Heady Topper

First, I'm not your Bruh. Second, you first response to the guy was this:

Then, after he disagreed with Shipyard being on par with Heady (as most sane people would) you pulled out the:

I continue to question how a beer only available in Maine at this time qualifies as "local preference", which is the post you directly quoted.

 

Drawing the line of exactly where those things are different gets pretty tricky pretty fast.

Hobbies are almost by definition silly and a waste of time to anyone outside the hobby. More power to anyone who does what makes them happy without hurting anyone else.

 

Because it's going to be widely distributed soon. And this is the new England forum so Maine is definitely local for the members in Maine.......

I'm not saying it's bothering anyone, just saying it can be a bit excessive. Any hobby can become excessive. If you're going skydiving every weekend I'm sure it's fun but it's also a bit excessive.

 

I like beer!

 

So @Keith_LaRose whadja think?

 

It's not just for breakfast anymore!

 

Does that make HT the Run DMC or more like Dr. Dre, since he has spawned a bunch of artists?

 

I'd say Sierra Nevada is the Run DMC, Russian River is the Dr. Dre., and Heady is the Snoop Dog.

 

I love it, my favorite.

 

If we are going down this road... I would say Sierra Nevada would be the Dr. Dre of IPAs, early West Coast pioneer, Pliny would be the 2Pac, took the West Coast IPA to the next level.

Meanwhile back East you had something like Harpoon? making early IPAs, they are the Sugarhill Gang. Then comes along Heady Topper, the Notorious BIG, who takes the East Coast to an entirely new level countering the new wave of West Coast hip hop... the game would never be the same after that.

 

You're right. I was using generation, not generation and coast to match up brew to artist. 2Pac's more the Sculpin IMO though.

 

There's a reason it was number 1 for so long. But I tend to agree with some others on this thread that a few other breweries, like trillium and treehouse, are brewing beer on par with - if not better than - heady. So you, in MA will be fine. And if you need to scratch that heady itch, you can always trade some trillium for it.

Next time you get some, wait a few weeks on it. Like 3-4 weeks. I feel like heady can be a bit raw when super fresh. Even though I think they hold the cans back at the brewery for a few weeks before selling them anyway. I might be wrong on that. But either way, to me, all the flavors start to meld beautifully at around the third/fourth week after purchase. Amazing, amazing stuff. Glad you got to try it!

 

So does that make Surly Furious Kanye? haha. Let's take this as far as we can. Who's the weird Texas IPA that will fulfill our chopped and screwed hip-hop analogy?

 

You can do that? I gotta get a new phone...

 

Heady IS overrated. Same w/ SOS. Both are great though and I think you'll be very happy

 

I can see where someone who is relatively new to Craft Beer will say this, and I don't think it's wrong.

However, if you were into craft in the 2000's(as I was) even just 6 years ago this statement would be absurd. That shit was blowing peoples minds when it came around more often and their weren't many other beers around that were like it.

Today, IMO, it's still a great beer and I sometimes really prefer having Heady to other current stuff(Trillium, Treehouse, Bissell, etc) I absolutely can see how people will think it's overrated in 2017. If you handed it to someone who's never had it and didn't tell them what it was, they would probably think it's a West Coast take.

 

Totally agree. The times they are a changing. I remember my first sip of Pliny @ Father's Office in LA circa 2006. Blew my fricking mind. Had it again on a Cali visit a couple of years ago. Still great but not a game changer. The hype is so high on some of these beers that there's no way the experience can match the expectations.

 

I think part of it is the rat race and chase for bigger and better. Those beers opened the doors to what we have now. You could argue that similar in nature was the progression of Imperial Stouts after Kate the Great gained its notoriety here in my small city of Portsmouth, NH. I was always amazed at how much that beer blew up. But their were plenty of Impy stouts around in other areas.

 

I think heady holds up to the test of time better than many other highly acclaimed DIPAs... Anyone have King Sue lately?