Heady Topper taste variations: Drinking it as your first beer versus second or third.

I figured out that I absolutely cannot drink a Heady after a Focal. The HT just gets washed out.

 

never noticed this! I have noticed substantial changes within a case after a week or so, but never felt an influence from the previous beers I had drank.

 

Palate Fatigue is real

 

You might not have noticed this with other beers, but order matters.

 

I find that any beer following a big tropical hopped beer tastes like crap. It's palate fatigue.

 

It seems that Heady used to be perceived as somewhat of a palate wrecker back in the day before others came out (like for instance Back East Palate Wrecker from CT)

 

Such things happen all the time. Your taste buds, etc. are impacted by what you've eaten or drunk before the beer and the first beer will show flavors that won't appear if it's the second or third beer. So basically you are the one causing loss of flavors by drinking it 2nd or 3rd since your taste buds (and your sense of smell) don't have time to recover.

Basically the harder you pound them the longer it takes them to recover and it has happened to you before, it just wasn't so obvious.

 

The first Heady Topper always gets me smilin' super wide. If I drink two or three during the same sitting, the flavor is definitely off. Still very enjoyable, but not as magical as the first can. Still will snatch them up when I find 'em.

 

Mentioned before. Palate fatigue. What you ate or drank or how your nose is doing. Boogers drag you down. It's why I don't officially rate beers here. I'll do the check in thing on a independent drinking basis. We have a local ipa, elevaTed ipa. I've had more than I want to say. Some batches feel more bright and tropical. Some feel more bitter. As far as I know, the recipe really hasn't changed at all over the years. I probably have 10 different opionions/views of it overall. Give me the same 4 pack drunken at different intervals or steps, and it make taste like 3 different beers. The extra aromatic/ bitter wreck my senses. It's why I don't trust many with scores. You've sampled and ticked more than 7 ipas? That's crazy. I don't go over 5 anymore these days

 

Palate Mallet is by Back East. Palate Wrecker is by Green Flash.

 

Elevated is vexing to me. When I have it on tap it tastes like blue cheese. The canned beer is a while other ball game. I know @erway was using an african (?) hop in elevated, maybe it has changed.

 

These "godsend" east coast IPAs, they're kinda sweet. A little too much for me. Can't have a second without noticing it really.

Anybody else feel this way?

 

The Heady i got two weeks ago also has that nutty/biscuit flavor. Didn't expect that so I put the rest to the back of the fridge to see if it changes. The Second Fiddle i got from Fiddlehead Brewing in Shelburne,VT was much better.

 

Palate fatigue, HT is far from a cloying brew. That volume of hops in such a short time would kill anyone palate, it can't be helped to some degree. I like Heady very cold, like most big beers it suffers a bit as it gets closer to room temp. It's my usual beach week beer, makes my week to pop those cans for a week.

 

Not here.

But then I like noticing the second beer almost as much as I like noticing the first. :-)

 

I think it's because its is just so freaking good the first time. If it were just ordinary good, the difference would be less pronounced. I never drink two of them at a time, and Heady always goes first. I find it's best if you follow it with something not hop driven, whether a Mayflower porter or a Sam Summer or whatever. Then I could go back to an IPA or IIPA, but wouldn't waste a Heady, something like Little Sumpin Sumpin.

 

Complexity is becoming a lost art. Everything seems to be made for immediate impact these days; well, at least the hyped up beers. And that seems to be driving this whole (d)evolution.