Make IPA Clear Again

[bwible]

If black ipa can be a category then NEIPA can too. Doesn’t bother me at all I just find it a bit odd they just add new categories for any new fad beer. Give it a few years and there’ll be a keto kale strawberry chilli tomato chorizo smoked fettuccine lager stout category haha

That’s a great point. I haven’t entered competitions for many years, but why do we need 13 categories for specialty IPAs?

 

[mattman91]

I enjoy the hazy/NEIPAs quite a bit, but I understand what is being said here. I love a good, classic West Coast style IPA. That was the style that got me in to craft beer in 2012. I'm bummed that most of the smaller breweries do not really make them as often.

I think the "crispness" is mostly what is missing in the newer styles. A full, creamy mouthfeel is nice in a lot of beer styles, but not everyone's preference for an IPA.

I do love a lot of the new school hops out there, and some of my favorites recently have been beers brewed with those hops but without the addition of oats/wheat etc. Do not get me started on lactose. That does NOT belong in an IPA. For me, it isn't the in-your-face bitterness that I miss (not that I don't mind that) it is more of a mouthfeel thing for me,

 

[InspectorJon]

They must have got the memo. Dust Bowl brewery, Turlock, CA - Peace, Love and Haze NEIPA.

 

[day_trippr]

But not that much "brighter" than the original neipa

Cheers!

 

[Broothru]

You're makin' me jealous with that Heady, _tripper!

From the start, I haven't much been a fan of the "haze craze" even though I've tried to adapt. Four years ago we were less than 100 miles from Alchemist on a road trip to New England to score some Heady when we had to abandon the quest due to a family emergency. Since then I've sampled several NEIPAs that were supposedly good but all failed to impress. More recently I've been given a few newer entrants to the style, most notably New Belgium and Sierra Nevada, that were actually quite good. Maybe I'm just evolving.

The style has once again piqued my experimental side. A recent IPA that I brewed for a competition next month utilized that "mysterious process" of biotransformation when the fermentation reached low krausen, and my first impression was, "WOW!!!" It's hazy alright with a bright yellow-orange glow which I usually find off-putting, but the aroma and taste are exactly what everyone told me was the attraction of these NEIPA beers. Oddly, I hadn't planned on brewing a NEIPA. It just turned out that way. There were six different hops: Nugget FWH; Nugget, Chinook and Summit at :15 minutes; Nugget, Chinook, Summit and Mt. Hood hopbursted at :01 minute; and a large DH of Citra and Cascade when gravity got down to about 10 points before predicted FG. Usually I use no more than three different hops in any single brew since I feel like the taste gets muddled with more than three. After spunding and doing a closed pressure transfer to a Brite keg for conditioning, the sample tasted very fresh with all that fruity goodness that I've heard so much about but have failed to experience.

In any event I'm not prepared to abandon the "Make IPA Clear Again" crowd, yet, though I might be willing to give a little more "brew 'cred" to the NEIPA advocates. I'm interested to see what the judges think at the competition.

 

[beersk]

But not that much "brighter" than the original neipa

View attachment 737906

Cheers!

I know! And there are so many people who say this isn't hazy enough. F*cking whiners, "It's not hazy enough!!! MOAR HAAAAAZE!!!" That's THE original. There's a reason why it says "drink from the can" on the packaging...They were ashamed of the haze.

 

[ba-brewer]

^Maybe they figured not everybody knows drinking from a can is the best way to fully enjoy the aroma of an IPA.

 

[Broothru]

^Maybe they figured not everybody knows drinking from a can is the best way to fully enjoy the aroma of an IPA.

No thanks. If I want to taste sheet metal I'll lick my fermenter .

 

[davidabcd]

If the beer had a metallic taste when drinking from a can, that taste would still be there in a glass. It doesn't though because of the coating inside beer cans.
Maybe coming in contact with the outside of a can might give a metallic taste.

