Fat Heads

Was extremely disappointed in the calender for 2020. The loss of Starlight, still no Alpenglo, no other new lager options.... Was really hoping Jack Straw or another Pils would be released this year, perhaps the Metroparks one?

I thought with the new facility that we would also see more small batch releases packaged for Brewery only purchase.

I work next door and honestly, while it's my only choice for grabbing their more unique beer, not a fan of crowlers. Often filled improperly, seam didn't hold a few times, and you have to drink them quickly to avoid oxidation. At least cans or bottles I can store a bit!

But yeah, love FH but the release schedule is beyond vanilla. Was hoping by now we would start to see some more unique stuff get packaged. Fingers crossed for some surprises along the way.

 

I’m reading it a little differently- special hops still released in a few weeks as a collab with 3 floyds instead of barley brown’s. Trail head is swapped with the new metroparks (hopefully with a catchier name). Maybe they are starting to realize that their offerings are IPA heavy. Makes Great Lakes release schedule look exciting.

Could have made everything better by releasing hop stalker in the 16 oz cans again.

Also disappointed that bone head isn’t making a return to bottles. Having the Bells ‘this one goes to 11’ over the past few months reminded me of the past bone head spring release.

 

I couldn’t have been much more disappointed. No lager in that Starlight spot. Bean Me Up gone.Trail Head gone (very surprising). One less Ju Ju canning.
They really seem to be going the opposite direction. @Ronmarley1 and I were rooting for IBUsive cans, but considering that they seem to have no intention to ever package Hop Stalker again that’s very unlikely.

 

When I brought up Alpenglow in a local Cleveland Facebook group, I got a long explanation about how it makes no sense to package it, how it wouldn’t sell, etc. While it’s certainly not my money at stake, I’m not sure why they wouldn’t at least give it a shot. It’s one of the most highly regarded beers. If they’re fine rolling the dice packaging Zeus Juice, then why not Alpenglow?

 

It really surprised me. As @WesMantooth said, when they moved into the new brewery, I thought we’d see IBUsive packaged for sure.
I’m guessing that the new Metroparks beer will be the Mill Stream helles/pilsner (which was really good, by the way). Mrs. Marley1 will be disappointed, as Trail Head is one of her favorites.
The worst is no Hop Staker bottles or cans again. I thought maybe it was just because of the move, but it doesn’t seem like that’s it.
No stout either. Maybe other folks won’t miss it as much, but I really liked Shakedown Stout.
Special Hoperations should be good. The Barley Brown’s collaboration last year was awesome.
My only guess is that they are focusing on the best sellers. I do know that a ton of Starlight sat on shelves and got tossed. That one will be missed by me. I think I went through about 2 1/2 cases of it, easy.

 

It seemed like Mill Stream was around for awhile so hopefully you’re right. Great beer.

 

Likely be the one, thankfully. When Starlight first got axed, was told the replacement would be comparable. Mill Stream has been more consistently on tap and the name even makes sense if they kept it, with Mill Stream being part of the Metroparks and all.

I still wish we had one more non-hoppy offering on that lineup, though. But I know, it’s business and that is what sells.

Could do without Strange Magic or Trailhead… Head Hunter, Sunshine and JuJu make a perfect trio with something like Hop Stalker thrown in there seasonally… I personally was excited for Strange Magic last year until it ended up tasting like every other IPA they do… Same hop profile/flavors, don’t really care to buy it. Sunshine and HH are better, anyways.

Still think Alpenglo would be a *perfect* beer to run on their pilot system and do a small-batch canning or bottle run of 15-bbl or so. Produce far less of it for trial, release at brewery only. I bet you they would be surprised on how quickly it goes. That is what I was hoping to see more of in general, instead, their cans/bottles are more stagnant than ever in terms of variety IMO. I swear in one interview with Matt Cole when the new location was opening that there was discussion of doing more small-batch can/bottle releases, but it never happened obviously. Am I wrong in hearing/reading that somewhere?

 

I'm kind of luke warm on Fat Head's in general. I'm going to be spending less time and money there in 2020

 

Quality hasn't dropped on any of the lagers or IPAs IMO. They did put out some weaker experimental/small batch beers in the last quarter (pizza beer, cinnamon toast, etc).

The schedule for next year isn’t great mainly due to lack of a packaged lager or any sort of hoppy seasonal after Danklin (second half of the year basically). I wish they added something like Hop Marauder, Dank Sinatra, IBUsive, Head Shrinker, Alpha Chino, etc. as a Q3 and Q4 seasonal. There’s certainly no sense of them progressing forward here and that’s a bit troubling in such a fickle time for beer in general. But, there will be a ton of kickass draft only lagers and IPAs and I’ll still make the drive out several times a month to support them.. Still the best brewery in Cleveland IMO.

 

It just stays too much the same and I'm bored with them. I have some other minor issues, and I have never been a fan of the food. Just time to do some different stuff, but their IPAs are still better than most

 

I'll still be buying a ton of Hop Juju year round, but like everyone else here I totally agree that so much of their release lineup is completely redundant. I just get the sense they want to package whatever moves off of Giant Eagle shelves the fastest. That new facility could not have been cheap.

Hop Stalker not seeing packaging is insane.

I'd kill for Black Knight or Black Muddy River to see bottles. Even their witbier is a standout and that's a style I almost never reach for.

 

I agree, the GLBC stuff actually has me excited for once. I avoid them at ALL costs in bottles/cans if I can help it, but the new stuff excites me enough to where I will actually buy and try them out and hope for the best. I never thought I’d see the day where GLBC can put out more exciting stuff than FH… But here we are.

 

Think it's clear they have no interest in adding shelf beers. I'm happy with fresh head Hunter, a rotating ipa, and I can hit the brewery for whatever special in a crowler if needed. Wish they'd come up with some different food at the brewery honestly more than the beer. Everything is so massive on the menu, I don't need a sandwich the size of my head while I'm trying to put down a bunch of beers. Maybe that's just me, but it's hard to take nonbeer people there to just eat too.

 

If I didn’t live almost 2 hrs from there, I probably wouldn’t be as bummed out that they have no packaging plans for a lot of the great lagers they make, or IBUsive, Hop Marauder, etc....but I will agree the food has been lackluster to not very good more often than not for me. Canton location had been the same.

 

Agree on the food. Have eaten there maybe two or three times and it's OK at best. I seriously think the food they sold out of the little kitchen (if you want to call it that) at the Sheldon location was better for sure.

I work a few hundred yards from FH and stop in every other week or so for a crowler or something to take home. It's nice having that option, but I personally don't care for crowlers/growlers if I can avoid it... But if I want something other than the IPA's being packaged, I have no choice. FH really does usually have a great variety of styles and options on tap, easily the best in the area... No question about that.

I mean... Style wise on tap as of today:

Fruited Ale
WC IPA's and Imperial IPA's
"Hazy" IPA's
Hefeweizen
Brown Ale
Kolsch
Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy
Christmas Ale
English IPA
Honey Blonde
IPL
Helles Lager
Altbier
Belgian Blonde
Doppelbock w/ adjuncts
Imperial Stout w/ adjuncts

 

It's really kind of been a bummer as someone who spends a lot of time in the opposite corner of the state. The year before they opened the new brewery, I was able to find a number of their draft-only lagers (Zwickerla, the dortumunder, and the Vienna lager spring to mind) around Cincinnati and Dayton and figured that trend would continue. Since the new location opened though, I haven't seen a single one. Most of the places I see doing events with the brewery are opting to just get the hoppy one-offs now, which normally wouldn't be a bad thing but is kind of frustrating since there's been such great variety at the brewery itself.