When will Heady Topper be overtaken as #1?

The #1 beer in the world is the beer that is in my glass.

That said, fresh HT, for me personally, is the second best DIPA/IIPA I've had behind fresh Gandhi Bot. I don't really think it's fair to compare different styles. But ya know, listers gotta list.

 

IIPAs>Stouts

 

There beer isn't murky simply because it's unfiltered. Actually, few small small craft breweries filter their IPAs. It's "murky" because they use an unfloculent yeast strain. And that's fine. The proprietary yeast strain provides a fermentation character that helps makes the beer so excellent. But it does so at the expense of appearance. Murky is not considered the standard for IPA/IIPAs. For some reason people are very open to this non-standard appearance, and it's clear that they want to give THIS beer a free "pass". If the beer wasn't so hyped, I assure you, they would NOT give it a 5 on appearance. They'd give it a more objective score it deserves.

 

Why does this matter ?

 

You guys on the East Coast need to try some West Coast IPAs. I've had trades for East Coast and talked with others who have done the same trading for some of the highest regarded IPAs on the East Coast: Hopslam, Lawsons, Heady, and I'm trying Dinner tonight. While Lawsons is pretty darn good all of my buddies unanimously agree that the West Coast just does IPAs better and all the IPAs I got on the East Coast were fresh.

 

That's simply not an accurate view of human nature. Most people are followers not contrarians. People tend to be like you. They enjoy being fans when they have privileged access. Read your own post "better than perfect". No offense intended, but those are the words of a fanboy not an objective beer judge.

 

This thread has been like a time machine for me, just insert Pliney, Hopslam, Sculpin, or Two Hearted in for Heady, back when they were scarce 5-7 years ago. Even word for word paragraphs for some. While not all made # 1, they were super coveted & debated as best of.

 

Not trying to start an argument, but i have the exact opposite view. My theory is that our palates become accustomed to local beer/styles. Most west coast hopheads prefer west coast IPAs and most east coast hop heads prefer east cost IPAs. Besides alpine nelson and kern citra, nothing else has really stood out for me from California and i found myself let down by alot of west coast IPAs, and i have tried alot of them, always fresh.

To get back on topic, i think focal banger is a better beer than heady, and when it is just as available as heady, and has some time to make it around the country through trades i could see it taking the #1 spot.

 

I prefer a murky look so I disagree. The beer is unfiltered, for the record. No need to be overly technical.

 

I'd estimate that over 80+% of dry hopped IPA/IIPAs are unfiltered, so that's really not the issue. And I'm not being overly technical. I was being exactly technical enough to explain a phenomenon. So you honestly prefer the look of a murky IPA? You are not typical, and I suppose it means you will score a lot of well-crafted beers low based on that idiosyncratic preference. But ar least YOU are giving your truly honest unbiased opinion of Heady Topper's appearance. However, I am quite sure most people who would look at a row of unknown IPAs would not rate the murky one the highest in appearance. It is not a desired characteristic sought by most brewers of IPAs or drinkers of them.

 

thank you for not intending to offend. If people simply want to follow why the thread (6 pages deep and going strong) about when heady will be knocked out of the #1 spot? Clearly, BA is not an accurate sampling of "most people". I'm not sure if you've noticed, but nearly every BA has a strong opinion and is generally very eager to share it and contradict opinions that differ from theirs. It's part of what keeps a thread like this rocking on and on.

As far as being a fanboy, you can look back at many of my previous posts. I really dislike nearly everything about heady except for the actual beer experience. I don't like driving hours to wait in line for hours to potentially get a 4 pack of beer. I am a fan of good beer that I like. That's why I started brewing. I've tried many different beers from many different breweries and have found many good beers. I've also found that there aren't many "outstanding" beers out there. Many just do something better than another. Heady is pretty unique though and in being unique it can be polarizing. You might not like it and you might like calling people that do like it fanboys but you're talking about it. I have no idea what your favorite beer is but I would imagine someone could call you a fanboy for enjoying and talking about it. So to make a long story short, I forgot what I was talking about.

 

you're a contrarian

 

Yes indeed! One of the few honest people who is willing to state that the Emperor has no clothes (once I violate standards in pour it from the can). If I decide to rate HT, it will get praise on everything except appearance. No big deal, but it is below average in appearance.

 

Related but side-tracking a bit, this idea of loving most what you know most reminds me of the whole In-N-Out vs Five Guys/Shake Shack thing.

In-N-Out is better.

 

I wish I could take part in this "discussion"! I've only tried 5 guys and was underwhelmed. New thread topic, overhyped burger joints.

 

Stop stating your own opinion as fact. Thanks for all your information it doesn't change how I rate Heady one bit.

 

Indeed. Including that never ending supply of people who seem to think that they have been designated as the National Standard Palate and/or that they are among the few honest judges of quality to be found in the world. :-)

 

Some of you guys make me question whether you have stocks invested in HT, LOL.

 

LOL I dont understand why people think that. John himself has said it in an interview the real reason why. AND ground breaking revelation here....drumroll please........ heady is still good 8 months later! Gasp I know.

 

My opinion is not fact. But it is undeniable that while beer judges accept some hop haze in IIPAs, it is not a plus. And yeast haze is NOT a characteristic of the style. If your criteria for judging beer is completely out of sync with accepted standards like the BJCP and ABA guidelines that's fine, but hopefully you are judging every beer to those same standards. People give HT a free pass on appearance. It's that simple. The world has not, in general, changed it's standards on expecting IPAs with good clarity any more than they have stopped generally preferring sunny days to rainy days.