The Alchemist Heady Topper

Heady Topper

 

The Alchemist in Stowe, Vermont, United States 🇺🇸

  IPA - Imperial New England / Hazy Regular
Score
8.17
ABV: 8.0% IBU: 100 Ticks: 275
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.
 

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8/10
Tried from Can on 02 Jun 2019 at 21:08

8/10
Tried on 02 Jun 2019 at 02:25

9.5/10 Appearance 10 Aroma 9 Flavor 10 Texture 8 Overall 10
17/05/2019 @home - can from Bierhalle Deconinck. Hazy straw yellow, nice white head. Nose is lots of fruits, bitterness. Taste is malts, lots of fruits, floral, bit pepper, bitterness, High expectations and it lived up to it, maybe even still better. Full of taste, lots of bitterness but so easily drinking.
Tried from Can on 22 May 2019 at 08:44

7.5/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 6 Overall 8
Tap at MBCC. Pours orange. Aroma and flavor are sweet, bitter, dry, fruity, citrus, grapefruit. Overall: very good.
Tried from Draft on 18 May 2019 at 20:30

8.1/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 9 Texture 6 Overall 9.5
Can bought from DeBierkonig, Amsterdam, consumed in garden, 11th May 19. Was surprised and lucky to find this there! Pours a cloudy orange. Aroma is malty, thick resinous pine. Taste is bitter, pithy yet sweet, marmalade, pineapple, more bitter kick, drinks very easily, with a bitter citrus linger, intergrated with sweet notes. Not sure what I had in mind, much more bitter than I expected and that's a good thing, it's a great beer, but I'm left wondering how fresh it is, regardless, great to have finally tasted this one. Focal banger may have the edge for me.
Tried from Can on 11 May 2019 at 18:03

8/10
RB backlog. As your nose tips into the foam, light fruits from intense hop use swell up. Floral hops, lychee, thyme, mango, orange juice, pleasant faint diacetyl even. Light sweetness, a hint of spicy hops, medium bitterness. Lovely.
Tried on 30 Apr 2019 at 00:58

8.4/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 9 Texture 8 Overall 8.5
Can at home from Mikkeller Beer Club. Pours hazed orange golden with a white head. Aroma: moderate malty, grapefruit, peach, caramel, pine needles. Taste: light to moderate sweet & moderate to heavy bitter, grapefruit, orange, peach, grass, resin. Dry hoppy finish. Medium to full body, soft carbonation. Lovely
Tried from Can on 29 Apr 2019 at 22:09

9/10 Appearance 10 Aroma 9 Flavor 9 Texture 8 Overall 9
This is where it all started. I can taste the crossover from westcoast to east coast. Firm bitterness yet soft bodied and dry. Stone fruit and tropical notes.
Very good.
Tried on 18 Apr 2019 at 12:00

8/10
From the can, piney hop soda, 4.0. Pouring it definitely knocks up that CO2 or whatever. From the glass it's less bitter, less effervescent, smoother, 4.25. still prefer crusher I think. Piney as hell,hint of fruity, hoppy hurray.
Tried from Can on 14 Apr 2019 at 17:35

7.4/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 6 Overall 7.5
Fairly clear golden and peach coloured body with a thinnish, one to two centimetre tall off-white head. Aroma of super resinous hop notes with grass, funk, candy and yes - way more resin than anything else, with some lighter alcohol and malt notes - but this really is all about the resinous hop notes from dry hopping that hit the nose - in a very nice way, but very single scented. Light to Medium-bodied; Super astringent with a juicy, dry, pineapple, piney and especially resinous hop bite a first that has a good balance of stronger malts, alcohol, fruit-based sugars and a funky dry flavour that makes this a bit more complex and multi-faceted compared to just a 'simple IPA'. Aftertaste shows the funk, dryness, grain, alcohol, astringency and of course, the resin. Overall, a nice and robust beer that has a lot of bitterness and grainy flavours, but perhaps for the style, a bit too deep pungent and offensive for most palates that could be toned down a bit. I sampled this sixteen ounce, pint-sized can from the G.M. of BlueJacket brewpub in Washington on 27-March-2019, which he got from the Alchemist directly, sampled at home just two weeks later on 09-April-2019 - Thanks Erik!
Tried from Can on 10 Apr 2019 at 06:39