 

[ba-brewer]

I was thinking it was a comment about cans being better than bottles for storage, but it does not look that statement is on all of their of beers, or at least the pictures on the website.

 

[shoreman]

But not that much "brighter" than the original neipa

I had a Heady up in VT a few weeks ago, canned 3 days before I got it. It was interesting to drink that beer recently- it had a really firm bitterness and malt profile that I hadn’t experienced in a while. “IPA” has been so redefined in just the past 4-5 years that this beer now seems like an outlier, even though it is the OG.

 

[Nagorg]

“IPA” has been so redefined in just the past 4-5 years

...Not really redefined exactly... There's just a lot of fakers out there trying to make folks think that's the case. Label my NEIPA as "IPA" and eventually the beer sheep will believe its supposed to look and taste like OJ.

 

[Nagorg]

But not that much "brighter" than the original neipa

View attachment 737906

Cheers!

I'd LOVE to try that beer. And I honestly dont consider that to be too hazy. That I can believe to be from a large Dry-Hop and perhaps a touch of chill haze.

Thats a far cry from the completely murky OJ looking beers I typically see...

 

[shoreman]

...Not really redefined exactly... There's just a lot of fakers out there trying to make folks think that's the case. Label my NEIPA as "IPA" and eventually the beer sheep will believe its supposed to look and taste like OJ.

it’s already happened- order a “Pale Ale” from a local brewery in New England at a bar or restaurant and 9 times out 10 that will be a hazy beer. Same with IPA, it’s unfortunate, but that’s where we are.

It would be ideal for Brewers to add NEIPA or NEPA or Hazy to their name but not always the case.

 

[Nagorg]

Pretty sure it hasnt been redefined. There are new categories for the haziboi's. But mislabeling continues to confuse the folks that dont know better.

 

[The_CuRe]

Just a few weeks ago, here at Mexico City, I saw in the menu a local pale ale with azacca, I ordered it and got back a god damn hazy bomb, I was pissed as ****.

 

[beersk]

Just a few weeks ago, here at Mexico City, I saw in the menu a local pale ale with azacca, I ordered it and got back a god damn hazy bomb, I was pissed as ****.

But that's what the Chilangos want, compa!!! Te estoy tomando el pelo. I'd be mad too, man. The mislabeling is something that grinds my gears greatly about hazy IPAs. PUT IT ON THE LABEL. It's not hard. Some of us don't want hazy/juicy IPAs.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

F yes!

 

[day_trippr]

Well that is just wrong. There is no BJCP "Chunky Style"

 

[VirginiaHops1]

Well that is just wrong. There is no BJCP "Chunky Style"

Not yet...

 

[ba-brewer]

I get two of those with every keg.

 

[Nagorg]

Thats just nast...

 

[Mitt Hefty]

Howdy, new here but not to beer drinking or making. I found this place Googling this very subject and probably have little to add to over the past few years of this discussion. I will say that I find everything about the muck unappealing. My reactionary response is to think it's a style created to eliminate a few steps at the brewery, but that's probably not the case. I've never been a huge fan of IPA's but appreciate the good ones. My wife unsuspectingly bought some of the sludge the other day and I had to rinse the palate with a Bell's Two Hearted Double IPA.

The trajectory of beer since I started brewing back in the 90's has been weird. The IPA and all it's hybrid variants in particular. For reference my favorite go-to store beer is Spaten Optimator, so I favor the malt over the hop for the most part. I miss walking into a brew pub and finding a Bitter with a nitro push, or a porter or a stout that isn't tainted with cookies and cream and pop tarts.

I have no objection to the hazy IPA, if that is your thing c'est la vie. I just wish I didn't have to look at a wall of the stuff while looking for a more traditionally brewed beer, IPA or otherwise.

 

[NewJersey]

I thought of this thread last weekend, while I was at a lil brewery with my family.
They had a good WEST COAST IPA and, believe it or not, they also had a really nice English IPA. I hadn't seen that style at a brewery..... Well, I've never seen that style at a brewery. It was well made and an excellent case for the idea that more isn't always better.

