Tier Ranking all the NEIPA Breweries

They know what they’re doing. The IPAs they released during their big anniversary release (in particular the collaborations with Bellwoods and Electric) were top quality.

If you ever make it a little further out to Gatineau, try Bas Canada. Even better in my opinion.

 

Man, someone local to me let go of a mix 4 pack or two of Modestman for IPAs local to us this past fall. I absolutely loved the stuff I tried from Modestman. Went from no where on my radar, to a bleep near dead center.

 

Pittsburgh does a decent job in accentuating the hop character without soaking/saturating the liner (i.e. a balance to the grist / yeast makeup)

 

Excellent post/breakdown. Unfortunately, OH Mylar Bags is a shell of its former self.

 

Thank you so much. I appreciate that. NE IPA is one of my favorite styles, and I think there is still a good deal of nuance there. Although, if I had to describe NE IPAs, it'd liked it to a pair of headphones with a boosted EQ - the highs, mids, lows, and bass are all boosted, but when done well, the nuance and minute is still present.

FWIW, I reviewed DDH Mylar Bags in late 2018. Perhaps I should've sorted new-to-old for my examples. Although, even if I did, Doubleganger would've made the list. I absolutely adored that beer. Part of me wants to revisit these 'great' beers, and yet part of me wants to let their 'greatness' live on unquestioned in my notes.

 

HOMES is significantly better

I would still put Monkish above those three. Alvarado makes good NEIPAs but across the board they lack body. North Park makes great ones too but they’re still not Monkish level.

forgot about Troon when I made my original list. Solidly tier 2 IMO but definitely see the argument why they should be tier 1. Willow Park and Modestman seem like interesting additions, I generally feel like a keep a really close eye on the craft beer scene and I haven’t ever heard of them before. The biggest problem I have with the list is Fieldwork so high. I moved to the Bay Area in august and have been extremely underwhelmed. I think Cellarmaker blows them out of the water, and I’d much prefer to order monkish to my door than drink their NEIPAs.

threes makes amazing lagers. They do not make good NEIPAs

 

and Aslin is garbage now

 

Everything I had from OH was subpar. I never got the hype. Thin bodied, hop burn, I don't get it.

 

Thanks for posting and building a solid foundation to work with.

 

@PapaGoose03 and the other Michigan folks here—

I’m no expert and I am not necessarily wild about NEIPAS to any sort of extreme, but I have had a lot of them by now, mostly from a full range of CA and west coast brewers Some good, some meh, and just a few mind blowing.

With that in mind, I thought everything I had from Arvon was pretty fantastic. I don’t say that lightly. If that’s not top tier it’s gotta be close.

I’ve had more Old Nation than HOMES, to the point where I would say Old Nation is a tier or more below Arvon. And I’d have to revisit HOMES before weighing in on them.

 

I appreciate the write up. It's not a style I really enjoy. I've tried many of the west coast producers and been underwhelmed. I'd still give treehouse a try since they are so often held up as the epitome of the style, but after trying examples from monkish, I just concluded it must not be my style (I'd tried lots of other hazies too, they were just the only one u regularly heard in the national conversation).

My favorite examples have had a lot of wear coast, bitter hop, influence. And I get the sense that isn't typical of the style. More of a wc ipa with a higher protein content and softer feel

 

Oh I should add that one I really enjoyed was from Ruse brewing in (I think) Portland OR. I haven't seen them mentioned so I thought I'd throw a new name out there

 

I haven’t been able to meticulously follow the thread but wanted to 2nd HOMES & CLAG.
Everything I’ve had from them is great.
(And I’m a west coast guy)

 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37460/179401/
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37460/313577/

 

I was getting real cranky until I went back and read this.

I personally think it is impossible to get a good judgement of quality across the country due to distribution limits, freshness, and the fact that breweries that have “made it” have little interest in entering beers into competition.

So far in this thread there is a chronic underrepresentation of various hotbeds such as the southeast, Chicago/Milwaukee, Denver, Bay Area, Seattle, Minnesota, etc.

So far, it’s been Michigan, the northeast, and Portland.

Anyways, coming down from my soapbox: I think Hop Butcher, Phase Three (both of these I’ve fulfilled many trade for), and Corridor do an excellent job. Eagle Park can put out some exceptional stuff, but its hard to know if they are a stunt stout place now. Weldworks always hits the spot for me too.

 

One more aspect I would add here is bitterness. Juicy/Hazy IPAs should have a low - moderate bitterness.

I personally appreciate the higher bitterness of 'regular' IPAs.

Cheers!

 

Wow, I posted second reply, and it was basically done so as to be one of the last sane messages before the expected descent into chaos and disorder.

Wasn't hard to predict that this group who argue heatedly over what even is a NEIPA, would be a comedy routine to try and get to agree on things more specific. This group can't even decide if the NEIPA that started NEIPA is a NEIPA. Forget that the look, aftertaste, ingredients, aroma, part of the country by/in which NEIPA is defined, etc. etc are all different in everyones' minds.

I wonder if SportsCarAdvocates argue whether the '53 Corvette is a sports car? Do IceCreamAvocates argue "Well, no, that isn't Rocky Road, sure it has marshmallows and all the rest, and looks the same, but there aren't supposed to be fruit chunks in REAL Rocky Road."

I am a bit disappointed that there has been less name calling than usual, and the claims of being the ones who know the REAL definition of NEIPA have been fewer, and made and defended with less zeal than usual. And the knee jerk slogans of hatred for the style have been fewer, as well. C'mon where's the slogan crowd with some of those funny NEIPA terms y'all love to toss. All in all, though, I have enjoyed reading this while puffing what normally would, in times past, have been a beer in my hand.

Cheers!

 

We made a big improvement to our IPA game since the new year, don't think anyone has noticed yet

 

It wasn’t always like that. Full bodied, dank, creamy. They fell off badly a few years ago, but the last couple of beers I’ve had from them seem to be a major improvement, especially DDH Hop Showers.

 

Well @Harrison8 definitely went into way more detail, but succinctly: creamy medium-full mouthfeel with a touch of carbonation to help it go down easy, tropical fruit flavors and aromas, firm malt backbone, and expressive hops for balance. It's really easy to do wrong but so so good when done right