Hop Venom and Heady Topper

Hop Venom, and honestly, all of those you mention are better imho. Heady is a nice beer, but if your palate prefers the west coast style, you've already had better. Check out some Barley Browns beers next.

 

I'm heading up to Protland in the next couple months and have been seeing a lot of posts about Hop Venom. Is this a definite must-try? Also: is it readily available around town?Also Also: If you HAD to, which IPA would you compare it to?

 

Hop Venom is absolutely fantastic.

To address my opinion of some of the IPAs, and more, that have been mentioned so far I'd say...
Notorious > Heady > Enjoy By > Fresh Hop Forklift > ZD > PtE > RPM > Alpha Centauri > Sculpin > Hop Venom > Pallet Jack

That being said, all of these IPAs are at the top of my list. I look for an IPA, regardless of size, that smells and tastes like a bag of hops smells. I found the drinkability of Heady tough to beat and there was definitely a pretty deep complexity there as well. Hop Venom has had a bit of variability each time I've had it, but is still incredibly delicious on average.

 

I like some Enjoy by, but it's insane for me to think of it as that high (over PtE, ZD, HV).

 

Can you find cans of Heady Topper in the Portland or Gresham area? Would love to try this beer. Thanks!

 

Back in late September I visited Vermont, and stopped by The Alchemist. I was able to pick up a case and a half of HT (case limit IIRC, I had my girlfriend grab the other half case) and try fresh samples at the brewery. In all honesty if it were brewed here it wouldn't be nearly as special. I think this is for a couple of reasons:

Firstly, that entire region until recently was extremely hop challenged (I think most would agree with this, and I personally would argue they still are hop challenged). Any of us who have tasted the higher rated hop forward brews from the east over the years surely noticed the difference when compared to our highly sought after beers out west. Beers from that region for my palate are generally much too sweet and the hops obscured by said sweetness.

So of course when a brewery finally deviates from the sweetness a bit and uses a heavier hand with the hops it gets noticed. Add in the extreme population density of that hop deprived region and of course the raves for this beer are going to be deafening.

For me, Heady Topper has a nice nose, tastes interesting at first, but is just far too sweet. About halfway through I'm ready to be done because the sweetness becomes cloying. And yes, in my opinion the vast majority of beers from the east are just this way. On that trip I spent time in Maine, New Hampshire, MA, and Vermont. I drank a lot of beer. Most of it was pretty sad (the Hill Farmstead stuff I had was absolutely outstanding though, and would do well here).

But of course, to echo squaremile above, it's a palate thing. Most of us out west want more of a dry finish on our beers. It isn't right or wrong, just a preference. For me personally, I don't need to do any trading when what we have right here is so god damned awesome and plentiful. Grab some Hop Venom or any of our other amazing beers and forget about the hype of all the other stuff. I assure you we have it much better.

It's too bad you're not closer to Seattle, I'd share some of my remaining HT with ya to prove my point.

 

No. Short of trading you have to go to Vermont.

I'd take a Surly Furious or Masala Mama over Heady any day though.

 

If you'd take a Furious over a Heady Topper how about we do a trade, happy to send you some Furious!

 

If it was in person I would but I hung up my trading gear a few years ago. Sorry. Can't justify the expense when anything I might want I can attain the equivalent right here in the NW.

 

Re: There aren't that many Oregon (and Washington) BAers that participate in the main Beer Talk forum, or in BA in general.

One reason you don't see as much participation from the NW BA folks on the main forum is because a LOT of the discussion is about beer and breweries that are Unobtainium in the West. We can trade for them, yes, but those of us with a full schedule don't have the time or energy for trading often. And there are an overwhelming number of new beers coming out here that makes it difficult to simply keep up with the local beer. Why spend hours buying, packing and shipping beer when you can get great beer at the corner market?
I'm always amazed at "the best xxxxx (xxxxx = IPA, stout, APA, whatever)" that has many replies each with 5 favorites, all or most NEVER seen in the West. Frankly, I don't even read them any more, it is like reading about good restaurants in Bombay; interesting at first, but ultimately useless.
My sister is coming back from a road trip this week bearing some Eastern beers I never tried and I'll be very happy to get to try them. I'm sure they will be great. But when I sign on to BA tomorrow, I'll go straight to Northwest section where I can read about and discuss beer that I may be able to find.

