Why all hazies taste the same

Pretty spot on. The overabundance of Hazy beers at the big beer store or brewery taps can be quite annoying. Trying to locate the best and freshest of the bunch in a sea of year+ old cans be a mission. I love me some well made hazies. Triple hazies are a big indulgence for me. A great triple hazy probably satisfies more of my tastebuds than any other beer. Drinking a Hazy, I'm always reminded of the beers that came before it. As a matter of fact my favorite ipas have become east coast ipas like "sip" or "2nd fiddle", etc.

Even German pilsner makers have to imply "HAZY" on their cans to garner some attention. It's ridiculous.. the marketing aspect of the industry. I kinda hate it.

 

So long as they have one balanced, lower abv (less than 6%) brew that’s not sour and doesn’t have lactose in it, I’m happy.

 

It says more about the people spouting than anything else…

 

Yeah, whoever this "Zwickel" guy is (maybe the Radenberger marketing dude?) who they named the beer after, he's ripping off the US craft brewing industry!

 

LMAO at that can

"Hazy" pilsner? Do they mean Unfiltered?

 

Yea, they mean unfiltered.. but they're def. using the "Hazy" on the can for the marketing/advertising term it's become.

 

Haha, they should just go all in and call it the "ALL NEW GERMAN ZWICKEL-IPA" ..if it's sales they want, sales they'll get.

 

Don’t get me started on hazy pilsners.

 

Jess's post above makes me wonder if the first ipas weren't hazy? Heavy post boil hop additions, unlikely to be filtered, brewed with UK yeast strains, kinda seems likely. Were those beers destined for the Raj ever brewed with cheaper adjuncts like oats?

 

Just a wild guess but I doubt British troops stationed in Mumbai in 1850 gave two shits whether their beer was clear or hazy.

On a more serious note, see this description: “The beer that barley made was something special too: ‘a heavenly compound,’ one satisfied drinker reported. ‘Bright amber, crystal clear,’ he went on, with a ‘very peculiar fine flavor.’”

 

I'd think the same thing, but then I remember how often I've heard the clarity of lager beer remarked upon in articles from the old west and I'm reminded how important appearances were to our ancestors. I feel like we're so flooded with flashy imagery that we've come to appreciate and romanticize the rough and rustic side of things. Back when life was inherently rough and rugged I suppose that little glimpses of refinement were cherished

 

I haven’t seen the articles you’re referring to, but I have to wonder if those comments were remarking more on the contrast between lager (which became more popular in the late 1800s, around the time the old west was becoming more populated, at least by white folks), and ale, which presumably had been more commonplace before that time.

 

A lot of the remarks I am recalling were definitely in regards to lager when it was first being encountered. I was more commenting on my surprise that the appearance would be something so often noted. It's definitely not high on my personal list of criteria when I'm assessing a beer

 

Oh OK, gotcha. For me, on the other hand, it most definitely is. Not as much as aroma or flavor, but there is a lot of truth to the saying “you eat with your eyes first” (or in the case of beer, you drink with your eyes first). Actually I think that might be why a lot of people think most hazy beers taste the same—because for the most part they look the same. Ugly.

 

Well, the most famous US post-Repeal IPA's rear label warned of a "slight cloudiness":

https://thesaurus.plus/related/cloudy/hazy

 

Two points.

-Some folks can taste the many, many different NEIPA flavors thrown by using a very wide assortment of hops and hop techniques, and the many varieties of yeasts, malts, and flavor additives the many brewers of them use. Some can't.

-If there were "too much" range of flavors some of the more... over-fastidious folks here would be demanding a new style name(s) be given.

 

Had clear glass drinking vessels come into common usage when IPA first were brewed? The hyper-awareness of hazy beer vs. clear beer doesn't pre-date clear glass drinking vessels being in common usage.

 

I think within a certain style, especially if it is brewed "to style", then yes there should be a lot of similarities.

I have found that drinking blind is a fun exercise in how similar or different beers are. I find this to be particular fun during Oktoberfest time when a bunch of same style beers all come out at once.

I did a blind side by side with several German marzens, a few years back now...I suggest anyone try this and see how it impacts your view of this topic. Maybe your palates are more refined then mine but I wanna say that there were a few that tasted almost identical; I think it was Paulaner and HP.

 

That's because good beer is lovely in the glass. I never worried about the appearance of Tucher, but it was cloudy, and delicious