I solved the problem - I don’t brew IPA at all. I just brew Blonde Ales, Best Bitters, and Stouts. The occasional barleywine.
Make IPA Clear Again
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While I completely agree with your sentiment, that IPAs have lost their IBUs, I can say that "hoppy" has taken a slightly different turn as far as describing beer. Hops contribute most of that juicy flavor. It's got a lot to do with the aromatics vs. bittering. Either way, it's hop flavor.
As a New Englander, I can say I'm done with this whole haze thing.
Do you know how hard it is to get a local beer that is over a 30 IBU?
I find myself buying Sierra Nevada mixed packs because I like bitter IPAs.
Even the inventor of the hazy IPA, from Alchemist, thinks it's absurd.
The brewmasters and brewery owners say they are over it out here, but it's the only thing that sells year-round.
Luckily, I have a local brewery that has started a "SHOP" series that will highlight 2 hops in each batch. It's going to be there same base, but change out hop combos. I just bought my first one and plan to have it soon. But they usually do a more traditional East Coast IPA.
Do you know how hard it is to get a local beer that is over a 30 IBU?
I find myself buying Sierra Nevada mixed packs because I like bitter IPAs.
Even the inventor of the hazy IPA, from Alchemist, thinks it's absurd.
The brewmasters and brewery owners say they are over it out here, but it's the only thing that sells year-round.
Luckily, I have a local brewery that has started a "SHOP" series that will highlight 2 hops in each batch. It's going to be there same base, but change out hop combos. I just bought my first one and plan to have it soon. But they usually do a more traditional East Coast IPA.
Pretty sure this is a home brewer forum. If you're jonesing for a style, go forth and brew same 
I toss in a WCIPA batch every so often because that style introduced me to the notion of the "lupulin shift" years ago - when all I was brewing were face-ripper IPAs using my home-grown Chinook, Cascade, and Centennial, and literally had hops to burn. Plus my post-college boys were suddenly all hopheads and pushed me to crazy paper numbers.
Otoh, the last two years here has been all about pillow-soft juice bombs - and I have three on tap right now. But I have a pair of wcipas kegged and ready that will see their day soon...
Cheers!
I toss in a WCIPA batch every so often because that style introduced me to the notion of the "lupulin shift" years ago - when all I was brewing were face-ripper IPAs using my home-grown Chinook, Cascade, and Centennial, and literally had hops to burn. Plus my post-college boys were suddenly all hopheads and pushed me to crazy paper numbers.
Otoh, the last two years here has been all about pillow-soft juice bombs - and I have three on tap right now. But I have a pair of wcipas kegged and ready that will see their day soon...
Cheers!
Oh hey, look, there goes the point.
Just looked at one of my favorite local breweries... And I'm gonna go there to pick up some amazing beer.
"Drink it. It's good."
IBU’s - 65
Kettle Hops - Columbus, Centennial, Amarillo & Citra Dry Hops - Amarillo, Centennial, Citra, Simcoe & Columbus
Malt - Pilsner, Munich, Crystal Malt
"Drink it. It's good."
IBU’s - 65
Kettle Hops - Columbus, Centennial, Amarillo & Citra Dry Hops - Amarillo, Centennial, Citra, Simcoe & Columbus
Malt - Pilsner, Munich, Crystal Malt
Maybe the reason I like the NEIPA around my part of Minnesota is that they are not muddy. When I ordered one and it came it had what looked like chill Haze and was wonderful. It had enough bitterness to balance it and not be truly sweet. I asked the brew master about it and he said he himself likes them like this, takes a bit more work but they finish clean when you drink them.
That would not make sense because the IBUS are too low.
I prefer a typical IPA with some crystal 40 added and a 60 minute hop addition and lots of late additions. Just put one on tap that is all citra/simcoe.
At first I really liked the Hazy IPA's but I am growing tired of them quickly. I do think brewers right now are breaking new ground with new methods and thinking out side th box. I commend the effort.
However, I did just brew one yesterday because I have never done the NEIPA or Hazy IPA style before. So I thought I would give it a try with hopes that my beer will be better than some of the ones I am growing tried of. I don't hink this is a style I will do much at all.
I also am not a big fan of Black IPA's however I like stouts and portors.
OP
OP
I have brewed juicy/hazy IPA's before they were a thing and was honestly embarrassed of my juicy concoction. I felt I had failed as a brewer... But it was really just really young/green beer that cleared and lost its OJ flavor with a few more weeks in the keg and became really good IPA.
