The Alchemist Heady Topper
An American Double IPA, packed with over 120 IBU!
4.2
1646 reviews
Stowe, United States
Community reviews
Heady Topper has a thick, creamy, off-white head, with a bubbly, semi-hazy appearance. Lacing is moderate, and gray sediment is evidenced, especially after the "swish & pour". The aroma is of spicy hops, white bread crust, and citrus. There is a similar flavor, with intense hop bitterness. Heady Topper has a high-medium body, and a sticky-dry finish. RJT
DIPA. plenty of hops. some bite but not obnoxious
Gylden flyder skum hvid tæt
Citrus grape lys malt grøn blomst
Bitter modrate sød lidt
Cremet blød
A real hops adventure. Big but so well balanced. Forget about all this hazy NEIPA’s. This is the real deal double IPA.
Light hazy golden with a white head - Hop aroma with fuity citrus - Malt body with a good fruity hop flavour that has some bitterness - The malt with and hop goes into the finish with citrus bitterness - This was real good
Sampled two different singles brought down to DC by two different people. The first one was already close to 2 months old when sampled....the 2nd on closer to 1 month. Wish I could have tried this fresher, but got the general gist. Leans West Coast in style, with lots of bitterness. Some tropical hops, but mostly has those resin & pine dank notes. Grain bill has some malt to support the strong hop bitterness. Semi-clear medium yellow/orange to gold appearance. Will try to get this closer to can date next time.
Fourpack at the Bennington VT grocery story.
*shrug*
It's a sticky caramelly DIPA with some nice older-school hop character. Nothing like the contemporary hazy NEIPAs in that it's not using exclusively new-school hops; this is a tribute to c-hops with enough variety (Amarillo?) to confer ample fruitiness. It's juicier than an old-school c-hop bomb though, and I'm sure was pretty damn impressive in 2011. In 2021, it's just a good DIPA. Maybe even a really good DIPA.
Summary: A taste of beer history, not beer's future.
Hazy, hoppy, and very smooth. So damn good. Wish I could get it more on the west coast
Aroma:pine pepper spicy
Taste: spice grapefruit
思った以上にアルコール感ある。
Can (May 3, 2021 canning). Head is initially small, frothy, white, mostly diminishing. Body is cloudy light yellow. Aroma is lightly malty (grain), lightly hoppy (orange), with light notes of raw green chile peppers, alcohol, acid reflux. Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately bitter, slightly unclean. Medium to full body, watery/oily/syrupy texture, soft carbonation, moderately to heavily alcoholic.
Despite being very fresh, there's virtually no hop aroma, and the weird green-peppery vegetal note (uncannily like jalapeño peppers!) obscures what little hops there are (no wonder they want you to avoid pouring it, so you don't have to be so utterly disappointed in the aroma...gotta love marketing, 'cause obviously it's working). Very syrupy-oily sweet in the mouth, with just barely enough to balance. A bit below average, but I guess that's not saying too much in the world of murky IPAs...
Canned 5/3/21 - once or twice a year a shipment of this shows up locally and vanishes within hours - well since COVID has me working from home and I can go to the liquor store in the middle of the day, I finally snagged some before it disappeared - suck it, motherfuckers - anyway, I actually tried this many years ago at Alchemist when it was still a brewpub but never rated it (I know, shame on me) - part of me was concerned about trying again for fear I’d not like it as much - luckily, this is not the case - in a world with a glut of good double ipas, there are still things that make this stand out - for one, it’s quite dry - the attenuation is great and the malt structure is firm - the layering of hop flavors is exceptional - a lot of dankness, pepper, pine - where a lot of hazy ipas are muddled, this retains the vibrancy of the hop oils really well - it’s definitely a standout in a crowded field - glad I got to try it again!
After moving away and having A LOT of NE IPAs, I had one again recently. There’s still something special about it. It’s not too sweet, not too bitter, well balanced, full bodied yet crisp. Worth the trouble if you can find it fresh.
This beer is everything they say it is. Hopped in lawyers, hazy, beautiful smell... superlatives on and on... great can.
Knocks me out when I drink it but it’s one of the best beers I’ve ever had. Rich and smooth.
Entire Bay Area gets a limited amount of Heady Topper once a year. This year it all sells out in 1 hour, because of Instagram, except....(drumroll) at Whole Foods in Capitola, which I guessed correctly from it distal location. Finally I get to try it. Yeah! Pours with lightly hazy gold color. Initial bright citrus and piney hop aroma is quite nice and strong, but fades quickly. Very sharp finish: a combination of high citrus hop bitterness, light citric or other acidity, and some mineral character. Some light meaty profile to this, maybe unhealthy yeast, or malt profile. Certainly middle of the road for hazy IPAs, but you have to admire the originator of the style. Easish to drink. Pretty good.
