Is the Hazy Trend Drying Up?

I see no decrease in the availability of several different takes on the hazy style here in No. Orange County, CA. As much as I like hazy IPAs, I will say that I find it sad when a local restaurant has 15 taps including multiple hazys and other IPAs and not a single porter, stout, Belgian, or red. If we are talking trends, I seem to see a lot more takes on "Mexican Lager" in the local area than I used to.

 

Surely we can acknowledge by now that the hazy ipa/neipa is not a trend but a genuine beer style that is here to stay?

I live in an area that is slow on the uptake of trends across the board, I'm not even sure all the local brewers have made a hazy ipa yet. But there's no shortage on the shelves of beer retailers.

 

Hopefully.

 

Out here I've seen almost no slowdown. There are more people brewing what they call "West Coast" IPA (aka. anything that isn't hazy), but I think those are replacing other styles rather than hazy offerings. On the plus side, I haven't had a truly bad one in a minute and I've noticed more nuance between different ones lately. I guess that's something. I just want 75% of the hazies clogging up my local shelves to hurry up and die. The style might be selling well, but it's like 5 SKU's accounting for 90% of sales.

 

I've been seeing more WCIPAs actually but there doesn't seem to be a decline (from my purchasing/shopping & browsing habits) in the volume of Hazies, esp HDIPAs & TIPAs.

 

Yep. Lots of MN brewers are takin' a swing at the Mexican Lager trend.

 

I think this is a matter of noticing small differences, and it comes from people (many people) who only drink hazy beers. So, if that style is your world then you start to notice all the differences between individual beers. If you drink across the spectrum and only occasionally have a hazy than these beers might all seem the same.

I was just at the Treehouse in Tewksbury, MA and they have 75 of their own beers on tap, 50 of which are hazy IPAs/PAs. The other 25 are mostly all different lager styles. I agree it is excessive and it is not my ideal. I prefer a wider range of styles.

But, Treehouse is one of the few places that only sells via their locations and does fantastic. Their hazy beers are remarkable, but still not my idea of beer nirvana.

 

Tree House is about to start construction on a massive new location in Saratoga NY (their 5th location). So, in the Northeast it's definitely not dead

 

Not dying, just leveled off like craft beer in general. There are still plenty of IPA shops, but in general, I don't see 8 variations when going to a brewery or tap room. Just 4.

 

The novelty has worn off, largely because most people can wander into an easily accessible store and find good hazy/NEIPA without needing to go out of the way or line up or trade.

I do think there's a bit of a consumer mandate for some type of variety, as in my area even breweries who get most of their attention for NEIPA will have a good handful of non-IPA options at their taprooms. I've also found it less likely to see a brand new brewery pop up that only focuses on NEIPA.

Granted here in NY/the northeast the curve for that style was pretty much set, so maybe in some other areas there's a different progression happening.

All that said, I'm just talking about a slight dying down of the constant breathless hype of 6-7 years ago, and I'm pretty confident in assuming that hazy/NEIPA will be the core driver of locally-focused craft beer for a while.

 

If you want to see this play out first hand...hit up Treehouse in Charlton and watch how many people there are for their IPA/Sour/ Bar vs their traditional styles....it has always amazed me.

 

Not where I live. Still plenty of hazy IPAs out there. Looking at packaged beer (i.e. stuff available on the shelves at stores) I don't think the ale market will ever have the variety it did before the hazy explosion. We lost so many good beers and breweries during that time but I do think the pendulum has swung a bit back in the other direction over the last couple of years, though haze is still clearly #1. We've also seen craft lager grow in that time as well which has been a nice change of pace.

 

...and people say the hazy trend is sad. I will never understand the Mexican lager thing.

 

I had wondered what trend was going to come along and make me shake my head as much as the murkbomb trend. Now we know.

 

We brewed a poorly executed corn adjunct lager, then added lime oil to it, come see if we'll go with day of the dead imagery or a vaguely racist pun for the packaging (maybe both!). $18/4 pack!

 

ya, I’m not the least bit interested in a beer I have to squeeze fruit juice into so that it becomes drinkable

 

John Kimmich might disagree with you about the 'not ugly' part. If I recall correctly, one of the reasons why he insisted on it being drunk from the can is so consumers wouldn't be grossed out by the haze and floaties. I can't remember the source I heard that, though, so take it with a grain of salt.

Aside from that, I'm mostly inclined to agree with you. I watched another interview with John Kimmich where he stated that was disappointed in the new hazy IPA movement, because those beers aren't clean and bitter like a proper IPA should be.

 

Well you're in luck! Now the innovative brewers of America have hand squeezed the fruit juice (well, they opened and tipped the jugs) into the beer for you! Now their poorly made beer is "drinkable" by the time it gets to you!

 

Where I come from, unfortunately the answer to the main question is: no.
The ultra fruity nebulae, free of bitterness absorbed by that silky taste, are still in full production even in small Italian craft breweries.
It's a flavor that evidently sells well.
Personally I think that more than a fashion it is now a style, albeit new, now established with the necessary subcategories within it.
It's not a style I disparage or don't drink.
But now if I find a nice old-fashioned IPA, dry and bitter rather than a mega fruity one, I really like it. Or I'll veer into something a little more classic.
But I'm not twenty, so I'm speaking for myself now.
But even at festivals, a lot of people still take those ultra-fruity orange beers with zero bitterness and… nothing… that's it.
Greetings!

 

Please God may it...