OnTap Magazine

T  en years ago, a South African family flew to Vermont on a private plane, collected some cans of IPA from a small-town brewery and returned home. That at least is how the legend goes – and that’s about all the information available. No one seems to know the family’s name, and whether they were huge beer nerds or just uber-wealthy folk with a penchant for the rare. One thing we do know though is the name of the beer they apparently flew 13,000km to purchase: Heady Topper. I don’t quite have the means to charter a private plane, but since I was in the eastern US earlier this year, I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to visit the celebrated brewery that produces Heady Topper. The Alchemist is based in the hill-flanked town of Stowe in Vermont. The permanent population of Stowe sits at about 600, but once you add on tourist figures, that number rises steeply. People visit for the outdoor adventures – skiing in winter, hiking, biking, climbing and kayaking in the warmer months. But the region also attracts culinary tourists who come for the cider mills, ice cream factories, distilleries and of course, for the beer. Our trip was very much planned with gastronomy in mind. Indeed, the only walking we did was from our Airbnb to The Alchemist and back, and since we’d picked the closest possible place to stay, the Fitbit didn’t get much action. CAN CULTURE We arrived in town on a day when the brewery’s beer garden wasn’t actually open, but I scored an introduction to founders John and Jen Kimmich through an industry connection and so one sunny Wednesday morning we were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of The Alchemist. It kicked off, as brewery tours always should, with a tasting from the tanks. I’ve been lucky enough to taste Heady Topper on a couple of occasions before, but nothing could compare with the freshness of a sample poured straight from the tank into a lidless can. Drinking from the can is a big part of this beer. The labels instruct you not to pour Heady into a glass, but to swig straight from the can. John says the vibrant aromas start to diminish as soon as the beer goes from can to glass so if you want the beer at its best, keep it in the can. It’s a clever bit of marketing from a brewery that was one of the forerunners when it came to canning, creating a little lore and culture around beer in cans. And perhaps Heady’s appearance had something to do with the recommendation to drink from the can. Heavily hopped and left unfiltered, this hazy IPA was born long before brewers were doing everything they could to produce murkier and murkier beers; an unfiltered IPA that was created in an era when weissbiers were the only style drinkers felt could be anything but clear. But when sipped straight from the can, you would get the hop character without ever seeing the beer’s lack of clarity. BEER IN DEMAND It has been said that Heady Topper was the original New England IPA, although the beer had been in existence for about a decade before the haze craze properly took off. It was 2004 when John and Jen unveiled Heady Topper – a beer unlike anything on the market at that time. It was a huge hit. In fact, the beer quickly The Alchemist in Stowe: home of Heady Topper Limited edition cans from The Alchemist The legendary Heady Topper Happy husband at The Alchemist Afrofuturist art in Vermont ontapmag.co.za | Spring 2022 | 37