Remember the days when no new small brewing company would dare open their account with anything more than a pale ale or something equally crowd-pleasing? It's one sign of how far the beer industry has moved that there's less need to do so now; where once Moon Dog's decision to launch with a Cognac barrel-aged double IPA was outrageous, these days, if your business plan suits it, there's much to be gained from announcing yourself with something ballsy. And that's what Fox Hat did with the Phat Mongrel.
This isn't to say that an oatmeal stout is particularly outrageous; the style could even be said to have something of the fusty and traditional English boozer about it. Yet, we'll wager you won't find too many flat-capped chaps in such boozers sipping on oatmeal stouts quite like this. For their first release, the brewers gave the beer what would appear to be something of a Fox Hat signature: upped the booze and layered on the hops.
Thus you're left with a big beer befitting of its name: the traditional chocolate and roasted malts come to play with a shedload of piney American hops adding aroma, flavour and no little bitterness while the oatmeal phattens the body.
