The story of Heady Topper, Americas most loved craft beer • Hacker News Board

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

#61

Post by daviross » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 8:39 AM UTC

danbruc wrote: post #47

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…

Most of the issue there is that, due to tradition, the official definition keeps getting bumped up so Samuel Adams counts. (Most recently from 2 million to 6 million barrels)

More practically, I'd say to look at microbrewery limits, which are 15,000 barrels/year.

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

#62

Post by dugmartin » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 1:12 PM UTC

defen wrote: post #20

If you like cheese and / or beer you owe to yourself to make a trip to Vermont and visit Waterbury and / or Burlington. Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, Lawson's Finest Liquids, Jasper Hill Farm, etc

And then dip down into Western Mass - lots of good beers here too even for non-IPA lovers like myself. If you want to try something a little different grab some Ginger Libation.

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

#63

Post by joezydeco » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 3:31 PM UTC

cafard wrote: post #26

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…

Scarcity: persons at or approaching Social Security age can remember when Coors was a real big deal in the Eastern US. Those of us living in Colorado didn't really understand this, though some of us did get through a fair bit of Coors.

Thankfully we have wonderful documentary about it all:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076729

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

#64

Post by kd0amg » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 4:53 PM UTC

SippinLean wrote: post #29

joezydeco wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

most of these beers have nothing else to offer in terms of body or flavor The hoppiness can also hide a lot of problems in the beer. Having spent a lot of time in Germany I can appreciate the pilsners, where the mistakes have nowhere to hide.

>The hoppiness can also hide a lot of problems in the beer. A common myth, the hardest part of a pils is maybe the decoction mash and having good water. IPAs and DIPAs are much more complex recipes requiring several steps post-fermentation, pils really just needs to be lagered. Any commercial brewery will have solved sanitation and 90% of off-flavors, they don't brew IPA because they are easy, they do it because they…

What steps did you have in mind? It's been some time since I last made an IPA, but I don't remember it involving any more post-fermentation work than anything else I've made.

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

#65

Post by cnnsucks » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 8:27 PM UTC

eatbitseveryday wrote: post #60

cnnsucks wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Heady Topper isn't sold outside of Vermont And yet it's "America's most loved"... Never heard of it myself. Beer hype. I've no doubt someone's gone off the deep end to get their hands on some; people do a lot of stupid things on behalf of the cliques they aspire to. There just seems to be a lot of this when it involves crafty beer stuff.

>> Heady Topper isn't sold outside of Vermont > And yet it's "America's most loved"... Never heard of it myself. I would interpret this as, of those who identify themselves as enjoying good beers, Heady Topper might rank high among their favorites. The general American public does not enjoy quality beers /opinion.

>> general American public does not enjoy quality

Even in midwest Trump country where I live atm I have my choice of three excellent craft brewers inside a five mile radius, operating for years now, the places are packed full of "general Americans" every single time I visit. The "general American public" is driving a $22 billion+ craft brewing market and nearly every podunk cow town big enough to have a WalMart also has a "brewing company" now. Tilt your head forward so your snoot isn't so high in the atmosphere and maybe you'll be able to spot some actual "general Americans" as opposed to the knuckle dragging rice beer drinkers you decorate inside your mind.

I've been through all the brew pubs in the Boulder/Fort Collins "Front Range" area as well. Never heard anyone so much as mention "Heady Topper." The story is just hype. Someone buffing up the trademark for a sale maybe.