Question about Heady Topper

Do as your avatar, and abide.

You have 4, do both and see what you prefer.

 

I have a strong opinion which I prefer, I will withhold that for the moment. What I will say is try it both ways and do what you prefer, there is no wrong way.

Additional food for thought. Nearly every brewery recommends decanting the beer into proper glassware for the best experience. What makes Heady Topper different than every other beer out there?

 

Yeah, I'd drink it as the brewer intended. Although you could just pour half the can into a glass & drink the other half from the can. It's all about personal preference.

 

i agree with try it both ways. i did and found i definitely prefer it from the glass.

 

I was surprised to find that it really DOES taste better from the can.

 

Can 1: Drink out of can
Can 2: Drink out of glass
Can 3: Shotgun!
Can 4: Send to 10804 Holly Dr. Everett, WA 98204

 

Yeah I love smelling aluminum as I'm drinking a world class beer.

 

it's actually best out of a boot, but out of the can will do in a pinch.

 

This is what does it for me. Beer is best decanted into proper glassware. Almost all serious people agree on this...except when it comes to Heady Topper?

If the brewer said to drink the beer while standing on one foot, would you? This advice is no more rational than advising the drinker to consume from the can as it turns accepted beer-logic on its head.

My theory is that the brewers say to drink HT out of the can because the beer is unattractive-looking, with hop resin visible. Here is how I described it when I reviewed it last month: "A hazy, putrid, light orangy color, with a thin head that disipates instantly. Hop resin clearly visible in the bottom of the glass, despite a careful pour."

Heady Topper is the best IPA I've ever had...but I drink it out of the glass.

 

Yes, of course.

 

I have a few bottles of DFH Old School Barleywine buried in my back yard.

 

Or maybe that hop resin is what gives Heady it's great flavor and when you pour it into a glass, you're leaving some of that behind in the can, lessening your experience.

 

It comes down to personal preferences. To me, I find that the nose on that beer is 50% of the HT experience. I've tried from the can and from the glass and I find it better from a glass (tulip).

-to each his own-

 

Do you pour other DIPAs into a glass? That should answer your question. Either way it's a fantastic beer. Enjoy.

 

I've done both and I wouldn't say one was necessarily better than the other. Heady Topper is amazing from the can and from the glass...I'm sure it would taste just fine out of a bowl. It's not the vessel that makes the beverage...that being said I prefer it out of the glass. I just feel like I'm bastardizing the experience by not being able to look at this beautiful, fantastic beer. If I had regular access to this brew I probably wouldn't care so much...but in my neck of the woods drinking a Heady Topper is an experience. An experience that only seems suitable for a glass...

 

My biggest thing is that it's not an attractive looking beer sitting in a glass. Poured out, it has an amazing amount of white floaters suspended in the brew. It was odd that they were absolutely suspended. They don't sink, they don't rise.

I get to have a lot of Heady, and I think it tastes much better out of the can. You get a concentrated whiff of the beer each time you take a sip out of the can. In the end, you can't go too wrong with Heady!

Hope it was great!

 

Part of the beer drinking experience is visual, so I believe in pouring it into a glass. That said, this stuff is so good, I'd drink it from a gym shoe.