Never had a NEIPA

[McMullan]

Orange juice is much cheaper. Even the good stuff. Nor is it frowned on for breakfast, on a school day. I do wonder, though, if any crafty breweries have just carbonated some fruit juice topped up with vodka and packaged it in a brightly-coloured (migraine-inducing) can with a little drawing of a cute polar bear riding a tricycle chasing orange blossom falling from trees growing in the Arctic under the norther lights. Backed up by a couple dodgy YouTube videos as ‘proof of concept’. Like chimps painting Picassos. The power of marketeering can sell anything, apparently.

 

[mashinary]

If you can find it, the Oh-J by Lone Pine is a good example of the style.

 

[whoaru99]

The power of marketeering can sell anything, apparently.

Well, that is the whole point of it.

 

[VikeMan]

Clearly NEIPA is just a fad. <insert clever emoticon>

 

[day_trippr]

Yup, definitely has no staying power...
https://pintpleaseblog.wordpress.com/2023/06/30/beer-trends-of-q2-2023-neipa-climbs-to-the-top/

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I told them the beer wasn't that old, but they are buying me a six-pack anyway. Great customer relations.

I don't like it too. IMHO, looks like someone throw concentrated juice and caramel in a bitter beer. Completely off balance.

"Off balance" is one of the things I thought when I tried it.

 

[OleBrewing]

like blue cheese. some love it some hate it.

Not a big IPA fan overall as the many out there are never great or to style in terms of traditional IPA. NEIPA sub genre is fairly new, and people do like them. Although I have never tried one.

With everyone's taste being a little different is there a set standard that this is a "NEIPA". I have not reviewed the category in judging terms either.

I do feel the IPA category has definitely sub tiered into many things (see heavy metal genres); not at all a bad thing but gets convoluted with many varieties and in some cases something great happens.

 

[whoaru99]

With everyone's taste being a little different

Indeed, the heart of the matter.

In a previous thread linked earlier, the OP is not a big fan of Bell's Two Hearted but really likes Old Rasputin citing a score of 95 on Beer Advocate. Yet, Bell's Two Hearted also has a score of 95 on Beer Advocate and more ratings behind it.

One man's trash is another man's treasure applies in many different ways.

 

[OleBrewing]

Indeed, the heart of the matter.

In a previous thread linked earlier, the OP is not a big fan of Bell's Two Hearted but really likes Old Rasputin citing a score of 95 on Beer Advocate. Yet, Bell's Two Hearted also has a score of 95 on Beer Advocate and more ratings behind it.

One man's trash is another man's treasure applies in many different ways.

I would say two hearted is a great example of American IPA. rich malt and hoppiness and they compliment each other.

I look at beer similar to cooking. Each ingredient should not over power the other, but there again there are some dishes that say this is garlic this and one would come to conclusion that garlic should be up front. a good chef would make garlic up front but not overpower the main ingredient.

 

[McMullan]

Well, that is the whole point of it.

Of course, it’s official name is con artistry.

 

[McMullan]

Yup, definitely has no staying power...
https://pintpleaseblog.wordpress.com/2023/06/30/beer-trends-of-q2-2023-neipa-climbs-to-the-top/

That doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a persistent backwater style for years now. I don’t consider it a fad, because it hasn’t ever been popular enough to be called one. More a niche. It’s so millennial and as much lazy as hazy. A kind of hazing craze. I suspect American craft beer would have been more successful today had it not stumbled down a murky path.

 

[whoaru99]

Of course, it’s official name is con artistry.

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

I'm kinda falling off the hazy band wagon. Don't get me wrong, I like them but I've noticed a hazy = heartburn trend for me lately. I don't get that with other IPAs.

Aside from heartburn, I also get intestinal distress from hazy beers.


It only took me a few years to put those coincidences together.


Aside from the occasional Fiddlehead, clear beers for me from now on.

 

[wepeeler]

NEIPAs may be on an overrated list, but they aren't going anywhere anytime soon. At least not around me. I'm in CT, and although lagers and lighter beers are trending upwards, all the local breweries by me say their NEIPAs sell 3 to 1 to every other style. Just because something is overrated doesn't mean it's going away. Cheesy teeny bob pop music is terrible, yet it thrives lol.

The issue is the market is oversaturated with them. So there tends to be a lot of bad versions out in public. Again, to reference music, most musicians who take their craft super seriously probably hate most mainstream pop music made on a computer. Just like most super serious brewers hate to see such generic, bad examples of a beer style taking up 3/4 of refrigerator space at the local package store.

If you ever get to try a really good example of a NEIPA I think you'd like it. Not Sierra Nevada or Two Roads versions. I'm talking Tree House, Trillium, Other Half, Fiden's, Sloop etc. A really well crafted NEIPA is not just a fruit juice bomb. It has bitterness to balance out the sweetness and has a lot of interesting flavors from fresh hops.

Just my 2 cents, which most likely doesn't mean much. But, I tend to have a home brew NEIPA on tap almost all the time. It's one of my favorite styles to brew.

 

[redrocker652002]

NEIPAs may be on an overrated list, but they aren't going anywhere anytime soon. At least not around me. I'm in CT, and although lagers and lighter beers are trending upwards, all the local breweries by me say their NEIPAs sell 3 to 1 to every other style. Just because something is overrated doesn't mean it's going away. Cheesy teeny bob pop music is terrible, yet it thrives lol.

The issue is the market is oversaturated with them. So there tends to be a lot of bad versions out in public. Again, to reference music, most musicians who take their craft super seriously probably hate most mainstream pop music made on a computer. Just like most super serious brewers hate to see such generic, bad examples of a beer style taking up 3/4 of refrigerator space at the local package store.

