Guest Video Review by Dave Coulter

While so-called “session IPAs” may be all the rage these days, here’s a beer that goes in the opposite direction: Fat Head’s Brewery Trail Head Pale Ale. While “Session IPAs” take IPA and denude it of sufficient malt and body to be an India Pale Ale, Fat Head’s Trail Head Pale Ale takes a pale ale and amps it up to India Pale Ale proportions. And why not? IPA was born of pale ale back in the 19^th century after all.

I’ve heard great things about the Fat Head’s Brewery of Middelburg Heights, Ohio, but this is my first beer from them. Fat head’s beers are not sold in Georgia, but I got a can from the legendary Beer Professor Dave Coulter, whose video on Trail Head Pale Ale appears above.

Here’s what the brewery says about the beer on the can label, which sports a biker that looks a lot like Oliver Hardy to me:

Trail Head Pale Ale is handcrafted using Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe, and Amarillo hops, geared for chillin’ out after a great day on the trails. Hey, get your can off the couch, find a Trail Head and give back some good vibes…a portion of the proceeds goes directly to the Cleveland Metroparks Trails Fund.

According to the brewery, the beer is brewed with Pale, Munich, Crystal, and CaraPils malts in addition to the hop varieties listed above. It pushes the envelope on the border between pale ale and IPA with 6.3% alcohol by volume and 55 IBUs. American IPAs usually begin at around 6.5% ABV and 60 IBUs or so.

I received my can in August of 2014, and it has a canned on date of 7/09/14 stamped on the bottom. I kept it properly stored until I drank it in January of 2015 and it was truly magnificent.  

Fat Head’s Trail Head Pale Ale pours to a bright orange color with a thick foamy head and a huge hoppy nose of grapefruit, resin, and tropical passion fruit and mango. Taking a sip, the beer has good caramel malts upfront consistent with a pale ale albeit one of just slightly over average strength. The hops take over quickly but don't dominate as much as they would in a stronger IPA.

In the palate, I do get the resin the nose advertised and certainly the passion fruit and a little grapefruit (more like pithy grapefruit seeds really). The beer is very bitter indeed and finishes long and dry. Trail Head Pale Ale is simply full of hops and really, as I said, a borderline IPA, and a fine American Pale Ale to say the least.

What a wonderful beer indeed, well balanced with malt and hop both prominent yet very drinkable indeed. I could easily down a few of these over the course of an evening. If Fat Head’s Trail Head Pale Ale is sold in your area, don’t be a fat head and pass it by. Be sure to pick up at least a 12-pack, and tell them the Bruguru sent you.

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