Alchemist Heady Topper

Brewed by The Alchemist
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Waterbury, Vermont USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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16 oz can - I got this brew in Burlington awhile after the sad news that the Alchemist had been wiped out by flooding. However their recently built cannery survived. The bar I visited was excited to have just gotten in this beer and the locals were quickly buying them out. Anyway, this brew has a big, piney hop aroma. It has good balance if we can say that about an IIPA. Sure it’s very bitter but there’s plenty of malt body there too. Citrus and pine notes add to a very pleasing beer experience.

From the Brewery from the tap and can: Pours a hazy orange color with a nice white head. Aroma is a veritable explosion of hops: you get the citrus, the pine, and the flowers all together. Taste is wonderful. Bitterness is present, but it pales in comparison to the aroma. Basically, you get a huge variety of hops and hop flavours. A little bit sweet, but the maltiness is really held in check as compared to other DIPAs. In fact, it would be hard to tell that this is DIPA were it not for the huge amount of flavor. Great aftertaste that lingers and invites additional sips (unlike some hoppy beers that do the very opposite). Body is excellent. Drinkable, sippable, and delicious. Yes. Amongst the best hoppy beers I’ve ever had.

Can received from Doodler. Pours hazy and particulate amber with a large, frothy off-white head, medium-long retention with good lacing. Aroma is biscuit and cereal malt, fragrant floral and citrus hops, and moderate fruity esters. Flavor is heavy hops, moderate bitterness, sweetened fruity esters, supporting malt backbone, and a dry finish. Medium body, warmth, and carbonation.

16oz. can, purchased from the new brewery/cannery. WARNING: Pour with caution! I did not, the first go-around, and my word, what a chunky beer experience it was. Downright unnerving, it was. I haven’t seen that much sediment and suspended stuff since my last bottle of Abbaye des Rocs. My advice is to pour slowly and plan on leaving the last half-ounce or so in the can.
Aroma is fruity, lightly sweet, then HOPS HOPS HOPS, with massive amounts of citrus, resin, florals, pine, a lighter green vegetative note (scallion?), and some lightly toasted caramel malts in the background. The nose just has more hops than almost anything I’ve encountered before. Hazy light-medium amber color, head is off-white, foamy and lasting. Flavor profile is skewed towards the hoppy side to an insane degree, this is just rife with sweet citrus, tropical fruit, pine, spice and huge bitterness, fresh and not overly drying or astringent in any way; the sweet, toasty malty backbone is blended in rather nicely and smoothly, particularly about midpoint, since the finish is all about the hops once again, just lip-smackingly resinous. Palate is active, oily and gently effervescent, body is medium-full. Shockingly easy to drink and hugely flavorful, this is a hophead’s dream.
Side note, something I find amusing: The label attempts to convince you in various ways to drink from the can, but then on the label art, the guy is drinking from a glass. I did decant this, by the way, I just don’t drink good beer out of a can. Not my style.

Can courtesy of GandGKevin. Murky amber with a pretty, layered white head. Aroma is big grapefruit and big pine atop chewy malt and a nice caramel backbone. Taste is a hop bomb. Big pine resins, floral hops, citrus oils and grapefruit pulp. More chewy malts and caramel in this as well. Body is medium-full with a creamy carbonation. Finishes with more big hop resins, grapefruit, pine, citrus oils, caramel and chewy malt.

Sampled at a recent RB St. Louis gathering - Pours lightly hazy amber / orange with an off-white head. The aroma is a thing of beauty. Tons of hoppiness with notes of orange, funk and green onion standing out. There is also some caramel malt there for a nice balance. Medium crisp body with semi-sharp carbonation. The flavor starts out with funky, piny and grapefruit hop notes and smooth semi-sweet caramel malt for a spot on balance for the assertive hops. The finish dries out a lot and the hops get more harsh showing earthiness, pine, grapefruit and it is all quite resiny. Really well made IIPA.

Thanks to Ernesto987 who sent this for SS. Can. Pours hazy dark yellow with lots of floaties under a sticky, 3-dimesnsional head of off-white. Grapefruit hop aroma. The flavor is pure citrus hops. Hop-Juice, but very well done hop juice. Enough subtle underlying malt sweetness to carry the hop flavors. I like this one.

Huge thanks to mar for trading me this can. The beer pours a dirty yellow color with a white head. The aroma is very heavy on the grapefruit, but I also get a little bit of orange citrus and some biscuit malt notes. The flavor is more intense than the aroma. I get some huge grapefruit and orange citrus notes, as well as a little bit of pine and some pineapple. Mixed in with all of the hop notes is a little bit of biscuit malt. The bitterness is low to medium. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation.

Can shared by phaleslu, thanks Peter! Pour is an unassuming hazy gold with a nice medium snow-white head. Aroma is out-of-control good. Loads of crazy huge citrus hop with pineapple and orange notes. A very understated, but present, lightly sweet malt also detectable. Flavor is huge citrus hops also with pineapple and grapefruit dominating. Very very well balanced with the lightly sweet malt balancing out the spice of the hops. This beer is huge on aroma and hops but so well balanced as well. Wow, this is exactly how I like IPA’s This is an incredible IPA! I could drink this everyday, all day.

Can from Shanell - thanks! Enjoyed via glass and can. Pours a clear, caramel/amber with a thick and healthy froth of white foam. Aroma is clean pine, hop bitterness, floral hops, citrus but it’s integrated with the malt backbone more than a stand alone element, perhaps some tropical fruit notes, and a very dry and tight malt backbone. The aroma is a bit more intense from the can than the glass. Taste is balanced hop bitternes, pine, and a slight bit of malt sweetness and alcohol toward the finish. Very clean feel in the mouth. I particularly like that the beer comes in at 8% which allows the hops to shine more, the malt to play a background role, and make the beer all around more drinkable than if it were a higher ABV. Solid, extremely drinkable IIPA that is worth seeking out.