USA, OH: Long awaited Fat Head’s Brewery opening coming soon

The long awaited, much anticipated and somewhat delayed opening of Fat Head’s Brewery in North Canton is coming soon, the Massillon Independent reported on February 16.

The 220-seat brewhouse and restaurant, in the southeastern corner of The Venue at Belden plaza, is tentatively scheduled to open on March 5. So, as they like to say at Fat Head’s, the company’s motto in fact: “Chill out man, have a beer.”

Fat Head’s traces its roots to 1992, when Fat Head’s Saloon opened on the south side of Pittsburgh. The name is a nod to its gargantuan sandwiches, actually called headwiches.

An on-line menu comes with the following explanation: “These sandwiches are big. Relatively close to the size of your head. Not including your hair because some people have really big hair and we had to draw the line somewhere ... and your hair was where we drew it. Historically this is where the term “hairline” originated. Beauty & The Beasty, Twisted Brisket, South Side Slopes (Voted one of the Top 5 Sandwiches in the U.S.A.) Let’s just say they fill your plate and your stomach. But they never sold when we called them stomachwiches.”

The company catapulted to grander success in 2009, when it teamed with brewer Matt Cole to open the first Ohio Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon in North Olmsted.

Since then, Fat Head’s has earned a slew of awards for its beers in a variety of festivals and events. Twenty-eight medals and certificates, each touting one of those honors, hang inside frames on a wall at the new Stark County location.

“We’re definitely hop-heads here ... that bitterness that gives you a little pucker, a pop, when you drink it,” said David Viscomi, general manager of the soon-to-open Venue at Belden site, in describing the taste of a Fat Head’s beer.

The hop-heavy recipes mean most of Fat Head’s roughly 30 regular varieties check in at between 70 and 90 on the 1 to 100 International Bittering Units scale, Viscomi said. By comparison, Budweiser is 7 and Miller High Life 10.

The flagship brew at Fat Head’s is “Head Hunter,” an India pale ale West Coast-style IPA with a hop display of pine, grapefruit, citrus and pineapple. However, the Bumble Berry variety, brewed with honey and infused with fresh blueberries is the best seller, said Viscomi, who spent seven years as an assistant manager in North Olmsted.

The interior of the 10,000-square-foot Stark brewhouse includes orange-colored accents, a polished concrete floor and an overall modern industrial design. It features a sprawling setup of bar seating, as well as booths and high and low-top tables.

Plans for the brewery were announced in 2016. A fall 2017 opening was delayed a couple times, but nearly everything is in place now. Brewing on site has begun — it will be supplemented with beer from the Middleburg Heights production facility.

The Venue at Belden operation, if not the layout, is patterned after North Olmsted, where roughly two-thirds of sales are food, compared to one-third alcohol.

Viscomi said the menu — of $10 to $14 per-plate meals — will also look very similar to North Olmsted, but will also include unique local favorites, such as a Hall of Fame burger.

And if Fat Head’s brews aren’t your style, no problem. Liquor and wine also will be available. And so will Miller Lite, which Viscomi likes to refer to as the “water of beers.”

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