 

My thoughts on Heady is that it has a lot of floral, peach notes to it. Nice non-overbearing sweetness and a lot thinner than most IIPAs, which I like. Bitterness is lacking in my opinion (I love SoCal IPAs). Good beer for sure. That said I like Hop Venom better.

 

so in the NW forum we like Hop Venom more, and in the NE forum they like Heady more...i never would have guessed...

That being said I thought this thread was going to be about mixing them, I really enjoyed mixing the 10% abv venom (rip) 50/50 with Heady.

 

I've never had Heady, but I think Hop Venom is even better than Pliney.

 

Fixed the too/to thing for you (sorry, grammar ****), but can we just get this to auto-post on every new beer release thread?

I was out in VT for the Hill Farmstead Anniversary party this past May (I actually like the majority of their IPAs better than Heady), and swung by The Alchemist at a time when they were essentially canning to order. The limit was 4 cases then, so I maxed out, sent a bunch all over the country to friends, and brought a ton back to PDX as well. Not that I advocate or do this sort of thing normally, but as I finished loading my car up with minutes-old Heady, I'm thinking, when else am I going to get this chance? :: crack, fizz :: and discreetly had one in the lot while checking out the property.

I haven't tried Hop Venom *that* fresh (I think about 2 days old is my personal best), but I like fresh Heady slightly better. The citrus hops, balance, and drinkability is off the charts, and I like a touch of sweetness to my IPAs. I also enjoy unfiltered beer - I'm convinced the reason they encourage people to "drink from the can" is that the average beer consumer would be scared by the chunky hop goodness that is in your face with a glass pour. I have my VT friends send me a 4-pack or two every month or two, so next time a BA share happens around town, I'll try to bring some if I can resist drinking it myself.

I also generally agree with the comment about the east coast being hop challenged, with a few exceptions. Heady, and Lawson's Double Sunshine stand toe to toe or with anything I've had out west (including PtE, PtY, all of the Alpine IPAs, Kern River, Societe, Boneyard, etc.) and several of Hill Farmstead's offerings (Double Citra, Abner, Susan, S&S #5, a couple of the other single hop varietals I tried at the anniversary party) are (IMO) better than anything I've had out here.

All that being said, unless you have someone in VT who will overnight you Heady fresh off the canning line or HF fresh off their taps (ground shipping takes almost a full week, that's how my VT regulars usually send stuff, and although it's still fantastic, it's decidedly not the same as at the source), there is no truly perfect way to make a direct comparison to Hop Venom, or any other top-flight local (wherever you are) IPA for that matter.

 

I've had both and I prefer HV over Heady. I've had Heady on tap at the brewery, a local Vermont bars, canned, shipped here to Washington. So, I've had it from a day old to a couple weeks. None the these "vintages" are as good as Hop Venom to me. I just prefer Hop Venom and even RPM over Heady.

On a side note, a buddy was just in town from Texas and had RPM for the first time. He was blown away and stuffed two growlers in his bag to take back on the flight.

 

I think HT is he best DIPA out there. I read all this stuff about the local rave reviews because they finally started making something more hoppy on the east coast and the hype train and so forth..but I know quite a few craft beer lovers here in the NW that have had Hop Venom, Citra, Pliny and Pure Hoppiness and so on. They don't do BA and the hype train means nothing to them. Most all of them have said HT is the best DIPA they've ever had, period....Abrasive running a close second.

OP, you should try it for yourself and make your own call. I've had beers that score a 85 on BA that were a 99 for me and I've had beers that scored a 99 that were an 80 for me. It's subjective...

On that note, Hop Venom is the shit.