Beer of the Week

The beer: Heady Topper

The brewery: The Alchemist Brewery, Stowe, Vermont

Description (from BeerAdvocate): "Heady Topper is an American double IPA. This beer is not intended to be the biggest or most bitter. It is meant to give you wave after wave of hoppy goodness on your palate. Tremendous amounts of American hops will creep up on you, and leave you with a dense hoppy finish in you mouth. So drinkable, it's scary. Sometimes I wish I could crawl right into the can.

Freshness and control have always been my main concern when it comes to our beer. We are committed to providing you with an unfiltered and unpasteurized hop experience. Why do I recommend that you drink it from the can? Quite simply, to ensure a delightful hop experience. The act of pouring it in a glass smells nice, but it releases the essential hop aromas that we have work so hard to retain.

If you MUST pour it into a glass, you may find that some of the hop resins have settled to the bottom -- leave them in the can while pouring. This beer is perishable, and at its best when it is young, fresh and hazy. Keep it cold, but not ice cold. Drink this beer immediately, we are always making more."

Would I buy it again? Alas, I had to commit a great beer crime to get this picture, but this is the second Heady Topper I've had; the first was drunk properly from the can. And my opinion on a beer that's was rated in 2018 as the fourth-best beer in the world and still carries a perfect score on BeerAdvocate? 

I mean, it's good – juicy, hoppy, and pretty easy to drink – but one of my favorites? No. I am not, and never will be, an IPA guy.

To be clear though, neither example I had were at their prime, having gone through what my friend described as "refrigerator aging." A polite term for "they've been sitting around longer than I'd care to admit." I mean, free beer is free beer, and you do not turn down a beer with its own Wikipedia page, no matter how old. However, what I did drink was good enough that I would definitely consider buying a fresh one. If it's this good so far past its prime, I can only imagine what its like fresh from the brewery.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Johann Buys A Broat

Brewed by: Aslin Beer Company, Alexandria, Virginia

Description (from Untappd): "Johann Buys a Broat is a Double India Pale Ale that is fermented on our house yeast which produces peach and mango esters. Johann is solely hopped with Citra and fermented on Pineapple & Mandarin Orange. This beer has a huge creamy mouthfeel due to the oats and Madagascar vanilla beans, which round out the beer and give it a Pineapple & Orange creamsicle feel."

Would I buy it again? I think this is one of those beers that technically is very good but just isn't quite for me. Pineapple and beer go together very well, in my opinion, but orange and beer? Maybe not quite so much. The initial taste is quite good, but there's a tartness at the end that I didn't care for as much. But beyond that, this beer tastes pretty much exactly as advertised, so if that sounds like a good thing, by all means go for it. Personally though, I'm going to pass on this in the future.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Vanilla Double Wizard

The brewery: Black Flag Brewing Company, Columbia, Maryland

Description (from Untappd): "This 8% ABV Hazy Double IPA features a heavy hitting blend of Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops throughout the whirlpool and dry hopping, along with a large drop-in of Tahitian Vanilla Beans. Imagine the vibrant pithy citrus notes of these popular hops blended with the mellow, full-bodied sweetness of pure vanilla bean; a genuine hopped orange dreamsicle!"

Would I buy it again? The beer itself is perfectly fine. Very juicy, with a citrusy flavor, it's easy and pleasant to drink, and I like it. But there's an issue: I taste literally no vanilla. And with a name like "Vanilla Double Wizard," I was really expecting at least a little vanilla. I wanted to experience a vanilla-flavored IPA, but I got something much more average. So I'd probably pass on it in the future. Good, but not what I was looking for.