From their home in Stowe, just 10 miles north of Waterbury, Jen and John and their son, Charlie, watched the storm unfold. When they got the call that Waterbury was being evacuated, John jumped in the car and drove down, powerless but determined to see the destruction with his own eyes.
By the time he arrived at the brewpub, the basement—where he had been brewing for eight years, where he stored the original recipes for more than 70 beers, and where he and Jen had their offices and kept the food—was completely under water. On the first floor, John stepped inside. The water was not yet waist high, but it was well on its way, so he worked his way to the bar and poured himself a final pint of Holy Cow IPA. Then, with the water rising at his feet, he raised his glass skyward and toasted goodbye to everything they’d built.
This mythologizing annoys John to no end. “This isn’t some magic formula,” he says, though Heady’s exact composition is of course a secret. John will reveal that Heady is made with British barley and American hops, and that the beer is a tribute to the hop variety Simcoe in particular. Simcoe hops, developed and patented by Yakima Chief Ranch in Washington state, have been on the market only since 2000. The Alchemist’s yeast, a key contributor to its beers’ flavors, was a gift from John’s brewing mentor, Greg Noonan, who obtained it on a trip to England in the 1980s. The only condition: John could never share the original culture with anyone else.
https://www.foodandwine.com/beer/hea...ing-double-ipa
Long article but really good read