A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country.

Last week, in honor of Super Bowl XLIII, we took "What's On Tap" to Tampa Bay. Well, to the winner goes the spoils, so this week we find ourselves in much colder terrain as we travel up north to Steelers' territory to visit Fat Head's Saloon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home of this year's NFL World Champions.

Much of the battle in running a top-flight beer bar is dedication: Dedication to knowing your stuff, picking your products, finding the right distributor to make it happen. Some establishments, however, take things to the next level. In the past, I've praised beer bars for keeping a current draft list online. Well, Fat Head's does you one better, publishing a full-on PDF of their latest and greatest, including city of origin, tasting notes, ABV and price! According to a quick call to bar, they reprint and repost their draft list every time they switch out a keg and with the most recent update coming on February 3rd (that's yesterday), I have no reason to doubt they keep things fresh.

Way #2 to score dedication points, the bar boasts not one, but two beers brewed specifically for Fat Head's. Oregon's renowned Rogue Brewery whips up a Fat Head's Ale and Van Steenberge sends Head Trip (a Tripel) all the way from Belgium. I'm pretty sure not many other Pittsburgh bars can say that!

Still, in the end, it all comes down to what you're offering up on tap. After the jump, we'll take a look at Fat Head's hearty draft beer selection, and spread some news about why Cleveland area residents have something to look forward to...

Fat Head's official Draft List breaks beers down into Pale Ales, India Pale Ales, Seasonal Brews, Unique American Style Ales, Stouts & Porters, Wheat Beers, Brown Ales, Pilsners, Amber Lagers / Oktoberfests / Vienna Styles, Belgian Style Ales, Fruit Beers and Cask Ales (in that order... phew!). For the sake of space, I'll leave it up to you at home to see how good your beer style skills are and figure out where the group breaks go. Or, again, you can see the actual list here.

Without futher ado, let's take a look at Fat Head's monstrous set of 40+ taps:

• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
• Magic Hat #9
• Smithwicks
• Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale
• Dogfish Head 90 Minute !PA
• Green Flash Imperial IPA
• Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA
• Bear Republic Hot Rod Rye
• Stone IPA
• Rogue Yellow Snow Ale
• Southern Tier Krampus
• Blue Point Winter Ale
• Pyramid Snow Cap Ale
• Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale
• Great Divide Old Ruffian Barley Wine
• Rogue Dead Guy Ale
• Rogue FAT HEAD'S ALE
• Peak Organic Espresso Amber
• Breckenridge 471 Extra ESB
• Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter
• Guinness
• Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout
• Southern Tier "Choklat" Imperial Stout
• Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence
• Fraziskaner Hefe-Weizen
• Hoegaarden White
  
• Newcastle Brown Ale
• Penn Pilsner
• Pilsner Urquell
• Hofbrau Original Lager
• Great Lakes Elliot Ness Lager
• Yuengling Lager
• HEAD TRIP (Fat Head's Belgian Tripel)
• Maredsous 8
• Green Flash Grand Cru
• Southampton Biere de Garde
• Lindemans Framboise Lambic
• Lindemans Pomme Lambic
• Lindemans Peche Lambic
• Woodchuck Amber Cider
• Rogue YSB (handpumped cask ale)

It's a solid list of American craft with some generally standard international selections tossed in for good measure. It's fun to see three Valentine's Day selections (Creme Brulee Stout, Choklat Stout and Chocolate Indulgence) which shows some thought beyond the basic seasonal fare. They also feature a great who's who of American IPAs: If you haven't had the Dogfish Head, Green Flash, Racer 5 and Stone, a night at Fat Head's would be a great chance to knock out what some would consider the four standards for nationally available IPAs.

I mentioned earlier that Fat Head's features a couple beers brewed especially for the bar. Well, expect a lot more Fat Head's originals in the near future. A news link on the Fat Head website from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says that a second Fat Head's is set to open in the suburbs of Cleveland. Fat Head's Brewery & Saloon "will be a combination of house-brewed beers, probably 10 to 12, plus a wall of guest beers as well, maybe up to 30," all while preserving Fat Head's signature style that has made Pittsburgh proud. With the growing success of both beer bars and brewpubs, I see a lucrative future for Fat Head's... as long as Roethlisberger can stay healthy.

No wait, that's the Steelers. My bad.

Fat Head's Saloon is located at 1805 E. Carson St. in Pittsburgh, PA. www.fatheads.com.

[Photo Credit: fatheads.com]