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The story of Heady Topper, Americas most loved craft beer

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Re: The story of Heady Topper, Americas most loved craft beer

#41

Post by beat »

whistlerbrk wrote: post #24
sumeno wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a formal definition of what is or isn't a craft brewery from the Brewers Association. A craft brewery makes less than 6 million barrels per year, less than 25% is owned or controlled by a non craft brewery, and the majority of their alcoholic drinks are beer. Sam Adams and DFH both satisfy those requirements.

Okay, but no beer drinker would show up to a party saying they brought some craft brews and pull out some Boston Lager...

Indeed. "Craft beer" is basically a marketing term for Sam Adams now, rather than a production model.

It's not the only one. Here in Minnesota, I feel the same way about Summit and the various Schell's sub-labels. They may technically be "craft", but really, they're mass production beers with a smaller market than the giants.

Re: The story of Heady Topper, Americas most loved craft beer

#42

Post by scoates »

vermontdevil wrote: post #4
rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #3

Sounds like the writer liked their beer a little too much to make a balanced piece. It is my understanding that from coast-to-coast, America's most beloved craft brewery is Dogfish Head, and that the most popular craft brewery (by sales volume) is Sam Adams. I have never heard of Heady Topper, and I used to drink like a fish.

Then you need to go up to Vermont and give it a try. Plus Waterbury is a beautiful town to visit as well.

FWIW, I recently wrote up my Vermont hit list: https://seancoates.com/blogs/vermont/

Need to make a trip down there as soon as possible. I'm getting thirsty.

Re: The story of Heady Topper, Americas most loved craft beer

#43

Post by beat »

defen wrote: post #40
beat wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's as good as Pliny, I might go out of my way to get some!

Couple notes: 1) I don't know where you are, but it's best drunk fresh - I wouldn't recommend paying or trading a lot to get some if you're far away and can't be sure of the provenance (e.g. a month old can that has been improperly refrigerated is not going to be good) 2) It's "like" Pliny in that they are both hoppy double or triple IPAs but still different - Heady isn't filtered, so it doesn't have as clean of a mo…

The only time I've had it was flown in for a party. It was really lovely, though.

Re: The story of Heady Topper, Americas most loved craft beer

#44

Post by DisposableMike »

wspeirs wrote: post #19

3 Floyd's Alpha King[1]... best IPA/Pale Ale ever. Let the flame war begin!!! [1] https://www.3floyds.com/beer/alpha-king/?age_verification=e7...

I love Alpha King (and it's from my home state), but it's an American Pale Ale. Not the same as an (IPA) India Pale Ale, and certainly not the same as a double IPA.

Re: The story of Heady Topper, Americas most loved craft beer

#45

Post by kd0amg »

whistlerbrk wrote: post #24
sumeno wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a formal definition of what is or isn't a craft brewery from the Brewers Association. A craft brewery makes less than 6 million barrels per year, less than 25% is owned or controlled by a non craft brewery, and the majority of their alcoholic drinks are beer. Sam Adams and DFH both satisfy those requirements.

Okay, but no beer drinker would show up to a party saying they brought some craft brews and pull out some Boston Lager...

How about Thirteenth Hour?

Re: The story of Heady Topper, Americas most loved craft beer

#47

Post by danbruc »

An American craft brewery is a small, independent, and traditional brewery where small means a production of less than 6 million [US beer] barrels per year. [1] A US beer barrel seems to be 177.348 liters so that we get slightly more than 7 million hectoliters. The largest German brewery produced 5.5 million hectoliters in 2002. [2] So US small is German largest plus 25%? Or did I make a mistake, is there yet another barrel? In Germany you are considered a large brewery above 0.25 million hectoliters or 140,965 barrels.

Also the world beer production seems to be just shy of 2 billion hectoliters per year, so you can produce 0.35% of the world production and are still considered small? That would also limit the number of non-small breweries to 286.

[1] https://www.craftbeer.com/breweries/what-is-a-craft-brewery

[2] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Großbrauerei#Gr.C3.B6.C3.9Fte_...

Re: The story of Heady Topper, Americas most loved craft beer

#48

Post by tptacek »

joezydeco wrote: post #15

I've tried a Heddy Topper (it was offered to me in a restaurant in Burlington), I live near Goose Island, and I've consumed New Glarus in Wisconsin. To me it's all about the scarcity. People waiting overnight for limited-edition brews, crossing state lines to buy exclusive brands...it adds this psychological value to the beer. When you strip that away you're left with another 100+ IBU beer that my palate eventually c…

Part of the problem is that you're in Chicago, and Heady Topper doesn't travel well.

Also, you already live in one of the country's three centers for Double IPA production. :)

Re: The story of Heady Topper, Americas most loved craft beer

#49

Post by timmaah »

baccredited wrote: post #46

Agree that Heady Topper is the best. Love Pliny the Elder and Zombie Dust (which are almost as hard to get where I live) but Heady stands alone for me. My favorite widely available IPA is Jai Alai. What is yours?

Spending the winter in south south Florida. The Jai Alai is good. Better than any of the other Florida IPA's I have come across.

Re: The story of Heady Topper, Americas most loved craft beer

#50

Post by nibb0r »

whistlerbrk wrote: post #16
rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #3

Sounds like the writer liked their beer a little too much to make a balanced piece. It is my understanding that from coast-to-coast, America's most beloved craft brewery is Dogfish Head, and that the most popular craft brewery (by sales volume) is Sam Adams. I have never heard of Heady Topper, and I used to drink like a fish.

Sam Adams is not a craft brewery. I understand that term is subjective, but really truly not in this case. I wouldn't say Dogfish Head is either anymore.

The term "craft brewery" is defined by the industry group "the Brewers Association." It's not legally binding.

That group changed the definition of "craft brewery" from a brewery that produces less than 2 million bbl/year to one that produces less than 6 million bbl/year.

They made this change in 2011, as Sam Adams began to produce more than 2 million bbl/year.

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