Ok, I admit it. I drink a lot of beer. I mean a lot of different kinds of beer. Ok, you got me. But like many people I have a full time job, a wife, a child, a house, a social life, etc. Why am I telling you this? Because I love writing for The Perfectly Happy Man, but I struggle sometimes to find the time to do the “work.” Yes, it’s in quotes because remember we are talking about beer, I can hardly complain. But its more than just drinking a beer. We are talking about taking time to buy beer, taking time to set the lighting so the picture is decent, photographing it, drinking it, and then writing about it. So, all of that to say, I made some time this weekend to cross off some reviews. That time just happened to be in the bathroom while my 5 year old daughter took her bath. Calling DCFS yet? Please refrain. I’m a good dad and it doesn’t scream irresponsibility as much as it sounds like it would. And anyway, I’d prefer my daughter to be exposed to the finer things in life, beer being one of them, rather than being taught that it’s “bad” or whatever. If beer was “BAD,” I’d sure have a lot of explaining to do seeing as I make the stuff in our house. But in any case, so she’s in the tub playing with Ariel and Prince Eric who apparently are getting married for the 500th time today, right here in my very bathtub. I’m the officiate, as always, so I put down my glass and get into character. They live happily ever after, until bath time tomorrow of course.

Onto the beer. Two finger head dissipates fairly quickly to a film across the top. There is a very unique aroma. Hoppy, but not the typical fruity, piney hop aroma. I get a bit of a “dirty” hop smell, not nearly as crisp and sharp as I’m used to. The label admits this beer is dry-hopped with “buckets of Amarillo hops” and you can tell, these are not Cascades. After thinking about it, and having another one of these a day later, I’ve decided, the aroma is “oily”. Not sure if that makes sense, but after drinking 2 of these over 2 days I can substantiate my “oily” claim. Its not just the aroma, but also the taste and mouthfeel. There is a resin-y, oily feel to it, attributed most likely to the generous dry-hopping, and the variety of hop, Amarillo.

Taste: Wow, this is a balanced beer. To compliment all that’s going on with the aroma of this beer the taste is a great partner. Plenty of caramel malt and body, and of course, plenty of hops. The hops do dominate, but the malt does a good job of trying to counteract. This is a good beer.

Purchased this beer to inspire me as my home brewing schedule brings me to my own hoppy red ale tonight: I’m using Amarillo as my bittering hop, so I will not get the aroma like this beer has, but in a few weeks if I’m feeling inclined I can certainly add my own “bucketload” of hops to make this one really smack you in the face. Or I may not.

Hop Head Red Ale comes in at 6.4%. A very hoppy red ale. I like it- not my favorite beer but definitely along the lines of hoppy beers I’ve been enjoying recently.

ABV: 6.4%

Grade: B