Hazy IPAs: Why these cloudy beers are so popular

What is a Hazy IPA?

When you order a draft beer, your first impression is a visual one. A Hazy IPA, like the name implies, has a cloudy appearance, one you can’t see through like you might with other beer styles. But a Hazy IPAis far more than looks. Its foggy appearance hints at a fullness of flavor, which it delivers. The careful planning of malt and hops, along with less filtering before packaging, yields a beer with lower perceived bitterness than other IPAs and hop character that’s decidedly fruity—you’ll often hear “juicy” as a flavor descriptor, like a tasty bite of ripe citrus. With our Hazy Little Thing IPA, you might pick up notes of orange and pineapple. That’s all hops; we don’t brew Hazy Little Thing with any real fruit. Not to say it’s superior by any means, but Hazy IPA is a welcoming style within craft beer.

What does a Hazy IPA taste like?

With countless Hazy IPAs on store shelves, it’s no surprise their taste can vary greatly. But to narrow down what to expect, one helpful comparison is West Coast IPA vs. New England IPA, another name for Hazy IPA. The West Coast IPA typically showcases aromas of citrus and pine with an emphasis on creating a clean yet assertive bitterness. Hops are front-loaded in the kettle boil (the “hot side” of brewing) which extracts more of their bittering qualities. There’s enough malt body to balance the hops, yet the overall drinkability remains crisp. New England IPAs go big on “cold side” hops (i.e., added during fermentation) to unleash more aroma and flavor without extra bitterness. You’ll find their fruity hop notes tend to be more tropical and “juicy” than West Coast counterparts, while also boasting a soft, silky mouthfeel thanks to specific grains.

What makes a Hazy IPA so hazy?

Plenty goes into how Hazy IPAs are made, including extensive dry hopping, but it starts even before we fire up the brew kettle. Oats and wheat—both malted and unmalted varieties—are critical to Hazy IPA recipes, down to their exact makeup of proteins, beta-glucans, diastatic power, and other beer-nerdy specs. With Hazy Little Thing IPA, this precise grain foundation interacts with the polyphenols (think pre-haze molecules) in colossal volumes of lupulin hop dust, which is basically the pure flavor from inside hop cones, to generate a smooth and juicy haze. We chill our fermenters at slightly higher temperatures than normal so the haze doesn’t fade, then we skip the filter to package all the hazy flavor in its prime—straight from the tanks and into the can.Hazy IPAs are at once distinct, yet it’s pretty clear: You have a lot to explore. Buy Hazy Little Thing near you.