Let’s talk about black market beer

The most-trafficked article on this entire site is titled “Where Can I Buy Heady Topper in New York City?“ Thousands of people come to this site every month wanting to know where they can get the double IPA brewed by a small Vermont outfit called The Alchemist – a beer that is consistently ranked among the best beers in the world by beer-rating websites. There’s a simple answer to that question in the article: you can’t. But that’s not entirely honest of us: you can. We won’t tell you where, because we don’t want to encourage the type of activity that allows it to be purchased in the city. The black-market selling of this beer and others is blatantly illegal, goes against the wishes of the brewer, and drives up the scarcity of the beer in places where the sale is legal thanks to hoarders trying to make a buck.

The law is quite clear: any beer not registered for sale in the state of New York cannot be sold by a retailer here legally. While Heady Topper was registered for sale back in 2012, when they shipped a small amount of the beer in New York, the registration has since lapsed, because they shrank their distribution footprint. Even with a the closure of the brewery’s tasting room and an expansion, The Alchemist simply cannot keep up with demand in their home market of Vermont. Heck, the popularity of the beer at home is almost too much to bear. People still line up at liquor stores on the day each week that Heady Topper arrives, and their regular “truck sales” had to be discontinued due to crowd and parking complaints in their hometown of Waterbury. Many of the people buying their beer are buying it because they want to enjoy it, or share with friends. But there are more than a handful who want to profit off of the beer’s popularity and scarcity, and a few are doing it unabashedly.

Take the photo above, provided to us by a longtime reader who came across Heady Topper on a beer menu at a bar in Brooklyn for an insane price. Perhaps you think that $17 is a price you’re willing to pay for this beer, but consider that in a worst-case scenario, this bar paid the retail price of $2.50 per can and is adding an outrageous 580% markup. That markup is figuratively criminal, but the sale of it in New York is literally criminal. Back in 2009, an Upper East Side bar was raided and fined $20,000 for selling unregistered beer. A similar fate is the risk of selling Heady Topper. But the massive markup is the reward.



Let’s also consider that without a lot of publicity and a pricetag that high, we doubt those cans of Heady are moving very fast. And since the beer isn’t delivered on a refrigerated truck straight from the brewery, we doubt these cans are being served the way the brewer intends the beer to be served. The Alchemist’s John Kimmich has regularly vented about retailers who improperly and illegally sell his beer, saying, “we work unbelievably hard to put out a world class beer at a very affordable and reasonable price.” $17 for a can of questionable freshness is not affordable or reasonable.

New York’s Craigslist is often littered with posts advertising Heady Topper at absurd prices. This practice is against Craigslist policy, and is also illegal. In 2013, a Vermont lawyer was busted for selling five cases of the beer through Craigslist for a whopping $825. While prosecutions are rare, resellers are taking a risk – and again, going against the wishes of the brewer.

So, how do you get your hands on a beer like Heady Topper? If you’re looking for the real deal, go to Vermont. Or, make a beer trade with someone who’s been to Vermont. Or, chip in on a case with someone you know who’s going to Vermont. Any other way is illegal and likely a waste of your hard-earned money.

But here’s the thing: you don’t need to go to Vermont to get a beer like Heady Topper. There are plenty of double IPAs out there that are far more widely available in New York – and some say are better. The annual release of Bell’s Hopslam didn’t require a full-on beer hunt around the city. Stone’s Enjoy By series and Lagunitas Sucks come to New York regularly. And Other Half Green Diamonds won a blind IPA tasting we held over the weekend – and when it’s available, it retails at the brewery for $16 for a four-pack of freshly-filled cans.



Sure beats $17 for one lousy can that rode in someone’s trunk from Vermont.

