Beer Bloggles - Heady Topper

If you are a craft beer geek, for the uninitiated, I assure you that is positive term, this is not the first blog or article you will have read about Heady Topper, a Double IPA from The Alchemist Brewery located in Waterbury, Vermont. And I assure you it will not be your last.

I have written an occasional craft beer blog here on myfoxboston.com and posted a few video packages during the past year.

I have been able to sample quite a few different beers for the first time.

But one beer has eluded me. Heady Topper has been my Hoppy Holy Grail. It is a beer with a lot of positive buzz around it.

John and Jennifer Kimmich ran The Alchemist Pub and Brewery for eight years before it was completely lost by the flooding caused by Hurricane Irene last year. You can see a photo of the damage, courtesy of The Alchemist, in the gallery above.

They now focus on producing one beer, Heady Topper, their flagship Double IPA. It has sold in 16oz cans since September. They have a 15 barrel, small production brewery and the popularity of the beer constantly puts a strain on its supply. Heady Topper is mainly available in Vermont. The brewery estimates that they sell 80% of their beer in Burlington, Vermont alone.

Jennifer Kimmich was kind enough to answer a couple of my questions by email.

Beer Bloggles: First off, the demand for Heady Topper is causing you to struggle to keep up
with supply. What are your production plans going forward this year?

Jennifer Kimmich: "We are struggling to meet demand locally. With our current production of 3000 barrels per year (only one label), we thought we would easily be able to saturate the state of Vermont with Heady Topper and still have plenty left to regularly send Heady to Boston. However, all winter we struggled to meet demand and we were running out of beer every week."

Tourism typically drops off in Vermont between ski season and spring when the ground is too muddy to hike. The Alchemist was able to make a few shipments out of state during this brief lull. They sent one shipment to Philadelphia, one to New York City and two to Boston.

Once mid-May rolled around, demand sky-rocketed as they anticipated. The Kimmichs were only able to produce enough Heady Topper to satisfy the needs of their hop-loving fellow Vermonters.

Beer Bloggles: On your website, you speak highly of expanding into the Boston area, saying the area is full of what you call, "honest beer drinkers." What are your current plans or timeline to do this?

Jennifer Kimmich: "We will double production of Heady Topper as soon as possible. We hope to accomplish this by fall. Our hope is to get Heady everywhere in Vermont, with the remainder going to Massachusetts.

Nothing is set in stone at this point, but I anticipate being able to send about 400 cases of Heady to Massachusetts every 2 weeks. We believe that if we make Heady more accessible in Massachusetts with regular shipments, it will bring the demand down a bit and keep the pricing in check. But, who knows? If demand exceeds our expectations in Massachusetts, we might have to focus on one limited territory (ie: metro Boston).

(Just a side note: I receive countless calls from distributors from around
the country.  Several distributors, especially from Philadelphia, California
and New York, claim to have the strongest craft beer culture in their cities.
Some distribution reps have even said that Boston isn't a great market and
they have alluded to lack of great craft beer culture. I couldn't disagree
more. Boston is not only a great city for beer drinking (countless beer
bars and the home to some great brewers), but it is the closest city to us.
It makes sense to keep Heady as close to home as possible. And, we love
Boston.)

Thank you, Jennifer, and I know Boston is going to love Heady Topper once it is more widely attainable.

I know because I have finally drank my first Heady Topper.

The build-up to this first taste for me has been long since it has been a hard beer to find.

And now the can was finally before me. Most craft breweries would like you to drink their beers from a glass, but the words from brewer Jim Kimmich written on side of the can implored me to drink it as is, right from the can.

What do you do when you crack open a beer with the highest expectations of greatness.

You pause.

And then you take that first swig.

This beer was somewhat different than what I expected, not like any Double IPA I have had before.

However, after the first taste had washed over my taste buds and the hops lingered on my palate. I took my second sip happily. This is an easy drinking beer for an ABV of 8%.

Now I want some more Heady Topper and I look forward to the day sometime in the fall when it is hopefully more readily available in the Boston area. If you are a craft beer fan and you like hoppy beers, I suggest you give it try when you see it in your local store.

Check out The Alchemist's website http://www.alchemistbeer.com/

If you drink, drink responsibly and support your local brewer!

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