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Although it typically takes a detour to reach Wooly Pig in rural eastern Ohio, the brewery’s fans include Fat Head’s brewmaster Matt Cole—who named this beer his favorite from the state of Ohio.
“And if I close my eyes while drinking one in their beer garden, it feels like I’m back in a beer garden in Bavaria,” Cole says. “Super-crisp, delicate, dangerously drinkable—the spicy floral hops with a very light perfumy note integrate so well with the malt.” (Their Schwarzbier, he adds, may be a close second.)
The farm on which Wooly Pig sits, in the Appalachian foothills, is more than 150 years old; there’s a big, red 19th-century barn in the backdrop of that beer garden. Cole says he also loves the pork steaks they sell there—and the wooly pigs from whence they come. The farm is currently home to a dozen mangalica pigs, known for their shaggy appearance and fatty marbling. “The brewery would be as at home in Franconia or southern Bavaria as it is in the Ohio countryside,” Cole says.
For much more about this brewery and Ely’s approach to lager, energy efficiency, and more, see the Case Study in our Brewing Industry Guide.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.045 (11.1°P)
FG: 1.007 (1.9°P)
IBUs: 33
ABV: 4.9%