Closest beer to Heady Topper

I'm still kind of a noob but I haven't found anything yet.

 

to me ipas from lawsons and hill farmstead are in the same range of delicious. But Heady is hard to beat.

 

Nothing, I'm sorry

 

Elevated IPA by La Cumbre.

 

That's a great question. I haven't had it a lot, but can't say I can recall having a beer that has a similar profile. Better, but not similar.

 

Ghandi Bot, maybe? It's not really the same flavor profile but I would put it in my top 5 DIPAs and it's a bit easier to find depending on where you live.

 

Closest thing I've had is Abner from Hill Farmstead, but that's significantly harder to come by. So doesn't really help.

 

Abner is soooo delicious.And I would have to say just as good as Heady. Both amazing

 

Nothing out there, and I'll say that with my own experience. I've tasted many, many different IPA's and DIPA's and nothing easily accessible comes close to the flavor. Lawsons Double Sunshine tastes exactly like Heady but is more pungent, while many of the Hill Farmstead beers hit the same notes. This is probably why they're held in such regard, as they're amazing beers.

Peekskill Brewing in NY makes a damn good Double IPA that's really close. I believe they use Simcoe, Citra and Amarillo hops in their version, with the emphasis on the Simcoe and Citra. It's called "Double Standard". It has that same dank musty hop note.

Hill Farmstead Double Citra and Kern Double Citra are very different from Heady as well, more of the pineapple sweeter hop notes. Heady has that dankness to it that must be a product of the hop combinations. I also hear Heady is dry-hopped while it's being packaged into the can/keg, but I can't verify this.

Abner is outstanding. It leaned more towards the grapefruit profile for me.

 

And what is wrong with trying to drink every DIPA/IPA out there?
I've been trying for years to drink each and every of them.

 

This will be a semi-unsatisfactory answer, but outside of the Vermont offerings, Ballast Point Sculpin is a solid option. The hop profile is noticeably distinct from HT (which I picked up one when I did them side-by-side), but of the even semi-available beers for PA, Sculpin does decently in comparison. That said, Heady Topper is my favorite IPA, so I haven't found anything that can match it.

 

surly abrasive is what you are looking for

 

Surly Abrasive is very close... Lawson's Double Sunshine is similar too (but probably harder to get). HF makes like 2,938 IPAs in Heady's class as well. That's just a rough estimate, I don't have the exact count.

 

You don't have to drink every last one. Just keep drinking 'em until you find one you really like that you don't have to jump through too many hoops to get on a regular basis. If it doesn't taste like Heady Topper, that's okay. When you finally do get hold of some Heady Topper again, it'll be like visiting an old friend.

Whatever you do, please do not let yourself become that woman at my bottle shop who never drinks any beer but Hopslam. Every damn January she buys 12 cases worth to last her the entire year (I am not making this up).

 

Surly Furious but with a lighter malt color/flavor....murkier and more floaties too. ;-)

 

Nobody knows for sure. There was a pretty extensive thread in the homebrew forum about trying to clone Heady both before and after the forum switch:
http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/heady-topper-clone.7489/
To my taste there's definitely a lot of Simcoe, Columbus, and Centennial but from there it's hard to say anything definite. The consensus seemed to be not so much newer hops (Citra, NZ varieties and co) with disagreement about how much Amarillo's present. Likely some Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial, possibly something else like Nugget and then lots of opinions (Cascade, Citra, Magnum, and so on).

 

Don't they use hop extract as well?

I am also would love a HT replicator/band aid until i can travel up there

 

i'm not all that knowledgeable but from recent experiences i would say Hoptimum isn't that far off as far as the experience i got from heady. big, well rounded, full flavored and with plenty of maltiness.