If you ever get to try a really good example of a NEIPA I think you'd like it. Not Sierra Nevada or Two Roads versions. I'm talking Tree House, Trillium, Other Half, Fiden's, Sloop etc. A really well crafted NEIPA is not just a fruit juice bomb. It has bitterness to balance out the sweetness and has a lot of interesting flavors from fresh hops.

Just my 2 cents, which most likely doesn't mean much. But, I tend to have a home brew NEIPA on tap almost all the time. It's one of my favorite styles to brew.

I saw a Youtube vid on one of the popular brewers, Clawhammer or The Apt Brewer, doing a NEIPA that he said was a Tree House "clone". I thought it looked really cool, and it is on my list to do. I seem to remember though the brewer was doing something in the process that I was not able to do with my setup. Be darned if I can remember right now, but it just is sticking with me.

And I agree, just because something is popular doesn't make it bad. I enjoy Sierra Nevada's Hazy just like I enjoy their pale. I usually try and scope the shelves of the local Wines and more to see if there is anything new. IPA's in general are very saturated, and to be honest I have had some that were terrible. To me, what ever you like is good. So, have fun, drink responsibly and enjoy the hobby is what I say. Now, Rock On!!!!!!! LOL

 

[day_trippr]

That doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a persistent backwater style for years now.

Hmm? Hazies have dominated the IPA market for years now...

Cheers!

 

[McMullan]

Beer isn’t supposed to be like a ‘fruit juice bomb’. Smoothies, some cocktails, desserts, etc., but not beer. That’s not me being closed minded or denying anyone the right to buy into expressing their inner self and freedom to try alternatives to beer. It’s me denying millennials and hipsters the freedom to redefine beer that much; like carbonated chicken stock with enough fruity hops to mask the chickeness and finer qualities associated with beer. Call it what it is, heavily hopped barley-based fruity cocktails. Beer is much more subtle. If we compare NEIPA with beer, it stands out like a sore thumb and pushes typical ales and lagers into much more comparable groups, which is interesting. Ales and lagers are more comparable to each other than either is to NEIPA. I used to enjoy the occasional American craft beer years ago, when they were identifiable as beer. Now imports and local copies just seem to be murky and taste a little bit like mild vomit.

 

[McMullan]

Hmm? Hazies have dominated the IPA market for years now...

Cheers!

American IPAs? Yes, there might be some kind of “hop-industrial complex” thing going on. I can’t imagine why else anyone would take a perfectly decent beer and ruin it.

 

[day_trippr]

Yup. I guess you're "Away"...

Cheers!

 

[DonT]

Beer isn’t supposed to be like a ‘fruit juice bomb’.

Sez Who?

It’s me denying millennials and hipsters the freedom to redefine beer that much

And yet here you are trying to redefine beer. And, how hazy? Where do you draw the line? If you don't like them, I'm cool with that. It's your personal choice. But don't try and take my fun away.
I could draw political analogies here but won't, as it's not appropriate.

 

[McMullan]

Sez Who?

And yet here you are trying to redefine beer. And, how hazy? Where do you draw the line? If you don't like them, I'm cool with that. It's your personal choice. But don't try and take my fun away.
I could draw political analogies here but won't, as it's not appropriate.

But I'm not redefining beer and dragging it off to a ridiculously superfluous therefore wasteful reinvention just to be different. Nor am I saying people can't enjoy NEIPAs if that's what they like. I'm merely pointing out it isn't 'beer' according to any definition. Not simply my 'biased' understanding of what's considered beer.

 

[mac_1103]

it isn't 'beer' according to any definition

malted barley, water, hops, yeast... some people might consider that a definition of beer but I guess YMMV.

Am I the only guy who's ever wondered just how clear a 19th century ale that spent several months in a cask with a huge dry hop load would have been by the time it was served?

 

[day_trippr]

I'm merely pointing out it isn't 'beer' according to any definition. Not simply my 'biased' understanding of what's considered beer.

Actually, it's an opinion of yours. Which you're certainly welcome to have, but that's all it is...

Cheers!

 

[Miraculix]

What's a good one to try?

The only one i was kind of ok with was one I brewed myself to give it a try, luckily only 5 l. Never had a commercial one I liked

 

[whoaru99]

I'm merely pointing out it isn't 'beer' according to any definition.

BJCP classifies it as 21C. Hazy IPA

"Also known as New England IPA or NEIPA."

I say that's a fair definition of it as a beer style.

 

[DonT]

it isn't 'beer' according to any definition.

Actually....

 

[Nate R]

Was it Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson who said:
"A beer is like a woman. Each man has his tastes, and each man is correct. However most men, when drunk, will rarely turn down any of either."

So... to each his or her own.

As to @Clint Yeastwood op:

I think the amount of true (i.e. really dam good) hazy's is about 5% or so... the other 95% is just ok, or worse.
Freshness is key as mentioned... our house rule is to buy only cans, and only 30 days or less fresh. Drink within 45 days.
Also- based on how close one is to the brewer matters.... i.e. West coasters (like me) have examples not applicable to y'all on the East coast.
Also- i do think batch size matters... to me, the smaller barrell producers make the best hazy's.
I would suggest:
Moonraker or Humble Sea as the only two true 'great' hazy's on the west coast. Although Original Pattern comes close.
Plenty of other really good, really close examples out here... but to me thoose two are the best.

 

[buschmeister]

Oh boy

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/two-hearted-ipa.724128/#post-10210529

Wave Nectar

 

[rhoadsst]

Just wait until they hear about fruited sour slushy beers...

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Seems like it's all about the hopping. If someone is getting that right, the style should be fine.