On the South Side, Fat Head’s turns 25

the bar watching the final game of the National League Championship Series. When Atlanta’s Sid Bream slid home to beat the Pirates, every customer walked out.

As the 1990s went on, socalled craft beer kept getting more popular, as did Fat Head’s food, and its tap list grew. South Side’s popularity was peaking, too, and Fat Head’s became a destination.

In the meantime, in the early 2000s, Matt Cole was making a name for himself — first as a homebrewer while he attended the University of Pittsburgh, later while brewing at Great Lakes and Rocky River brewing companies. They’d heard of each other, and Mr. Benigni, at one of his Saturday morning “beer camps,” tried and loved several of Mr. Cole’s beers.

But they really didn’t know each other until one day in 2008 when Mr. Cole drove to Pittsburgh to ask the Benignis to invest in a brewpub he and some others planned to open in a former farmers market in North Olmsted, Ohio. Mr. Cole was so nervous he almost turned around, but the meeting happened at Fat Head’s Saloon. The Benignis agreed to be part of the project, but it was going to be a Fat Head’s brewpub. It clicked.

The couple and Mr. Cole decided to grow into a production brewery, with its own taphouse, and before long were maxing out at 32,000 annual barrels of beers, some of which were gaining cult followings.

They not only were amassing a lot of bronze, silver and gold, but also doing it in some of the most popular beer categories. Hop Juju Imperial India pale ale won gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival in 2013 and 2015 and a bronze in 2016, when Fat Head’s five medals were more than any brewing company in the country.

Today, anywhere from 10 to 20 of the 42 taps at the South Side bar are Fat Head’s.

“I haven’t had a domestic beer in 25 years,” Mr. Benigni says, while sipping water. He still works a LOT, driving to Ohio one day a week, but wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It went fast, but it took forever,” he says. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

He believes it will take some time before they make money on the new brewery, but is counting on slow and steady growth. They could double production to 65,000 barrels over the next four to five years, and ultimately grow to 125,000 barrels.

Now that the three Benigni daughters are either college graduates or about to enter, he and his wife are talking about selling their house in Robinson and moving back to the city, maybe to the place where it all began. He’s seen South Side change so much over the three decades, and is painfully aware of its challenges, including parking, but he’s continuing to invest in its future.

“In my opinion, this is the best neighborhood in the city.”

Andrew Topping is right there with him, just across Carson Street. He owns Piper’s Pub, which he opened in 1999 in a building the Benignis sold to him.

“They’ve been nothing but good to us,” he says, appreciating everything from their personalities to their attention to detail. “That’s how they get to 25.” And 24, as Monday is another anniversary, Mr. Benigni confirms: “We got married the following year, 1993, same day, the 11th. Twenty-four years for us.”

Locations

Fat Head’s Saloon, 1805 E. Carson St., South Side (15203)

Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon, North Olmsted,