VirginiaHops1
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A neighbor ran to the bottle shop yesterday and was grabbing me a 4 pack. He asked what I wanted, and I wanted a hazy IPA off the shelf with their new arrivals, but I never know what they have in stock and didn't want to make him spend half hour there searching for some specific **** I requested. So I said just grab me any IPA off the shelf. He did, one I'd never had before(which is good) and didn't say anything about haze/juice on the can, but of course it poured hazy/juicy/low IBU. This is the golden age for people who like haze.
I do have a clear pale ale on tap right now with Bry-97 and maris otter that you boomers would probably enjoy
I do have a clear pale ale on tap right now with Bry-97 and maris otter that you boomers would probably enjoy
Yeah. I'm in Milford.
I love the stuff NEBCO is doing. I'm gonna try to convince my wife I should have the Attempted Redrum and Super Supernaut.
Where are you located?
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OP
OP
You guys and the boomer crap... FWIW, aint no "boomer". Just like my IPA clear.
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It is a by product of craft beer entering into the mainstream.
It was a matter of time before craft brewers, like every other product maker, begin to create gimmicks to differentiate their products.
And sure enough one of the gimmicks will take - and just like that it goes from a gimmick to a fad.
Just wait another year or two... then you won't be able to find a hazy IPA anywhere.
It was a matter of time before craft brewers, like every other product maker, begin to create gimmicks to differentiate their products.
And sure enough one of the gimmicks will take - and just like that it goes from a gimmick to a fad.
Just wait another year or two... then you won't be able to find a hazy IPA anywhere.
Such a short sighted comment. Breweries have been built and are thriving on hazy New England/Northeast IPA sales. They're not going anywhere except into people's fridges and belly's.
We can only hope...
If they don’t fade away, I wish they would at least fade in popularity enough to compel breweries to label beers better. I love West Coast style IPAs. I have taken to not trying new beers because it is nearly impossible to determine what style of IPA it is.
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Opposite of short sided.... just reality.Such a short sighted comment. Breweries have been built and are thriving on hazy New England/Northeast IPA sales. They're not going anywhere except into people's fridges and belly's.
1 year ago (here) you might see one or two breweries serving a hazy option.... to now one brewery ONLY has hazies, another is 3/4 hazy and the rest have at least 2 or 3.
I would seriously bet you $1000 in 2 years they will be almost gone.
And THAT, by definition, is a fad.
ajbosley2015
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What I dont care for is the association with poor clarity and IPA. You are right, lots of people love it and I acknowledge some I've tried actually tasted pretty good. But they didnt strike me as IPA. Others I've tried were not so good though and left me with a feeling of a yeast (or flour) coated tongue.
Again, lets move the haze into its own non-IPA style and MAKE IPA CLEAR AGAIN!
If you have researched them and made them...you perhaps wouldn't be so quick to judge. It seems as if you are implying that hazy beers are imperfect when in reality they have been brewed to achieve such.
Touching back on serving glasses of yeast...I have done starters with typical hazy yeasts (all of which i add a few pellets of hops to), if you chill them for months and all yeasts fall out of suspension...the beer on top is still hazy. They aren't serving glasses of yeast, and you frankly don't taste the yeast in hazy beers.
There is something to be said about purposefully creating an IPA (or any style) that challenges the status quo and skillfully adds complexity in a different form. We can all make exceptionally clear beers with the right combination of water profile, grains, hops, and yeast, but can we all create a skillfully adept version of the same beer with a consistent haze that is NOT a sign of imperfection?
Why do you not attack Black IPAs in much the same way? They are obviously not "IPA"
The fact that there is a specific BJCP category devoted to specialty IPAs and ones coming for NEIPA directly addresses how valuable they are to the craft.
I enjoy a massively hopped clear IPA, but I also enjoy a massive hopped NEIPA that tastes like carbonated juice but have zero fruit. Its a style, it has its merits, it takes tons of skill to appropriately execute...these are the things we should be embracing, not criticizing.
But "hazies" are what, around 15+ years old now? You think that's a fad?
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You wasn't addressing my post, but commenting on yours.... I am not criticizing them, just pointing out I believe it is just a fad that will fall out of popularity just as fast as they became popular.
