Thursday, April 5, 2012

The Beerening: Review: The Alchemist's Heady Topper


In 2011 Hurricane Irene struck the east coast, causing an estimated $2.6 billion in property damage.  Flood waters caused massive damage, and one of the casualties was Vermont's Alchemist pub & brewery.  Thanks to community and industry support and a massive amount of determination Alchemist was back in the business of selling beer barely a month later, using the profits from those batches to rebuild their business.  In February 2012 they began to export cans of their Heady-Topper double IPA to Massachusetts.  Although, it's still exceedingly difficult to find.

Heady-Topper is a pure and beautiful exploration of American hops, with almost nothing getting in the way.  The style, Double (or Imperial) IPA is defined as a strong malt backbone balanced by a high to absurdly high hop bitterness.  Heady-Topper is really neither of those things, as it is not bitter and not malty.  It's pure, unfettered hops.

The beer recommends drinking it from the can, so I had one from the can and then another a day later poured into a pint glass, and I can definitely understand the recommendation.

Aroma
Even from the small opening in the can the beer is overwhelming fragrant.  Just a gorgeous collection of American hops, particularly the ones that smell like tropical fruits.  The beer smells like oranges, and mangos, and tangerines.  Very juicy.

Flavor
Taking a taste of the beer is a cool, smooth, explosion of hops.  It's not sticky, or bitter, it barely tastes like beer.  There's a small amount of a light grainy maltiness to provide a slight sweetness behind all those fruity hop flavors, but it's barely noticeable.  The same flavor persists pretty much all the way through the can, albeit with a diminishing explosion each time you drink.  What's interesting is that it doesn't get sweeter as it warms up, which is often the case with beers with really strong flavors.  It keeps a surprisingly refreshing smoothness the entire can.  At no point does it hint at its 8% ABV.

Body
The beer has a very light body but at no point does it feel thin or prickly.  The carbonation is very light and just lifts the hop aromas out of the beer but doesn't try to make the beer feel fuller than it is.

The next day I poured the beer from the can into a pint glass.

Look
The beer is a little hazy, which is very unsurprising given how much hops are obviously in it.  What is worth noting is how light it is.  The color is a pale golden yellow more like a regular Pale Ale, or a Wit.

Flavor & Aroma - Part 2
When poured the effect of the beer is noticeably more subsided.  It's still a wonderful, juicy, hop bomb but feels a little more dull.  One advantage of pouring is that the aroma spreads out more, so it becomes a gift that keeps on giving.  Since the hops have calmed down a little bit, the malt character is a little more present.  It's still a very light flavor and is just slightly sweeter than from the can.

Overall
I am far more impressed with this beer than most other ultra-hoppy beers, which tend to feel very thick and bitter.  This is so clean and easy drinking while also having a tremendous amount of flavor and aroma, it offers me absolutely nothing not to enjoy.  It's not something to drink every day, besides its price point this amount of glorious hop aroma is too much to have very often.

But it's definitely worth it to find, haven't really had anything like it.

--PXA

No comments: