Matt Kiedaisch

husband and wife duo behind the wildly successful brewery The Alchemist, in Waterbury, Vermont, got excellent news: Something was wrong with their canning line. The Kimmiches make a double India pale ale called Heady Topper—considered one of the best beers in the world. It sells out in less than a day and is so popular that the brewery had to stop tours and retail sales to appease the neighbors. But John still wasn't happy with it. He wanted to find out how the scant amount of dissolved oxygen, which can break down the hops and slowly erode Heady's complex flavor, was getting into the beer. He finally had his answer: the canning process.

"That was just fantastic," he says, "because we knew it wasn't us. It was the machine. It was something that could be fixed."

Cans are important at The Alchemist. Because Heady is an unfiltered beer, it remains alive and especially volatile after packaging. Cans protect the beer from sunlight, which can wreak havoc on Heady's fragile hop oils. The narrow opening concentrates the beer's intense aroma on every sip. This is why the top of each Heady has an impossible-to-miss command in capital letters: DRINK FROM THE CAN.

A few tweaks to the process—filling each can faster creates extra foam that keeps air at bay while the top is secured—and now you get the full flavor of Heady for months: an effervescent mix of citrus and pine made from special hybrid hop strains sourced from the Pacific Northwest, added late in the brewing process (they use CO 2 hop extract for bitterness).

Related: 10 things you didn't know you could do with beer.

Too bad the beer is almost impossible to get. High praise and scarcity have elevated it to mythical status. The brewery maxes out production at 9,000 barrels a year and only sells locally. The Kimmiches plan to open a new brewery in Stowe by next summer, but they won't be expanding Heady production. They will, however, brew three new beers—and those you might actually be able to buy. As long as you don't mind driving to Vermont. And standing in a very long line.

Can't get your hands on some Heady Topper? These three beers are similar—and available:

Bell's Hopslam Ale

Surly Abrasive Ale

Stone Enjoy By IPA

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io