What Happened with Hazy IPAs

Hazy IPAs’s What can I say?  Were they all the rage? Sure. Have they run their course? Also, yes…mostly.  Are they here to stay?. Well, yes again.   First, though, a few definitions and a brief beer history lesson:

Hops are for bittering…and more

     IPAs are a style that employs a lot of hops for either bitterness….or flavor…or both.  Hops are basically a small leafy pine cone type thing that, when boiled, release flavors and, after a little more time, release alpha acids that lend the bitterness to the beer.  A bit like resin or sap, which leaves behind a bitter taste.  This bittering effect is intended to counter the malty sweetness of the barley, the other main player in beer-making ingredients. When hops are added for just a few minutes at the end of the boil process, flavor and aroma are extracted, but much less bitterness. 

      I first got into craft beer and homebrewing in the early 2000’s, and I quickly found my favorites to be fresh hoppy Pale Ales and IPAs, mostly. Because of this, they were my favorite to drink, and they were easy to share.  It also turned out that I was adding more and more hops, later and later in the boil, each time I made one.  I was after that fresh up-front hop flavor without bringing much more bitterness to the party. I didn’t realize that what I was doing was actually a thing reflected in commercial examples at about that same time.  Like a lot of discoveries, though, you don’t know that everyone else already knew about it until right after you discovered it for yourself.

A (sub)Style is born

     About this same time, a style that became known as a Northeast or Hazy IPA started gaining traction in the commercial brewniverse.  “NorthEast” for the few craft breweries that pioneered the style.  TreeHouse Brewing, The Alchemist, Trilluim, and Hill Farmstead were some of the first.  Alchemist’s “Heady Topper” is probably the most famous early example.  That was in the mid to late 2000’s and since then, Northeast/Hazy IPAs have gone through something of a “Trend Fatigue” for sure. 

The bandwagoners have dropped off, and the mediocre examples are no longer around. Taprooms, however, and bars with more than a few handles usually have one on.  The “Juicy” or “Hazy” IPA substyle became officially recognized by the North American Brewers Association in 2018.

     There are a few “Hazys” that are some of my current favorites even today.  In my area, Mother Earth’s “Heavy Cloud”  is terrific, and I will get that almost anytime I see it.  It checks all the boxes for me. Bursting fresh tropical hop flavors, modest, faint even, piney bitterness, and a little “sting” of citrus pith. At nearly 7% ABV, it defies the style guidelines a bit, being so big, but I’ll give it a pass on that. 

Seems like every couple of years, a beer style takes over and surges in popularity. This one has had its day in the sun but there will always be examples around for a long time.

-Cheers