The Upcoming Haze Invasion?

I poured a Noob last night side by side with a Trillium Publick House IPA. The Trillium was extremely murky and the Noob actually looked a little more appealing. Flavor wise the Trillium was much better.

 

Appearance is a factor I consider when I decide whether I like a beer (consciously or otherwise) and I think clear IPAs (and IIPAs) are better looking. Looks are not a huge factor, but a factor nonetheless.

As far as taste goes, I have yet to be blown away by any hazy IPA, but I have not had the big guns like Trillium, HT, etc. I like Superfan, but I guess my taste leans towards more west coast examples of the style. Different strokes for different folks.

Also, I just drink the stuff, so here's my question for the brewing inclined: Is it more difficult to make an IPA that tastes delicious, but is clear in appearance versus a hazy juice monster?

 

That's a shame, while I didn't hear much good about them when they opened, I enjoyed at least half the beers when I was there last week and Cosmic Unity was great.

They also shook up the keg before I got my second taste which for some reason really helped. It was piney and clearer upon first pour wondering if I got the same beer, the second was hazy and smelled of apricot, had I not known they shook up the keg I would have sworn it was a different beer.

 

FTFY

 

Well, I think that's relative to delicious
Unfiltered has a flavor...is it good? Depends on who you ask. In regards to difficulty, I think it's just that filtration and/or rest takes time

...maybe

 

Jamil had some words to say about these beers: https://twitter.com/mrmalty/status/704833245217734656

Personally, I'm very excited to see this trend in CO. I think @rscot231 and the crew at Odd13 are the ones leading the way with a spectacular packaged example of the style and I hope we see even more over the course of this year. What's most interesting about the New England style IPAs (for lack of a better term) is that they don't just appeal to the beer geeks. Sure, the haziness may be off-putting to some at first, but the restrained bitterness and fluffier, creamier mouthfeel make the style extremely approachable, even for non hop heads.

 

I had a n00b last night and I really liked it. I think I liked it more than Superfan but I haven't had the last batch. I was getting some green vegetal / cut grass notes but not at all offputting. Lots of citrus and a fantastic aroma. I could see how mixing this 50/50 with Superfan would make a tasty beverage. I think the haze level was actually just about perfect, and we did roll the can before we opened it, which didn't cause any sort of beer explosion. Something about that beer made me think that this IPA tastes different from others I've tried.

 

He also followed with this:
"Haze is fine. A pint of orange juice looking beer with off flavors is not acceptable. You should still see through it"
https://twitter.com/mrmalty/status/704867396486631424

Haze = OK
Murky = NOT OK

Murky usually means it's not fully fermented and/or other particulates in suspension that should drop.

Haze typically means yeast has dropped and what's in suspension is resin/proteins, not yeast.

 

Pretty cool - is that with Superfan? So far the only (moderately - very moderately) hazy winner was from Lawson's. That event is crawling with hefty hop bombs from the PNW and NM.

 

The top-rated IPA on this site definitely goes beyond "hazy" IMO: https://www.google.com/search?q=tre...HY-cBUoQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=tree+house+julius

Having tried several Tree House and other NE IPAs recently, what I find most remarkable is that no matter how long you store the cans cold, they never seem to drop or clear up. Which leads me to believe it's more than just yeast in suspension, because even the least flocculant English strains will eventually clear up some, at least more than I've seen from the Tree House beers in particular. I am no chemist or microbiologist, but my guess is that a lot of these beers have significant dry hop additions before the end of fermentation and the reactions between the hop compounds and yeast during fermentation are contributing to a more "stable" haziness/murkiness. Then again, since most of these beers are consumed extremely fresh, it could just be the result of brewers using extremely low floc'ing strains and the binding of yeast and hop oils keeps those compounds in suspension for as long as it takes for the beers to be sold and consumed.

 

I'm having a hard time understanding a lot of the complaints. If a beer is hazy or even murky because it's too young, or it was brewed with improper technique in some way, being too young or the brewer doing something wrong is the problem. If a beer is hazy or murky and has off flavors, the off flavors and whatever caused them is the problem. Haze might be correlated with whatever it is that makes the beer bad, but the haze itself isn't the problem. If it's hazy and tastes good, who cares? If there is so much particulate that it negatively affects the mouthfeel, that would be a problem, as that's part of the taste.

But it seems to me like the message should ignore haze and should simply be: don't make bad beer, regardless of whether you can read a newspaper looking through it or it looks like a glass of orange juice with pulp. I've had great beer and terrible beer at both extremes

 

I don't give a crap what it looks like. After drinking boatloads of Tree House and Trillium, my conclusion is that whatever they do to give it the hazy appearance, also gives it an incredible, thick, rich mouthfeel. It's the combination of the tropical, hop-bomb flavor and the imperial stout-esque mouthfeel that really puts these two breweries over the top for me.

And it makes no sense to say that they're brewing this with improper technique, because they are trying to brew the beer this way. It can't be improper if that's what they're going for...

Trillium and TH both have what, 11, 12 beers each in the BA top 250? 'Nuff said.

 

I completely agree. I've had a ton of Tired Hands' IPAs sent out lately, and all are very thick and hazy, and all have been delicious. They're obviously trying to brew WITH haze as opposed to without...it works for me.

 

Give me all the haze! I've yet to have anything that comes close to the flavor profile "NE" style IPA's have in a none "hazy" beer. To @ablackshear's point, if they can bring out that hop profile in a none hazy beer I'm all for it, just sign me up for anything that tastes great! Right now the hazy NE style, to me, is the best around. Fiction, Odd13, Cerebral, as well as the big hitters back east are killing it. Keep it coming!

 

Yes Superfan. There are some heavy hitters left in the competition: Breakside, Comrade, Lawson's, Fat Heads, Bosque and 2 from Barley Brown's.

 

I think it's a learned reaction: seeing a super murky beer elicits a negative initial response. If I see tiger stripes in the woods, I may initially shit my pants, because tiger stripes = tiger = biting my face off. I learned that by watching Marlin Perkins. However, tiger stripes by themselves aren't dangerous (I'm still looking for a tiger print rug). To complete the analogy, when I see a super murky beer my initial reaction is, "O.M.Gee that's gross". Normally, I'd get over initial reactions and understand them better. And for the most part they are overridden. Except, I've had some of these murky beers and I don't love them...some I hate. Mostly because of the feel. So, instead of that initial reaction being overridden, it's reinforced.

 

I guess I can get that. When I see a murky beer I might think "dammit did I stumble into another one of those "I homebrewed on a 5 gallon system for 6 months I'll start a brewery now" shitholes?", but if I drink it and it tastes good all is right in the world.

 

I was very aware of this perception when we started doing Superfan. We put a lot of effort into delivering "finished" beer for a long time, because I had this exact perception. The initial Superfan was actually less hazy than anything since, because our process was oriented toward producing clear beer. We had to adapt our process to produce more haze.

 

I might be in the minority on this but I salivate over the haze! Look at these, as if god brewed them himself!

 

So, when I saw this my initial reaction was twofold: a) looks like orange juice and I like orange juice, and b) but I hate pulp.