Cloudy/Not Cloudy IPA Fence

As much as I enjoy the occasional "NE IPA" they seem somewhat artificial / gussied up

I'm an avid home brewer....I know what a dry hopped, unfiltered IPA looks like. I'll take it all day long.

 

Hill Farmstead, Heady Topper, Larson's to name three great NE IPA's. Love Pliny, Duluth IPA's, MPLS, Grand Rapids. Great IPA's being made everywhere. I'm glad their not the same.

 

My recent favourite IPA is a local: Trailway Brewing Co.'s Hu John Hops. It's an unfiltered, completely cloudy brew with a massive body and even bigger taste. That beer single-handedly answered this question for me.

 

I'm not a picky person. I eat and consume everything. I like most beers I drink. If I don't like beers, food etc.... it's because of the feel. These turbid ipas are nice. But I agree the lack of carbonation makes them hard to drink in succession, which I like to drink 2-3 in a given day. I don't have a preference overall though. It's my general mood.

River Horse Hippos hands comes to mind. Super hazy. Gravy almost. I loved it. But can't drink more than two. Tree house green I can have a couple it's not so hazy. Stone ipa would be an all day think. The clearer it is the more I can put away at once.

Same with Belgians. I don't add the yeast during a pour. It's too much sometimes and I used to do it but now it gives me a headache.

 

It's probably a holdover from my working at a brewery that notoriously undercarbonated everything they did for the first couple years of their existence, and also drinking lots of under carbed, or unevenly carbed homebrew.
I appreciate my carbonation done to style.

 

I haven't noticed any undercarbonation from Alchemist, Lawsons, Trillium, Treehouse or Hill Farmstead. Carb seems about right. I have noticed over carbonation from a lot of others. Stone comes to mind.

I've actually come to the point where I really don't drink any IPA but the NE style anymore. Just can't tolerate the bitterness. Contrary to what others say, its the bitter WC style that I can't take for more than one beer. I'm actually gravitating back toward good ESB style beers as session beers.

 

Moderate carb, creamy, and opaque seems to be winning the day at the moment

 

Is that color enhanced? Because if not thats really crazy. Honestly even the can is very bright making me believe its shoped

 

I enjoy both. If it tastes good idc what it looks like my only thing is that i like when the head sticks around for textural reasons.

 

I am all about flavor. If I really enjoy a beer that is my main focus. So if it is cloudy or not does not drive my decision, I just want something that is great to drink.
I do think the "juice" thing is going a bit far. The marketing people know it sells so they are pushing it harder than ever.

 

I can appreciate the hazies, but prefer west coast style.

 

Its shopped. You can tell because the reflection of the can is black and white.

Also, haze != good. Having said that, a lot of really good beers just happen to be hazy these days.

 

i live in a black and white and chrome world -- the only thing that's color is my beer.

 

I enjoy both but don't understand what drives the obsessive behaviour over the cloudy IPA's other than they are trendy right now.

 

I like them both. Had me whatever you are not drinking!

 

Are you talking about the behavior of those who are apalled by them? Or by the folks who favor drinking them? Because personally I find the only obsessiveness to be from those who don't like them.

 

More like the obsessiveness/line up culture associated with them, people obsessed with drinking them within a few days, buying 2 flats of the same DIPA, etc. People who get mad if it isn't cloudy enough and so on. It's a bizarre culture.

Some people obsessively hate them too, but they are just showing their snob side when they do that. I feel like those are the same folks who shame people for drinking BMC too.

 

agreed on the comment about CARB level

 

i am having trouble following this, as a drinker who first looks and notices for the feel and carb level (like a solid level but not overly carbed but substance), is the assumption a good hazy NEIPA suffers in the CARB arena, because that has not been my experience, all the great NEIPA's are great because they touch all the necesaries for a great beer....

 

To answer the OP's initial question, I found the "Holiday Haze" in Sierra Nevada's winter pack seemed to have a notably higher level of carbonation than average. It had that "soft" feel upfront but then gave way to a nice carb sort of tingle.