VT DIPAs: Double Sunshine vs. Heady vs. Abner

I think they're all great, but found the following:

DS fresh is amazing, but seems to fall off the fastest

Heady does seem to come out of the gate the strongest, and is more drinkable after a few weeks

Abner is amazingly drinkable fresh....didn't have enough left to see how it was down the road

 

there goes the heady love. 28 days? shit...thats a drain pour on this site.

 

Having done a similar blind taste test, Abner was a clear cut favorite for me.

 

For my tastes, Heady > Double Galaxy > Double Sunshine > Abner. Can't go wrong with any of 'em though.

 

Couldn't find any Abner on my trip up to VT (got some Edward and Everett though).

Heady blew me away, and Double Sunshine didn't strike me as anything special. Had a real lemony flavor that reminded me of SN Southern Hemisphere, but I like the latter better.

 

Did a comparative tasting with DS, HT and HF Double Citra a while ago, all were less than 5 days old. 3 of us, with each 3 identical glasses. DS came out first, mainly cause of the almost milky mouthfeel reminiscent of peach yogurt. Strangely enough at the moment, double citra was the less aromatic of the 3.

Doing the same exercice 2 weeks later with the same products, from the same batches, DS was already less interesting. I drank 5 bottles of DS from that same batch over about a month with friends, and it was falling quite fast, each bottle being a tad less interesting than the previous. HT on the other end, is really impressive, as it stays solid for a while.

Even the double citra in growler was holding better than the DS for about a month, which is quite impressive!

For me, and based on these experiences, DS is not worth the trouble/price when you can get quite comparable double IPAs from vermont that don't require you drink them almost instantly.

 

I have only done a HT and DS comparison.

Double Sunshine squeaked out a win for me, but since I have "easier" access to HT I could have taken it for granted.

Funny DS story.
A few weeks ago my buddy's wife did a beer run into the house while we were out playing with the dogs, we all say surprise us. She comes out with 4 DS bombers, already opened. I guess the fact that she brought them to the house in the first place made it ok but I was planning an stashing a few of them in the back of the fridge for personal consumption.

 

I love that he is rocking the double mountain shirt - Oregon love.

 

Fresh Double Sunshine by far, will agree with OP here. Even 3-week old Double Sunshine beats anything hoppy that is locally made in Wisconsin.

Love Abner and could drink that every single day if I had regular access to it. (Side note: Ephraim is fantastic, too bad its not more regularly available like Abner is)

Heady is a fine example of an American DIPA that I enjoy a lot on its own merits, but it's certainly overshadowed by its bigger brothers.

Kern Citra was a disappointment for me, but King Sue is up there with Double Sunshine and Abner.

 

Might be in the minority here, but I think DS and Abner are both way overrated. Heady is a great beer as well but not mind blowing. In the end I don't know that any of these beers makes my top 5 IPAs, maybe even top 10. I'd go as far as to say you can get at the very least equivalent DIPAs on the shelves in California and Chicago. You just can't taste the hype!

 

I think that both @Steve212 and @Caudalie brought up excellent points in that each brand of hoppy beer will vary with time.

I have not had the pleasure of drinking Double Sunshine (yet) but I have had Heady Topper (can) and Abner (draft) before.

As has been discussed by folks in this thread and John Kimmich (also on a video of Chop & Brew #22), Heady Topper seems to ‘evolve’ with time in the can (with most folks perceiving improvement with can aging).

I have read where many folks report that Double Sunshine ‘falls off a cliff’ quickly. This aspect reminds me of Ithaca Flower Power where that beer very quickly falls off.

While on the face of it, comparing beers of similar age my sound like a ‘fair’ comparison, the reality is that maybe it would be ‘better’ to compare beers that are at the peak of flavor (e.g., a fresh Double Sunshine vs. Heady Topper with 1 month of can age)?

Cheers!

 

Double Sunshine is horribly overrated. Can't hold a candle to the other 2. The mouthfeel was all wrong, and the hoppiness muted when compared to the other 2, particularly Heady. I've only had it once, so the one I got may have been from a bad batch or something, but it wasn't even a top tier DIPA in my book. Not that many DIPAs are good anyways, but that's a different story.

In fact, I recently had a several months old Heady. DS tasted like that. I realize my opinion will be in the minority, seeing as rareness and difficulty of obtaining a beer >> taste when it comes to deciding which beer is better on BA, but such is life.

 

Not trying to troll you, but really?

Would love to hear the ten you love more than Heady and Double Sunshine. You forgot to mention all of them in your post.

 

If you guys say one more slightly negative thing about my baby, heady topper, i swear to god....

 

I've never had a beer like Heady Topper where, if it's fresh, I take a sip and a smile breaks out on my face involuntarily. It's just the most refreshing and delicious ipa I've ever had. The only other one that came close to doing it for me like Heady - fresh Hill Farmstead Ephraim. So, my rankings of the listed 3 are:
1. Heady
2. Double Sunshine
3. Abner

 

I agree totally...never had the other two but people saying heady is vastly overrated and the world was too quick to crown it are probably the same people that lose their shit every time they have a can...never had a beer quite like heady, most unique tasting ipa i ever had too

 

Your buddy's wife sounds awesome. You sound much less awesome.

 

I fail to see why a bunch of excellent IPAs need to compete versus each other in some sort of invented matchup. It's yummy beer. Drink and enjoy it.

NEXT UP: MATISSE VS. PICASSO VS. REMBRANDT IN AN EPIC SHOWDOWN. WHO WILL WIN!?!?!

 

Rembrandt.