for a sample to find out. All barleywines should be this complex (but probably not this heavy). Again a clear winner from the guys in North Olmstead.

Aroma / Appearance - Hazy and flat as befits a beer this big the head was long gone by the time I got around to giving this its due. The nose was sharp like hardwood floors which had been polished until you could see the clouds reflecting from the sky. It almost straddles that thin line between barley wine and old ale.

Flavor / Palate - Heavy and chewy this one takes time to figure out. Reflecting I picked up hoppy caramel bites and then a finish like oak chips soaked in malt. A fine winter warmer this one brought me crashing back to the snow and chill of a Midwestern winter. Were it not for other obligations I would have spent all evening at Fat Head’s avoiding it by drinking these.

This poured a semi clear dark orange color with a beige head. Aroma was nice piney hops masking lots of sweet sugary and caramel notes. Flavor was very well balanced, enough great hops to keep it from being overly sweet and cloying, but balanced enough to keep it a barleywine and not venture towards the double IPA style.

On tap pours clear reddish hue with thick head. Aroma smells more like a hop bomb than a IIPA. Citrus and pine dominate with a malt presence. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor upfront is brutally bitter, has a malty touch in there somewhere, and finishes with a brutal bitter punch that lingers. This is pretty hot right now and would probably be even tastier as an aged version. I would be curious to see how the hops hold up over time and change. Another solid offering from one of my favorite brewers in the area.

Cask, poured a dark golden color with a nice white head. Extremely hoppy aroma, mokre of a DIPA that a Barleywine. Rich malty flavors balanced with big citrus hop flavors. Smooth medium mouthfeel and a lingering hoppy finish. This beer smells amazing but the flavor isn’t quite up to par, but it is still a delicious barleywine, that like another rater suggest would probably exceptional with some age, so start bottling Fat Head’s!

UPDATED: JAN 15, 2010 Sample at Fat Heads. Pours a clear amber with a medium beige head. Nose is earthy hops with some malty sweetness. Bitter earthy hop flavor with a bit of sweetness before a bitter finish.