Drinking Heady-topper in Burlington. John Carlin, Gary Butcher, Barbara Butcher and Mary Carlin.

The Ride

This is a clear case where the beer was waaaay better than the ride.

That’s because on the ride, I crashed, was knocked unconscious, and left the scene in an ambulance.

It wouldn’t take much of a beer to be superior to that.  But, in this case, the beer, Heady-Topper, has achieved a reputation that’s  been rightly described as being of “near-mythical proportions.”

In other words, the beer might have been better than even a good ride.

A Small Detour on the way to beer…

As I wrote in a previous blog, my wife, Mary and I and another couple were riding from my family’s cabin on Lake Champlain to Middlebury, Vt. On the return trip, on a very hot day, something happened and I went over an embankment, hitting my head and blacking out.   Since I landed in tall weeds, the others, riding about 100-yards behind me, rode right past, not knowing I was passed out in the ditch.

A couple of days later I went back to see the ditch that claimed me and my bike.

Don’t worry, they eventually found me.

I still don’t remember what happened, but by the time I got out of the hospital, having been cat-scanned, x-rayed and EKG’d to death, it was not a great time for a beer.

Plus, I still had a hell of a headache.

The doctor said I needed to stay off the bike for at least a week, lest I fall off and hit my head again.

Concussions on top of concussions are bad.

Less riding = more beer

So instead of three days of riding to and around Burlington, Vt., we found ourselves in the car driving to Waterbury, Vt., near the famous Stowe ski resort, where apparently, Alchemist Brewing is almost as famous.

Their double IPA, Heady-Topper is the show stopper.  The beer sells out regularly.

Like, daily.

In fact, during our visit, I purchased the last four-pack of the day.  People in line behind me were not happy.

I wanted to tell them about my crash.  You know, maybe then they’d feel sorry for me, rather than wanting to mug me for my beer in the parking lot.

Beeradvocate.com ranks Heady-Topper 4th among all beers.  Seriously, it gets a rating of 4.71 out of 5.  That’s based on 14,245 rankings.

14,245 people can’t be wrong.

To further my point, the beer, which is only distributed within a 30-mile radius of Waterbury has reportedly been priced at $100 for a four pack in New York City.  By contrast, it sells at the brewery for $10.00.  That’s what I paid.

But, you get the point. People want their Heady-Topper.

An article in the Burlington Free Press showed the brewer’s outrage – not that a 4-pack was selling for $42.00, but that it was on the room temperature shelf of an upstate NY grocer – instead of being refrigerated as required.

Talk about disrespect.

According to the website Vinepair, a family flew their private jet from South Africa just for a taste of Heady.  The website also says that the Alchemist had to stop selling on-site for a time because “crowds were blocking roadways.”  There is also a reference to a woman who was arrested for selling cases on-line for $825.

Drinking Heady-Topper

If you REALLY want to know the deal with Heady-Topper, click the link for beeradvocate.com.  The folks there take their beer reviews seriously.  It’s not that I don’t, but I’m not that smart.

Or, my taste buds aren’t that sophisticated.

The secret is a rare yeast, British barley and Simcoe hops.  It’s also supposed to be consumed directly from the can.  Pour it into a glass and something changes for the worse.

Let me just say this is an awesome beer.  Fellow cyclist Gary Butcher and I ordered up at Capt. Tom’s Tiki Bar and Ken’s Pizza.  There are very few Tiki-anything’s in Vermont, but this bar had the summertime music we were craving and there on the menu was the famous Heady-Topper.

It was as advertised, though I’m not sure I could really appreciate it.  How do you wrap your head around drinking a beer that has Tom Cruise-like celebrity?

I do know that I have a four-pack at home in the man-fridge.  Now I just need a celebration important enough to drink it.