From Vermont USA’s The Alchemist comes on of the most highly sought after Double IPA’s “Heady Topper”. Rated 100/100 on both Rate Beer and Beer Advocate you can get an idea of what people think of this beer! The Alchemist only cans one beer and it is Heady Topper (if it was not so good I would question why). The beer pours a golden orange colour with a white head. The aroma consists of melon, orange, grassy and floral hops and some caramel. The flavour is of hops bitterness up front with, orange, citrus rind, resin, caramel and a sweet finish. The alcohol content comes in at 8% and a reported 119 IBU. If you are into Double IPA’s then this is a beer that you must put on your bucket list much like Russian River’s Pliny The Elder. Sadly unless you are lucky enough to get this beer in a trade your only hope to try this beer is probably to head to Vermont. I would like to point one thing out though as for all the brewing talent this brewery has they miss the buss completely with their statement to drink from the can! Why would you want to remove the aroma from the beer thus crippling your full enjoyment of the beer? I hope in the years to come they drop the slogan from their cans as it is misguided and downright wrong!
Commercial Description: 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.
Mike's Craft Beer 
My can vs glass comparison is on the way
I look forward to it!
The brewery has some expansions in the future and that should lead to them brewing more of other beers on their lineup and possibly canning them as well. I got to pick up some heady topper myself when I was in Vermont visiting a friend and I was quite happy with the beer. I also always drank them straight from the can. I think many beers are helped by enjoying straight from the can.
Weird. That is completely against all conventional wisdom. Is it because the aroma would take away from the beer or something? You can not physically experience the entire gamut of flavour without your sense of smell. I would love to know why this would be. Glad to hear you made it to the source though. One day I would love to be able to walk into their doors and try it fresh in their new brewery they are building.
Well you can’t actually visit the brewery currently because they were getting too many visitors. But you can get it from nearby stores. Sometime in the next year their new location will be opening in a small ski town called Stowe outside of Burlington where they will be accepting visitors.
Thats what I was meaning actually Paul. I saw on their facebook page they were building a new location.
It seems to be quite the discussion actually.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/heady-topper-out-the-can-or-in-a-glass.16323/
[…] content comes in at 8.2% with an IBU of 80. Don’t let this beer play second fiddle to Heady Topper also from Vermont as this is also an epic Double IPA with a rating of 99/100 on Beer Advocate and […]
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