Yummy heady topper and other dipa's

Hi, as the title indicates, it would seem I am a big heady topper fan. That would indeed be the truth, though I cannot get it regularly. On a vacation to the U.S this past September, I fairly easily scored a case, 24 cans, and I could have gotten much more, but alas, I am not just an IPA fanatic, as I wanted to load up on other beers to truck across the frozen border to Canada. (Now I wish I did get another case..)

Not very many of my buddies are in to craft beer, however, I did share some with those I figured would like it, and they all did. I still remember my first can, as stuffy nosed and congested with a head cold at the time, looking forward to finally enjoying that first can of heady, I thought I would be in for some disappointment as I will not be able to smell it. Well, was I a fool, seconds after I opened that first can, I was shocked that I could smell, and smell that beer I did! Fortunately, the head cold cleared and the rest of the beers were amazing and very much enjoyed.

This brings me to my last can, which I had poked away with other beers in the cellar. At about 4 months old, I thought, this won't be too good. And of course, a lot of the great hop character did drop off. It was nowhere near as good as fresh, and I wasn't surprised by that, but still it was enjoyable. However, what did sort of surprise me was after that can of heady, I had a bottle of another, lesser IPA, and the entire time drinking that beer, every single sip tasted like I was still drinking heady. I noticed that from the get go that you either only drink heady in a session, or save it for last because it will be a bitter overload and I won't appreciate the other beers. I guess knowing the hop flavors dropped off made me assume that it won't quite have that kick on the pallet as well. Guess that was a wrong assumption.

I am in a beer club and I have 6 6 packs of Dieu du Ciel Moralite coming my way any day. That IPA is basically heady's cousin being partly created by Jon from the Alchemist so I am looking forward to that.

I am really enjoying the American style IPA's but also I love many other styles as well. I just wanted to express my thoughts on that last heady. It truly is amazing fresh, but still not too bad a few months old. I hope to get more in a year or so if I head back down. If the new brewery is open they will have other choices as well.

Cheers.