Head for a hazy IPA

[Nomofett]

My friend pointed out to me that lots of places that make hazy IPAs put very little head on their beers. Is there a reason for this? I thought head helps release aromatics, wouldn't you want a regular sized one on a beer as aromatic as a hazy IPA?

 

[day_trippr]

Lotta hop oil floating around a good neipa, probably not optimal for head intensity.
That said I haven't thought mine lacked sufficient head, but tbh I may be so caught up in the juice I haven't paid hella attention to the head...

Cheers!

 

[Rob2010SS]

Minimal head on a NEIPA is not an intentional thing, as @day_trippr pointed out. That being said, I don't think it's always the case. The 3 NEIPA's I've done have had a very nice head on them. I've had commercial NEIPA's that had good head retention as well. I think it's a case-by-case thing

 

[Nomofett]

That's what I thought also, then he started sending me pics of beers from the too makers and they all had minimal head, and he said that a few brewers said that's on purpose.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Do you mean they pour it with minimal head, that it doesn't have much carbonation, or that it has poor head retention?

I've seen some of all three. I think because of the juicyness of the beer, some people pour them with virtually no head.

Some are less carbonated. I think that's an attempt to make it seem more juice like. I don't like them under-carbed.

Some don't retain head well...probably for the reasons specified here. I've been working on getting better head retention on mine with some success.

 

[Nomofett]

Poured with minimal head.

He said the same thing about the jucyness but would head detract from that? I would think that head would release more aromatics and enhance it, but I don't know much about this area.

And yeah, they undercarb to help the juicy feel, that also makes me wonder why more aren't on nitro, I've only seen one on nitro and I didn't get to the bar in time to try it so maybe I'm missing something and it doesn't work as well as I thought

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I detest "headless pours". On a local facebook group for craft beer people, the fad with NEIPAs was to pour to the rim and try to get a head less pour. For the very reasons you state, I like a 1/2" of foam on top of my beer when poured, even if it doesn't hang around.

One thing to consider: carbonation adds bitterness. NEIPAs are supposed to be less bitter, but some brewers take it to the extreme. I had a NEIPA last friday from Barn Town. In general, I really like their IPAs (they seem to specialize in NEIPAs), but this was almost flat and, for me, far too sweet.

I'll try to post an image of mine from my phone later....

 

[Nomofett]

I feel the same, I need the foam!

He mentioned that about the bitterness also but does the amount of head factor in to that? I can pour a low carbed beer to have lots of head. Also, so many German and Belgium styles use a lot of head but aren't bitter, so I'm guessing there's another reason. If that were the case wouldn't you just lower the bittering hops and pour it with a regular head so the aromatics pop out more? I'm very confused by this whole thing haha

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

This is s pour of my latest NEIPA.

 

[Nomofett]

Yeah that looks right to me. A little more would be perfect to me but that's much better than what I see them pouring and I can't figure out why

 

[Sbe2]

This is how a NEIPA should be served!

 

[badclamz]

Even a DDH NEIPA with proper carbonation will yield a head, just not sure how well it retains the head. In my case the earlier pours from my kegerator on this NEIPA i made yielded a very nice head (as in picture) but the longer it sat in keg even on steady carbonation the head dissipated rather quickly after pouring

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

This is today's pour.

 

[Nomofett]

So I get that it can yield head, and I agree that it should. My question is why so many places don't do that only for this style