BY: BEN RICHARDS
STAFF WRITER
It is nearly impossible to be a fan of craft beers in the Northeastern United States without at least hearing about the fabled Heady Topper, an Imperial IPA hailing from Waterbury, VT. A mere 3.5 hours from our campus, the now infamous Brewpub The Alchemist, and its even more famous Brew master, John Kimmich, can be found. Although the brewery opened recently in 2011, its main offering, The Heady Topper, has become an absolute craze in the northeast. The beer’s success has been credited to craft beer review websites, such as BeerAdvocate.com, but also from word of mouth. The brewery doesn’t advertise outside of Vermont, but in a recent article was published about their beer in the Chicago Tribune, the author hailed it as the best beer in the world. This may be due to the fact that it is the only beer with a Beer Advocate rating of 100. The beer still holds the top spot on the site since its first emergence in the market 18 months ago. This being said, some people believe the beer is over-hyped. Even some of my friends (maybe not for long) claim that the IPA “fad” will die out soon and that “The Heady” is good, just not the best they have had. To this, I say that even though everyone has a personal preference, theirs just happens to be wrong. The Heady Topper certainly deserves all of the praise it has been receiving. With an unmistakable crispness and palate demolishing hop profile, there really was nothing like it before it became popular. And as they say, the biggest form of flattery is impersonation. So, it is my high recommendation to try to get your friends from Vermont to bring you some of the legendary Heady Topper because it is a beer that you will not soon forget.
Unfortunately, Randy Bessette doesn’t carry Heady’s, so this week’s recommendation is the continually hopped 60 Minute IPA by Dogfish Head Brewery. This beer is incredibly crisp with a strong northwestern hop flavor profile, and a dry citrus after taste that will make you happy you left those Genny Cream Ales on the shelf.