i can only speak for myself, but HT has lost a lot of its luster. when this thread was started in 2013, hazy IPA wasn't a widely known style and HT was one-of-a-kind. we were all trying to figure out NEIPAs and HT was our beacon. fast forward to 2019/2020, and hazies are everywhere, we've cracked the code... and HT isn't as good as it used to be (again, IMO). last few times i've had it, it has shifted towards more dank and spicy. i suspect i'll get tarred and feathered for saying this, but these days HT isn't in my top 5 NEIPAs. it's still a damn fine beer and i'll grab one whenever i can, but this is in no small part due to nostalgia. my desire to clone HT has been superseded by my own hazy recipes.
Yes, I can see that the enthusiasm started to wane quite abruptly after 2017 or so. I made a "clone" (hate that word because clones don't really exist) in June of 2017 (using a different recipe) while my son made the recipe current at that time from this forum (the veganbrewer's recipe) so that we could compare the two against a real HT. His won hands down. However, although it was close to the original, there were still some differences. Part of the reason may be because he was unable to obtain Pearl (he replaced it with Maris Otter Pale Ale), although everything else in the recipe was identical. As a result, his was slightly darker than the HT. Other noticeable differences from the original included:
1. the foam didn't lace as much as the original;
2. not as much aroma;
3. not as cloudy;
4. heavier body;
5. less bitter;
6. not as carbonated (not a fault of the recipe);
7. lacked the distinctive "orange" flavor.
In terms of overall sweetness, it was the same. I'm surprised that some of these observations weren't observed by others, unless there were differences in equipment/practices that might account for them.
I generally do not prefer IPA's, but Heady Topper (and a couple of others) are an exception. I really enjoy it. I am currently brewing my second batch, this one based on bobbrews' recipe, but modified for my own enjoyment.
I've had HT's back then, and I've had a couple recently. You are right - they seem to have changed somewhat, although I still find them to be exceptional.
I have one question in particular that I only saw very vaguely addressed in all of the messages. I don't know if it's my own unique palette, but the main thing I like most about HT (other than it's incredible balance of hops/malt) is the little pearl of concentrated orange juice tucked away in the middle of all that grapefruit. Both the recipe that I followed, and the one by veganbrewer, do not have that little pearl. It's the exact touch I would like to achieve. Most of the people who have posted in this forum seemed to have focused more on the dankness, the grapefruit, and other fruit flavors, but only a couple even mentioned the distinctive concentrated sweet orange (or tangerine) flavor that I found so appealing.
Do you, or anyone else, know from which hops that flavor might come from? It might help explain a missing hop, or one that might not be concentrated enough. Amarillo perhaps? Thank you.