Exactly like Black IPA's. I LOVE a good black IPA. 5 years ago pretty much every brewery you went to around here had one on tap. Now none of them have it. Nitro Stouts.... maybe 3-4 years ago? Everyone served them, all the majors made them and on shelves everywhere... now... not so much.
This is just a result of craft beer getting into the mainstream markets. We all love this is happening of course, but like every other product in existence... fads are a part of it.
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Of course.
It doesn't matter how long they have technically existed. If any product arrives on the scene like wild fire, and then falls out of popularity just as fast - is by definition a fad.
Again, I am not knocking the style. All I did was point out it is a current fad. How can anyone deny that?
ajbosley2015
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With all due respect, I wasn't even responding to you, I was responding to someone else with a completely different point altogether.
I agree its potentially a fad, but I wasn't speaking on the fad, I was speaking on them being criticized for their lack of clarity as if it is a flaw when in fact it is a difficult to achieve property that marks the style.
Nitro Stouts are still everywhere I go, by the way, Black IPAs are made more seasonally than year-round, so comparing the fad is somewhat unfair. Considering hazy IPAs have been on the scene for over a decade and still calling it a fad is relatively silly
ajbosley2015
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Guess I will comment again on this...by definition, a fad lasts for a season. If you consider a brewing season as over a decade, you are right. If you consider that the fad has only recently started, well...its still too long of existence to be a fad. If you are going to tout semantics, consider the word choice, for hazy IPAs are simply not, by definition, a fad.
I don't see anything in Merriam Webster about one season
fad
noun
Definition of fad
: a practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal : craze
ajbosley2015
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First, Merriam Webster is not considered a scholarly source.
Second, fads were defined to tend to the fashion industry, we have just expounded on the word and applied it to others
Third, I suppose I could list you a ton of sources that list out the total length of a fad, and they would have scientific merit (unlike a dictionary which isn't accepted as a reference in any major argument)
But, alas, you win. a fad doesn't have a length of time in Merriam Webster. Good call bro.
I think it's maybe more of a trend than a fad.
Sours and hard Seltzers have been gaining popularity over the last few years. But everything will wax and wane. There is going to be a style of beer that blows up because it gets a bunch of people into craft beer. Then those people will try something else or get tired.
I've seen it a hundred times. (Chris Farley voice)
Sours and hard Seltzers have been gaining popularity over the last few years. But everything will wax and wane. There is going to be a style of beer that blows up because it gets a bunch of people into craft beer. Then those people will try something else or get tired.
I've seen it a hundred times. (Chris Farley voice)
InspectorJon
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I think this thread has become something of a fad.
stickyfinger
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I think maybe the brut IPA was a fad that came and is pretty much on its way out perhaps, but i can't imagine NEIPA ever going away. i've been working on recipes and techniques to make NEIPA for at least 3 years now, and I am still learning things about process, yeast, malt and hops.
It IS hard to know what you are getting when ordering or buying "IPA" these days. Sometimes it is hazy and not much hop flavor, sometimes it is fairly clear and nice hop flavor, sometimes it is clear and bitter and seems like it has no hop flavor. it's such a wide overall style now. Seems like breweries need to make an effort to explain the beers on the labels more clearly if they want to make sales to new customers.
It IS hard to know what you are getting when ordering or buying "IPA" these days. Sometimes it is hazy and not much hop flavor, sometimes it is fairly clear and nice hop flavor, sometimes it is clear and bitter and seems like it has no hop flavor. it's such a wide overall style now. Seems like breweries need to make an effort to explain the beers on the labels more clearly if they want to make sales to new customers.
ajbosley2015
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I’m glad you said this.
Your first remark is spot on. It’s a hard style to nail, and people are judging like it’s super easy to make a hazy beer...well it’s super easy if you make mistakes, it’s extremely difficult to perfect.
Your second remark, I completely agree with. I have resorted to only buying IPAs I like, or only buying ones that tell you the hop bill on the can/bottle. If you can’t tel me why to expect, I’m not buying it. Period.
It’s a twofold win for me, because I also get to experience different hop combinations and that helps me plan without making a ton of SMaSH beers
Whether hazy is or isn’t a fad depends on what the meaning of “is” is, I suppose.
Bet. I'll be a thousand bucks richer in 2 years. Bookmark this thread please.
