Are all Hazy IPAs mostly the same?

I was fortunate last night to put Fields of Green and Obscured by Clouds up against some well regarded hazies. Both held their own, but the Culmination was the clear winner for me over Treehouse Green and Trillium DDH Fort Point.

On another note, Riverbend canned Berry the Hopetition and Mango Fluff Yourself on 11/29. I'll wait for the canning run of the peach (my favorite and most familiar of the draft) before rendering judgement, but I'm a little surprised it took a Bend brewery this long to capitalize on the trend. I'm looking at you, Sunriver!

 

I've always liked obscured by clouds on draft, but when I had it in a can side by side with fields of green, the latter takes my vote. I found obscured to have just a little too much citrus juice flavor.

 

I'm cautiously welcoming of hazy IPAs, myself. I've only had about 3 or 4 of the ones brewed in NE. They were very good when fairly fresh, but I'm a longtime fan of the PNW IPA. I like that piney bitter counterpoint to the citrusy notes. Still, when I've had some local and regional hazy IPAs that are fresh and don't blur the line between beer and fruit juice too much, I have really liked some of them (looking especially at you, Perry Street).

 

After more than a year of inundation of hazy IPAs around the region, I'm pretty fed up with them. Here's my request of brewers and bars/taprooms: Please label your hazy IPAs as such. I've never been to a bar that didn't label a CDA (or black IPA) as such, i.e., I've never seen a CDA simply labeled as an IPA. Why would breweries and bars then not label their hazy IPAs likewise since they're clearly a different style?

I've now gotten to the point of asking every server, when I order an IPA that I'm not familiar with, if it's hazy. This is a drag.

 

At least with what I have had from the Northwest, I would like them to at least try to stick to the style then. Probably 70% of what I have tried from the PNW that has been labeled as a NE Style, Vermont Style etc. have none of the same mouth feel or even opaqueness. If I can see through it and it just looks like a regular IPA that has maybe had some more hops thrown in it, that is not a NE style IPA. That seems to be a brewery by brewery thing, though. Some clearly get it, while some seem like they are just trying to use the buzz words to sell some beer without regards to what the style implies to anyone who has had a few.

 

Agree on the labeling. And while I wouldn’t say I’m fed up with them, I’m a little bummed that some breweries, who brewed great non-hazy IPAs, have gone almost exclusively hazy. I guess if that’s where the money’s at I’d ride that wave and cash in as well.

 

Which is why I've long advocated for calling them something other than "IPA". I personally use American Orange Ale (AOA).

 

Had Barley Browns Over Hopulation last night. Very very good, and not pure juice. @TankSlapper thanks for the takeover at Bier Thirty!

 

Gotta admit, it's getting really difficult to distinguish this style among many brewery's around Oregon and Washington. Some are coming off more buttery (Diacetyl) lately.

Sorry, but a couple selections of the NE haze craze from Matchless Brewing recently were not very good.

Huge fan of Reuben's twist on the NE Style beer, but its getting harder to distinguish their releases lately. Not a slight against Reuben's by any means.

 

I've been a big fan of Reuben's higher ABV hazy IPAs: Haze in the Hood, Haze Maze, etc. To me, the sweeter, malty backbone of those beers provide a nice balance to the tropical notes from the hops. Without it, the flavors vanish pretty quickly for me and the beer comes off a little thin.

 

Breweries mis-labeling beers as hazy is an issue in San Diego as well. Some specifically call it hazy/juicy and then it is not creamy and thick in the way that they should be. Sometimes I have had beers labeled as murky that were not fully hazy but I can imagine someone who isn't as up on the beer trends out there would have a hard time figuring out what to buy. I have never had the opposite problem, a beer that is proper hazy not being identified as such.

I wouldn't be opposed to giving it a new style designation. I have been suggesting that it would be a good idea for quite some time. A proper hazy (Modern Times, Monkish, Fieldwork, Tree House, Other Half, TIred Hands, Trillium, etc) is drastically different than a standard West Coast IPA. It would be nice if the super fruit puree sours were also properly labeled on the bottle like De Garde's Nectarine Premier.

 

+1

I never order a Cloudburst IPA anymore. That’s a bummer cuz their non-hazy IPAs of yore were top notch.

 

Last time I was at Cloudburst their hazy options were barely hazy and not worth my time compared to Holy Mountain.

 

Agreed, the higher the abv on these the better. Triple Crush has been my favorite of what I have had from Ruebens which isn't much. Haze Maze was also really good. I've thought the same thing with Revisions cans so far, all of the double ipas have been better though the new one Lord Lupilin is tasting really good.

 

I am happy to see the flood of packaged hazy IPAs in the local Portland market these days. I am much more critical of the style than I was several months ago. There are some terrible beers in the style. Some of the beers I bought plenty of and thought were pretty good before have been knocked down to the “likely not to buy” list. Hopefully the good ones keep getting better due to the increased competition. Fort George and Fremont are tops for me (I think my favorite to date was the Belmont Anniversary). Revolution has some hits as well. There is still a big difference to me between the NE IPAs from Grimm, Tree House and Monkish and all the hazy offerings here. Great Notion is the only similar product. I really look forward to Great Notion 4 packs.

 

Very surprised because their hazy stuff was not hazy at all when I was there recently. Though maybe I came at the wrong time. Dunstig IPA was barely NE style at all.