 

[Beermeister32]

The mislabeling is something that grinds my gears greatly about hazy IPAs. PUT IT ON THE LABEL. It's not hard. Some of us don't want hazy/juicy IPAs.

This is the kind of thing that ends up producing a different style category.

 

[McKnuckle]

I thought of this thread last weekend, while I was at a lil brewery with my family.
They had a good WEST COAST IPA and, believe it or not, they also had a really nice English IPA. I hadn't seen that style at a brewery..... Well, I've never seen that style at a brewery. It was well made and an excellent case for the idea that more isn't always better.

Do you mind mentioning the brewery? We're almost neighbors; I'm a few miles north of you off Rtes 287 & 208. Thanks!

 

[NewJersey]

Do you mind mentioning the brewery? We're almost neighbors; I'm a few miles north of you off Rtes 287 & 208. Thanks!

Bull N Bear right on Springfield Ave in Summit.

 

[Protos]

What a discussion! I read all of this. In my opinion, the main subject is not about beer. It's about "fashion snobbery" dictate, that have long been plaguing every other aisle of "artisanal business" and now plagues the craft beer industry as well. It's about craft brewers' preference to cater not to the broader base of their customers, but to a tiny (but extremely vocal) niche of hipsters, because the hype is the easiest way to cut costs on advertising.
Hazy Hoppy Ales just happened to be the banner of that change. It could be any other style, with which to employ the new advertising tactic.

That's why I (having nothing against hazy hoppy ales and somethimes brewing them myself for the change of pace, though preferring classic clear English and American IPAs) am strongly against the changing attitude in the business, which goes against what the craft beer movement have been all about for decades... So, list me in the "haters" club. And it's not hazy beers that I hate. MIPACA!

Yes, they will call the style "India Pale Ale" whatever we say here. It's a very well-working "generic trademark", after all. Unless, of course, some day they deem the mention of India politically incorrect and racially offensive, which well could happen in the near future. Then the style might be renamed.

 

[Broothru]

What a discussion! I read all of this. In my opinion, the main subject is not about beer. It's about "fashion snobbery" dictate, that have long been plaguing every other aisle of "artisanal business" and now plagues the craft beer industry as well. It's about craft brewers' preference to cater not to the broader base of their customers, but to a tiny (but extremely vocal) niche of hipsters, because the hype is the easiest way to cut costs on advertising.
Hazy Hoppy Ales just happened to be the banner of that change. It could be any other style, with which to employ the new advertising tactic.

That's why I (having nothing against hazy hoppy ales and somethimes brewing them myself for the change of pace, though preferring classic clear English and American IPAs) am strongly against the changing attitude in the business, which goes against what the craft beer movement have been all about for decades... So, list me in the "haters" club. And it's not hazy beers that I hate. MIPACA!

Yes, they will call the style "India Pale Ale" whatever we say here. It's a very well-working "generic trademark", after all. Unless, of course, some day they deem the mention of India politically incorrect and racially offensive, which well could happen in the near future. Then the style might be renamed.

Very well stated. Wish I could upvote more than just once.

 

[InspectorJon]

I think the issue is really more about labeling than style. BMC drinkers hated Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The style has endured. There are a LOT of people that like the hazy, heavily dry hopped "IPAs".

"It's about craft brewers' preference to cater not to the broader base of their customers, but to a tiny (but extremely vocal) niche of hipsters, because the hype is the easiest way to cut costs on advertising."

This is a very narrow view of business and the reality of the market place. I think New Englan Pale Ale would be a better lable or perhaps simply Hazy but there are litterally millions of customers that want to buy this style, not just some crazy hipsters. There are still a lot of BMC drinkers and other Craft Beer drinkers that don't like some styles, that does not make those styles bad. It may be to late to change labeling... Personally I have never tasted a sour I really liked. That does not make it bad.