If you spend enough time following breweries both online and in real life, it becomes super obvious who’s having a blast making beer and who may be taking themselves a bit too seriously. Based on the beer names alone, there’s no question Ohio’s Hoof Hearted brewing company falls into that first category. With beers like Saizzurp, Mom Jeans, Tub Life and Sidepipin’, there’s no denying these folks like to have a good time. There’s also the whole Hoof Hearted sounding a lot like “Who Farted?” too, but I digress.
The brewery touts “dabbling in the dank and dark arts” as its tagline. Dank being hoppy beers and dark being those roasty, smoky and chocolatey beers. Based north of Columbus in Marengo, Ohio, Hoof Hearted opened up shop in 2012, and three years later, it started canning its flagship IPA Musk of the Minotaur in 2015. A number of the brewery’s releases have made it into the aluminum vessels, including it’s “party pale ale” called Are We Having Fun Yet? — one of the dank arts, of course.
Getting the party started, this pale ale pours a cloudy yellow/orange hue with a thick pillowy white head that fades to a thin outline around the glass. The appearance isn’t unlike a glass of lemonade, perhaps a mango or peach variety due to the hint of orange in the color. Beer folks all over have been up in arms about cloudy or so-called New England-style IPAs and pale ales as of late. Some folks say that murky appearance is a sign the beer wasn’t made properly, citing that only certain styles should have this appearance when unfiltered. IPAs and pale ales aren’t included on that list.
Others argue the cloudiness is caused by not filtering the beer so that even more hop flavors can be imparted in the suds. I’m not going to argue one way or the other, but I will acknowledge the on-going conversation on the matter. For me, if a beer tastes good and looks like something that style should resemble, I’m not going to gripe about it. I’ll leave that judgement to the folks who award medals at GABF and the like. I’m also not going to hold it against you if you’d rather drink a brew with a bit more clarity.
Let’s get back to this beer, shall we? The nose of Are We Having Fun Yet? is full of earthy straw and hay notes — not unlike a saison or farmhouse-style brew. There’s also a hint of lemon and some hop aromas as well. A number of pale ales blast your palate with hop flavor, but this isn’t one of those. There’s plenty of that taste here, but this beer is balanced and very drinkable. It’s certainly a hoppy beer, but it doesn’t wear down your taste buds with bitterness. This is one of the lighter bodied hop-forward beers I’ve had, and it’s really enjoyable over the course of a pint.
As this pale ale warms, I can say that I’m having a moderate amount of fun, if I’m being pressed for an answer to the query the beer itself poses. A little more of those lemony aromas creep into the nose while the overall flavor stays pretty consistent. As I’ve already mentioned, despite being a bit higher in ABV than what many would consider a session beer, Are We Having Fun Yet? is plenty sessionable. In fact, I think I’ll have another.
Brewery: Hoof Hearted Brewing Company
City: Marengo, Ohio
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: 6.0%
Availability: Ohio
Billy is the host of The Brewcast, a beer podcast that never records on a regular schedule. You can follow his drinking habit @beardbrews on Twitter.