Heady Topper
The Alchemist in Stowe, Vermont, United States 🇺🇸
IPA - Imperial New England / Hazy Regular|
Score
8.16
|
|
We love hops – that’s why our flagship Double IPA, Heady Topper, is packed full of them. Heady Topper was designed to showcase the complex flavors and aromas these flowers produce. The Alchemist has been brewing Heady Topper since 2003. This Double IPA is not intended to be the strongest or most bitter DIPA. It is brewed to give you wave after wave of hop flavor without any astringent bitterness. We brew Heady Topper with a proprietary blend of six hops – each imparting its own unique flavor and aroma. Take a big sip of Heady and see what hop flavors you can pick out. Orange? Tropical Fruit? Pink Grapefruit? Pine? Spice? There is just enough malt to give this beer some backbone, but not enough to take the hops away from the center stage.
Sign up to add a tick or review
8.3/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8
Can ordered from Elbow Cask & Craft, Hinckley. Hazy-opaque amber. Thick fluffy foamy white head. Decent lacing. Aroma has resinous bitterness and light fruit over rough-hewn malts. Flavourwise it's got a bitter resinous core running through citrus and light stone fruit sweetness. Really quite bitter. Underlying grainy malts. Medium bodied. Oily. Miniscule sediments add a chalky texture for the tongue. Bitter boi Hazy, baby.
Tried
from Can
at
Elbow Room Cask and Craft
on 13 May 2026
at 20:28
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Hazy gold pour. Scattered lace around the glass. Zest and pith flavor with sweet grapefruit notes. Pithy palate. Full bodied and full carbonation
Tried
from Can
from
Vintage Cellar
on 01 Mar 2026
at 02:38
8.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Like many of the mythical \"best beers on the planet\" DIPAs, this is a powerhouse hop bomb, but the rest of the world has probably caught up to it. Grapefruit, grass, orange and some tropical fruit notes are pretty fresh and juicy. Not sure it is hitting at 120 IBUs though. The malt is sweet and a bit chewy with a classic caramel undertone.
Tried
on 23 Sep 2025
at 20:12
8.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8.5
Flavor 9
Texture 9
Overall 9
Appearance is hazy orange, with a foamy 1-2 finger head. Aroma is hop resin, mango, pineapple chunks, orange, citrus fruit, fresh tropical fruit, stewed fruity notes, hints of raisin and dark fruit. Melon and stone fruit. Taste is lots of bitter hops, orange peel, tangerine, stewed hoppy fruit pineapple, grapefruit, hop resin, clingy hop bitterness in a lengthy finish. Very intense and bitter. Bitterness off the scale really.
Tried
from Can
on 28 Aug 2025
at 05:38
8.3/10
—
Appearance 9
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 9
Overall 8
Hand pumped. Murky yellow colour, thick creamy head, lace. Very piney nose with some fruityness. Medium-bodied. Juicy but very bitter, not like nowadays neipas. Piney, grapefruity. Smooth. Excellent.
Tried
from Draft
at
The Alchemist
on 30 Jul 2025
at 08:17
9.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 10
Texture 8
Overall 9.5
30 March 2025. Can from J&B Craft Drinks. Canned: 7/11/2024.
Hazy golden, stable, foamy, off-white head. Complex aroma of grapefruit peel, lime zest, cheese rind, pink peppercorns, green olive, spruce, hashish, vague garlic, gin. Taste has sweetish melon, mango & peach in a biscuity, bready malt body, surrounded by subtle sourish lime and umami, even somewhat salty green olive. Bitter spicy, herbal & dank notes lead the way into an even more bitter finish of piney & resinous hops; a bit peppery but maintaining the fruitiness of grapefruit peel and orange. Medium to full body, oily texture, soft carbonation. As ever, it's hard to objectively approach beers of this renown, but there's no denying its complexity, depth and balance. Wonderful!
Hazy golden, stable, foamy, off-white head. Complex aroma of grapefruit peel, lime zest, cheese rind, pink peppercorns, green olive, spruce, hashish, vague garlic, gin. Taste has sweetish melon, mango & peach in a biscuity, bready malt body, surrounded by subtle sourish lime and umami, even somewhat salty green olive. Bitter spicy, herbal & dank notes lead the way into an even more bitter finish of piney & resinous hops; a bit peppery but maintaining the fruitiness of grapefruit peel and orange. Medium to full body, oily texture, soft carbonation. As ever, it's hard to objectively approach beers of this renown, but there's no denying its complexity, depth and balance. Wonderful!
Tried
on 11 Jul 2025
at 08:19
8.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Canned from Randolph whatever on LES. Pours orangishyellow, big ol’ head, Super floral aromatics; really quite good.
Tried
from Can
on 20 May 2025
at 01:09
10/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 10
Flavor 10
Texture 10
Overall 10
Unbelievable aroma of grapefruit, sweet floral citrus. Its like drinking grapefruit juice! The only other beer to make me say that was a fresb hopslam! I cant get my nose out of the glass, its intoxicating! So sweet and juicy, the finish is a wicked pithy bitterness just like if you bit into a grapefruit! The citric aftertaste last forever. For hop addicts like myself, you must seek out this beer! I have no choice...... I have to give this a 5!
Tried
from Can
on 28 Feb 2025
at 05:21
8.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Аромат травянистый, ощущается как классика уже, хотя в старо давние времена 2002 года ощущалось как революция. Хмеля много, много травянистости, прямо трава, небольшие нотки цитрусов, легкая пыльца цветочная. Цвет не такой мутный как у современных хэйзи, скорее полу мутный, пенка белая, средняя. Вкус такой же, есть травы сново в основе, много горячи сразу, которая только усиливается при глотке. Помимо трав, есть снова пыльца и корка цитрусов. Из за убойной горячи в содействии восьми градусов ощущается общий суровый характер пиваса. Еще одна легенда отмечена.
Tried
on 07 Feb 2025
at 05:51
9/10
Tried
from Can
on 13 Dec 2024
at 18:57