Northeast Haze through a microscope

As someone who almost always has both a 12 pack of SN and a couple bombers of Trillium in my fridge, I could not agree with this more

 

Next time I make an IPA I'm going to pull off a gallon or so and add glycerol, then add an acid blend post-dry hop. I think it's a combo of yeast selection and some sort of intervention.

 

I should have been more clear (I see how my wording sounding like an indictment, sorry), I absolutely wasn't criticizing you guys, I love Sierra Nevada and have the utmost respect for your important role in the rebirth of beer in this country. You guys make a lot of great beer easy to get. Celebration, Bigfoot, Hoptimum, BA series, Hop Hunter, Pale Ale, etc all see plenty of time in my fridge.

I'm a bit amazed at the ever increasing demand of NE Ipas with all the growth in the region. I honestly thought the craze over Heady Topper and MBC IPAs would have died down a few years ago, yet it's getting worse if anything (from availability perspective). I'ts a great problem to have and it's interesting to see how different brewers deal with freshness and distro (Shaun Hill refusing to ever bottle pale ales for example)

 

I love that thread.

I just dry hopped a ton of high oil content Galaxy hops on the Krausen of a 1272 American Ale 2/Cali V and got something similar to when I dry hopped on 1318. I wonder if it's these top cropping yeasts that arent allowed to drop which are creating the effect. I don't believe i have any yeast in suspension now. 3 weeks in a Keg at 35 degrees and it's still orange juice.

Also, gelatin finings don't do ANYTHING to help. This isn't about yeast in suspension. at least not IMO.

 

So let's look at what could be construed as a big brewery making an attempt to mass produce and distribute a cloudy iPa. I am sure I am not the only one who was off put by the inch of sediment in the bottom of the bottles of unfiltered enjoy by.

 

It's good to hear you guys chime in from your perspectives, as I was wondering the same thing (see my posts I quoted above yours) in the recent thread on Treehouse expanding.

In which my main question was, "Have any of these breweries been able to scale up these turbid IPAs"? Time will tell, but at the moment it appears we may have a hyper-local scenario like @bulletrain76 proposed. Heck, even Sean Hill doesn't bottle and distribute his hop forward beers. Growler/draft only.

 

Here's the thing to keep in mind during this entire discussion with regards to local vs. large breweries (like Sierra Nevada).

The people buying these local beers (turbid IPAs) make up a very small segment of the beer market. It gets a lot of attention here on Beeradvocate, but there's other styles other than IPAs.

These local brewer's (many in New England) appear to be hyper-focused with producing IPAs, and they should be. Heck, maybe even they don't fully understand what's going on, they just know whatever they're doing, they do it well, and people love the beers.

But it could be at the detriment of becoming equally as skilled at brewing other styles. And this is where larger brewers come in, and where a large portion of craft sales are generated. Look no further than Sierra Nevada, who currently has the number one rated Oktoberfest in their collaboration beer this past fall. I had a Firestone Pivo Pils on draft the other day that was absolutely delicious. NONE of my local breweries are producing a German Pils like that, if they even offer one.

This isn't a knock on either local or larger breweries. I'm simply stating that there's room in my fridge for both, and the local breweries are damn good at their IPAs and satisfy a niche market. But for most other styles, I'm turning to the big breweries (there's exceptions of course).

 

I would agree with what you said, however, the discussion was mainly toward hop-forward beers and sustainability. you are a driftin

 

No, he was replying to someone who made a broader assertion and responding to it.

 

I guess the two people (one was me) who stated that they would stop by large format craft beers were only referring to hop forward beers and not a marzen or pilsner (please don't argue that a pilsner can be considered a hop forward beer. I am aware that is is one of the more hoppy lager styles, but please.)
I wouldn't hesitate to buy an imperial stout from a bottle shop, but would really have to be in a bind to purchase an IPA from same shop. just want to to compare apples to apples.

 

Suit yourself with the IPAs, but the quote in question did assert that the 'model is broken', which is a bit of an overstatement.

 

I concur.

 

I think what you may be experiencing in those west coast beers is simply bitterness from early addition hops. This is something that, especially in Trillium IPAs, there seems to be a lack of. Hop flavor-yes. Hop aroma-yes. Hop bitterness-nope.

I just had a crystal clear pour of Enjoy By 4-16-2016. Are you suggesting that Stone is attempting to make Enjoy By a cloudy beer along the lines of a Trillium or a TH? I can't imagine that's what they're going for. Sediment happens.

 

Stone previously brewed an unfiltered version of Stone Enjoy By and that is exactly what they were going for.

 

That definitely has a lot to do with it. I think the yeast and malt play a big role as well, as least in drink-ability. As for the 'juiciness', I think massive late additions and dry hopping plus the different yeast and unfiltered product is probably 95% of the difference.

Another way I thought of 'juicy' is akin to cutting open a fresh orange, grapefruit, pineapple, etc. You get a mist of that fresh, fleshy juice and a bit of zest. It's a really bright, fresh, powerful aroma. That's exactly the experience drinking (especially aroma) a lot of these NE-IPAs. I Don't get that from a Pliny, Hi-Res, Juju, Enjoy By (the unfiltered came close though). Its more of just a hop perfume than fresh citrus. Again, not knocking 'west coast' (Although I've realized I'm not a fan of the Plinys), just trying to describe how I experience the differences.

 

I agree with you on the NE style of IPAs I'm lucky to live in N.H and have about a1 hour drive to all the VT IPAs Hillfarmstead,Lawson's finest,Heady Topper they are all top shelve beers

 

No, you live in IPA heaven.

 

So this means Julius actually IS a milkshake beer, despite the Bros. insistence that somehow it is different.

 

by the time this beer made it to my market everything had flocculated out leaving what looked like an inch of sediment in the bottle.

 

Similar issue happens w/ breweries known for their hazy beer. This is Tree House @ 5 weeks or so. I purposely left a couple ounces of liquid in the can after decanting the rest, just to see how it compared to the decanted part. The latter was hazy but not milkshakey. The last couple ounces, though, were heavy with sediment.