Like I said earlier, breweries have based their entire business model after brewing hazy IPAs. You think TH, Trillium, Alchemist, Other Half etc are going to stop making their flagship beers? You think they will stop creating new recipes for hazy IPAs? You think being in business for 5-10+ years is a fad? Come on man. Think realistically. Think rationally. The BJCP has given it it's own style for crying out loud! The style has been continually growing and evolving for well over 10 years now. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's not going anywhere.
Robert65
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But it's just like the hazies, you keep thinking surely it's had its day and is going to die away, but no....
The reason why it's sticking around more than other trends is the approachability. It appeals to non-beer drinkers because of the fruitiness, and to non-IPA drinkers because of the low bitterness. Humans tend to not like bitter as a general baseline, and West Coast IPA can be assaulting to the unfamiliar.
It may fade into the background kaleidescope of IPAs, but honestly I think it has the staying power of the East Coast and West Coast IPAs in staying a relatively major player, if not the "it" thing, for many years. Unlike the Red/White/Black/Belgian/Brut/IPL/Rye IPAs that were more true "fads" and now pop up more as throwbacks than anything. Rare to see a brewery that always has one, or even seasonally.
It may fade into the background kaleidescope of IPAs, but honestly I think it has the staying power of the East Coast and West Coast IPAs in staying a relatively major player, if not the "it" thing, for many years. Unlike the Red/White/Black/Belgian/Brut/IPL/Rye IPAs that were more true "fads" and now pop up more as throwbacks than anything. Rare to see a brewery that always has one, or even seasonally.
MagicRat
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I enjoy the style. I don’t care for most of the terribly bitter IPAs that were dominant a few years ago so the hop aromas without the bitterness offered by NEIPAs was something I welcomed.
Haze doesn’t bother me. I love Bavarian hefes.
I rarely brew IPAs but the one time I made a NEIPA, the only thing “hazy” meant to me was that I didn’t need to do anything to clarify it, so no Irish moss, no cold crashing. It was fairly hazy naturally and pretty delicious.
It’s just another style. If you don’t like it, don’t drink it.
Haze doesn’t bother me. I love Bavarian hefes.
I rarely brew IPAs but the one time I made a NEIPA, the only thing “hazy” meant to me was that I didn’t need to do anything to clarify it, so no Irish moss, no cold crashing. It was fairly hazy naturally and pretty delicious.
It’s just another style. If you don’t like it, don’t drink it.
stickyfinger
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definitely a huge plus for the success of the style. even people who didn’t like more traditional IPAs like them. They’re ALL about hop flavor so people are tasting pure hoppy goodness for the first time. they also SOMETIMES appeal to people who like a less dry beer.
every single hop head i know also likes them. sure, they want a crisp bitter IPA too sometimes but they GLADLY drink down a soft low bitterness NEIPA at a moments notice as well!
You can have crappy or fantastic IPAs of any style. It’s not the style that matters it’s how it is brewed and how it tastes. then, it is a matter of personal preference after that. I personally cant imagine an IPA drinker just completely rejecting any style of IPA out of hand if it is a great example but then again, we are all unique in our sense of taste and our experience level with each style.
every single hop head i know also likes them. sure, they want a crisp bitter IPA too sometimes but they GLADLY drink down a soft low bitterness NEIPA at a moments notice as well!
You can have crappy or fantastic IPAs of any style. It’s not the style that matters it’s how it is brewed and how it tastes. then, it is a matter of personal preference after that. I personally cant imagine an IPA drinker just completely rejecting any style of IPA out of hand if it is a great example but then again, we are all unique in our sense of taste and our experience level with each style.
I’m a confirmed IPA lover. I’ve never had a NEIPA that I cared for at all. For the record, I LOVE orange juice and apple juice. I like pineapple juice too. I can appreciate sweet flavorful and aromatic drinks. I really enjoy mojitos and vodka gimlets.
When I want a beer I’d rather not have a watery, flabby off flavored glass of thick water that has some hop aroma.
I’m pretty sure I’ve never been lucky enough to have one of these world class examples, but every one I’ve tried as turned me off from the style.
stickyfinger
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i suppose i feel that way about brut ipa. i’ve only had two and i kind of enjoyed them but i dont care to have any more for awhile! another friend of mine who mostly likes very malty or very unique chocolatey, spicy beers, etc also commented to me that if she wants fruit juice she’ll just drink fruit juice. ultimately it’s to each their own i guess.
have you had the more transitional neipa style such as heady or focal banger? i love them too.
have you had the more transitional neipa style such as heady or focal banger? i love them too.
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