0,473 litre Can, shared with Bergstaden. Cloudy Golden with white head. Malts, hops, Citrus, some herbal bitterness.
(Can) Hazy burnt orange body with large, stiff white head and lots of lacing. Aroma of pine resin, grass, moderately malty, some tropical fruit, peach, notes of orange and grapefruit. Medium-plus body, oily texture, round and chewy. Flavor is moderately sweet, caramel malty backbone, pine resin and grapefruit bitterness, peach, melon; a bit dank and an earthy quality.
16 oz can, canned 6/10/20. Pours hazy dark yellow with a medium meringue white head that retains fairly well and leaves a little lacing.
The aroma is fruit with resiny piney hops that are slightly catty.
The flavor is some wheat malt with sugary fruit and a big resiny ashy bitter finish. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with smooth carbonation.
Overall, a nice NE DIPA, but not quite the mind blowing experience I was expecting. Too much catty, ashy, dank hops.
Can (6/22/20) pour. Appearance is deeply hazy light brown-orange-yellow with nice lazy sparkle at the edges of the glass, finger-width foamy white head with decent retention and light lacing. Aroma is citrus, candied fruit, herb/vegetal, pine that you kind of need to sit with to get through the various layers. Cracker malt backbone. Taste is strong pine and citrus, with stone fruit and bitter component dominating the second half. Mouthfeel is light side of light-to-medium bodied with smooth, frothy texture, soft carbonation, fair alcohol warmth and finish as taste with strong bitter finish. Overall, I can see the bridge between the West Coast IPA's and the birth of NEIPA and this is an important beer. Very well crafted as there's good complexity but it doesn't beat you over the head. Enjoyable, and I'm glad I've now had it, but given what's being produced these days it doesn't blow me away. A bit thin for the style these days.
Hazy rich golden with a thick white head. Lovely nose of dank fresh floral resinous hop oils and a touch of grapefruit pith. Smells like a summer beer fest. Full flavor that’s a little soft and pale and wheaty but has a bit of body to it , supporting a fresh floral dank resinous bitterness that’s balanced and smooth. Really firm and charming and dank.
Pint can. Cantaloupe hop aroma with notes of pineapple, mango, grapefruit, orange and some pine resin. Pours hazy golden colored with a large off white head that has excellent retention and good, soapy lacing. Starts with juicy pineapple, mango and orange flavors. Finishes dry, but quite smooth with wonderful cantaloupe, dank grapefruit and pine resiny hop flavors. Quite good. Definitely lives up to the hype.
Delicious from the can (happy now Alchemist?), but also I poured some in a glass to get the full aroma. It was so tasty that I chugged it and now I don't have any left to write this review. Aroma was good with lots of hoppy goodness. But mostly I couldn't get over the mouth feel, which seemed to have a perfect hazy thickness to it. I've had other hyped beers that didn't live up to it, but this one does.
Super dank! Citrus and pine. A legend
Honestly this beer opened up the world of craft for me and introduced me how extreme flavor can really set you on a pursuit of the best beer in the world!
Pours hazy yellow with a thick, foamy, white head. Aroma of resinous hop notes, grapefruit. Taste has resinous pine and cedar, orange, grapefruit on the tongue. Palate has an oily mouthfeel with an herbal residual on the tongue. Citrus on the nose, light. Good.
Hype-worthy. Big, juicy, resinous hop notes, dripping with grapefruit, orange, lemon zest, and stone fruit, backed up by wood, white pepper, and hints of berry, all slathered with a bitter, piney dose of hop vitriol. Subtle grain and honey sweetness creates a sturdy, necessary base. Finishes with a mild vanilla tone and endless oily hop goodness. Absolutely delicious.
Can. Very hazy honey color with head that mostly dissipates. Strong fresh hop aroma. Resiny, piney, fruity hops. Maybe its that unpasteurized bit but something hazy this way comes on the nose. Strong dense hoppy beer. Long bitter hop palate. Not a 1000ibu wrecking ball but very long lasting leafy hop snack for later in the mouth kinda drink. Im really not into NEipas, and this one is from Vermont, so either this is the best hazy double ever or this mofo made me turn a corner. It's a deeply hoppy and bitter dipa that definitely had a hand in the boom of the style. Great beer.
16 oz. Five weeks old. Pours hazy golden-orange with a one+ finger cream-white pillowy head with excellent retention. Aroma is cantaloupe, B.O., latex, passionfruit, strawberry Laffy Taffy. Taste has a moderate to high pithy bitterness, light juicy sweetness, with flavors like the aroma. Perfect creamy mouthfeel with just right carbonation. Slightly better than Focal Banger. A little less perceived bitterness, too.
Very heavy,but solid IPA.Tons of pine very & dank.Some pineapple & citrus
For the style it might be good, but a beer that is like what I imagine would be giving a pine tree a blowjob is not worth the cult hype.