Guest Video Review by Dave Coulter

Hey there craft beer drinkers! I’m here to tell you how wonderful Fat Head’s Hop Juju Imperial India Pale Ale is. Don’t take my word for it, though. The beer won a Gold Medal at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival in the Imperial IPA category. After receiving a bottle from the always magnanimous Dave Coulter and popping it open, I can easily see why.

I don’t get Fat Heads beers here in Georgia, but I’ve been trying an increasing number of their beers thanks to Dave. All have impressed. The brewery is located in Middleburgh Heights, Ohio, about 16 miles from Cleveland and another of my favorite breweries, Great Lakes. Ohio really has a great beer scene going on folks.

From the label:

The magical hops cast their spell, the natives chant and the drums beat... First let us confirm that there is no witchcraft used in creating this fine brew. None. Really. Well maybe a little. A supernatural beer with a powerhouse of hops creating aromas and flavors of citrus, pine and tropical fruit with a juicy resiny hop finish. Hakuna Matata.

Ingredients from the website:

YEAST: American Ale

MALT: Pale, C-15, Caramel Light

HOPS: Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe, Cascade, Citra

Fat Head’s Hop Juju Imperial India Pale Ale has an alcohol content of 9% by volume with a whopping 100 IBUs. This is a seasonal offering from Fat Head’s, so if you see it, buy it.

Fat Head’s Hop Juju Imperial India Pale Ale pours to a beautiful orange amber color with a thick head of unruly foam and a luscious nose of citrusy grapefruit, passion fruit and piney resin. Taking a sip, the beer has some chewy caramel malt up front, not as much as I like in the style but a respectable amount to be sure. The hops are all over you quickly though and can make you forget about that.

In the palate, they’re just as they were in the nose but with less passion fruit, about the same grapefruit and a lot more resin. Like, sticky pine tar resin and a huge, long dry bitterness. The beer has a really amazing long dry resiny finish actually, and do I get notes of wood and dry coconut? I think i do.

Just an amazing beer with chewy malt and complex hop notes, I would like a tad more malt but I won’t take off for that here. This beer is just too good. Don’t take my word, though, or even that of the GABF. Try it for yourself and see what I mean. You can thank me later for recommending this beer. And you will thank me, just as I’m thanking the Beer Professor himself.

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