Non-Hazy IPAs That Get Hype?

To be fair, I did use the qualifier "for instance." So I guess I'll list every NEIPA producer that I have had the pleasure of drinking, lets see: Hill Farmstead, Trillium, Tree House, Tired Hands, Lawson's Finest, The Alchemist, The Brewing Projekt, Toppling Goliath. They all produce bees that are unlike any other "clear" IPA that I've ever had. Now please don't make me list every brewery that I've had clear, or hazy IPAs from, lol.

 

If you think that IPAs from those three breweries cannot be approximated in a more clear fashion, I have a bridge to sell you.

Curiously, though, what, in your estimation, sets them apart from clear IPAs? More specificity that "feel" and "taste" would help.

 

TG makes hazy beers?

 

Jason, you previously posted: "I will post a link tonight."

Cheers!

 

This casual thread about a classic style of beer has turned into a YouTube comment section about gun control.

Anybody have popcorn? Maybe a pliny?

 

Lagunitas Born Yesterday is a tough one. Because each time they've released it there's been clear(er) versions and hazy versions, each with a different flavor profile.

 

Favorite Colorado IPAs?
the surprising thing is there are a handful of hazy ipa's that were mistaken for clear and vice versa.

 

Cool taste test! Thanks for sharing.

I don't have a dog in the fight of what's possible, but based on that data it looks like it's a lot easier for a hazy beer to not taste hazy than it is for a clear beer to taste hazy.

1 of 8 non-hazy beers were judged hazy by a majority: Comarade Superpower (87% judged hazy)

5 of 11 hazy beers were judged non-hazy by a majority: New Image (64% judged non-hazy), Cerebral Time (74% non-hazy), Dry Dock (71% non-hazy), Odd 13 Hop Wizard (57% non-hazy), Weldworks (71% non-hazy).

Also, three of the non-hazy beers were judged 100% correctly (Eddlyline, Breakside, and La Cumbre) while only one of the hazy beers were (Odd13 Superfan).

I don't know what the upshot of that is exactly, but it doesn't seem to suggest that haze and taste are only arbitarily related.

 

This isn't always the case. Alot of times they do make good beer of other styles but right now the haze is putting butts in seats and moving product. I don't blame 'em

 

Would love to do a triangle test with one of these clear beers that have same mouthfeel as NEIPA Are there any available around here in NY? Which do you suggest? If I have to trade for them please name some good ones for me to post ISO. Thanks.

 

It was a cool experiment, I wish I had been there. I think the layout is a bit hard to read, the name of the brewer and beer come first, the actual haziness is next, followed by the percentage who believed the beer was hazy. Odd 13 accels at haze, as does weldwerks and yet some tasters believed they were clear. I would venture a guess that some other big name haze would experience similar issues in a blind tasting.

 

Appreciate the link to the results and the methodology seems reasonable for an either/or, yes/no type test, and certainly the results are suggestive of some interesting things.

But I think, given that you challenged some one else in asking how many blind triangle tests they had done, it's reasonable to ask if you, or anyone else, have done any of those as well? There are some well understood flaws in the either/or method that are controlled for in the blind triangle.

There are also some unanswered questions in that post about what happened between beers. e.g., Were steps taken to cleanse the palate between beers (and not with food or salty things such as pretzels or crackers)? Without controlling that or without randomizing the order of tasting for each individual there's a potential problem of carry over from earlier beers.

So overall I'd agree the results are suggestive of some interesting things but I'd say they not yet compelling.

I think it's time to follow up on the @cavedave suggestion and set up some more carefully controlled tests that use the blind triangle test. (If somebody can fingure out how to arrange to get the beers in one place with comparable degrees of freshness or age.)

 

Yeah, I had to quadruple check my numbers and was still worried I'd wake up this morning to have people telling me I completely botched it

This could be a fun suggestion for a blind taste test thread maybe? Everyone pick one (or a couple) of each and see how it goes. ETA: or better yet blind triangle test thread!

 

Well, without a quadruple check, the numbers look good to a new set of eyes (and a second cup of coffee)! (However I do reserve the right to change my mind. )

I agree that a taste test thread could be a lot of fun but unfortunately don't think it would leave us knowing much more than we already know.

 

3F is still pumping out quality bitter hoppy IPAs. They just announced distro for Permanent Funeral for the first time in like half a year. It is incredible

 

Excellent points, and, as you touch upon, unless those tastes were done over a few day the results are, at the very least, suspect. Anyone who has ever tasted multiple IPA knows that after five or six of them taste buds get progressively more fried.

 

I really don't know what's available in NY, but I think it'd be neat to put Heady and Focal Banger up against some newer hoppy beers like Nimble Giant from Troegs and Dirtwolf from Victory. Maybe Zombie Dust and Headhunter as well.

 

Sorry about derailing this thread. We'll just have to agree to disagree on the subject. Clearly nobody's opinion is going to be changed. I would love to see some recommendations of clear IPAs with the same characteristics as NEIPAs, because I sure haven't found one yet. This BYO article pretty well covers the characteristics of which I speak. https://byo.com/article/neipa-style-profile/

 

Another thought occurs but I'm not at all confident that it is relevant. So I'm just throwing this out there.

But I'm thinking about two possibly parallel situations. Over the years I've seen many on here equate hop flavors with hop bitterness and seem to think that's the be all and end all of hop flavors (e.g., no bitterness left so the beer is a malt bomb with no hops). Keeping in mind that most of us are either not trained tasters (although some may be self-trained, sort of) I'm wondering the degree to which mouthfeel might play a role here and be confounded with flavor. Usually all I'm really able to sort out about mouthfeel is the perceived thickness, the feel of the carbonation, and the feeling in the mouth as the flavor profile changes during the finish (e.g., a beer with some sweetness becomes dry and slightly bitter in the back of the palate at the end).

So is it possible, as @JackHorzempa has pointed out more than once, that one of the critical things associated with the benchmark NEIPAs is also include a different mouthfeel which some pay attention to and others do not? If mouthfeel is confound with flavors then asking only about flavors without focusing on mouthfeel.... (There is a reason that beer judges are asked to evaluate mouthfeel in the homebrewing competitions and,IIRC, competitions such as the GABV.)

Edit: What a useful coincidence, I see that Jack has just commented below about mouthfeel as a difference.

 

FWIW I have not found any clear IPAs which have the same smooth/velvety/pillowy mouthfeel as I have in Cloudy IPAs.

Cheers!