Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Fat Head's Head Hunter India Pale Ale


Fat Head's Had Hunter India Pale Ale, 7.5% ABV, 87 IBU. Brewed and bottled by Fat Head's Brewery, Middleburg Heights, Ohio.

Clear, golden-amber color, almost tangerine, with an enormous, thick and sturdy, creamy white head. Looking great.

Aroma: leaps on on first pour and slips into the nose. All our favorites are inside, we get the citrus and the pine, there's the bitter grapefruit, some pineapple, maybe a whiff of mango. Pleases the olfactory organ in all the best and most appropriate ways. Smelling great.

Taste: Bam! A fierce assault on the palate, delivering massive bitterness, a hefty spank on the tongue. A powerhouse blow, staying long and laying in hard. Full-bodied, immense presence on the palate, long finish.

I can go through every superlative in the thesaurus, and just keep going. This one really has it all, and it ends on a moderately mellow mood, with that high bitterness and incredible flavor level never really tapering off. There's a strain of astringent, aspirin-y character that hangs in at the back. But some of us love that and this is for us, clearly.

Unrestrained, unabashed, unhinged. But damned delicious. Incredible IPA, deserving of all kinds of praise.

"Uncivilized & Aggressive. No other ingredient stirs the passion of a master brewer like the hop. Inspired by this legendary flower we challenged ourselves to create a world class IPA. Head Hunter is an aggressively dry-hopped uncivilized, West Coast-style IPA with a huge hop display of pine, grapefruit, citrus and pineapple. A punch-you-in-the-mouth brew for those who truly love their hop! Love the lupulin. Dig the dank. Respect the resin. Do not age, Hoppy beers are best consumed fresh."

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