Hazy Inspiration from Different Sources: How Bell’s and Surly Created Their New Hazy IPAs

The Hazy IPA beer-style is primed for a big 2019. Amidst GABF category recognition and consumer demand, every brewer aimed at appealing to today’s beer consumer has made the creation of a Hazy IPA or some variety of it a mandate on their brew list. The trend has become an unavoidable one for old and new brewers alike, from almost every region. What started as a brewing style that was strictly New England-style in nature has bounced from coast and coast and is now getting a unique Midwesterner spin from two of the Midwest’s best IPA creators: Bell’s Brewery and Surly Brewing Co. Both have built their business on a flagship IPA that centers around bitter hops and a strong malt bill (Two Hearted and Furious, respectively). Now, both are using their IPA experience and some unique forms of inspiration in the creation of their new, nationally-distributed hazy IPAs: Bell’s Official and Surly One Man Mosh Pit. Here are the details. Read More

Firestone Walker Expands its National IPA Profile with Release of New Mind Haze IPA

“We’re finally ready do a hazy IPA the Firestone way.” Those were the words from Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson in this week’s press release. While 2018 created the initial haze craze, 2019 represents the second wave of the trend, with more major players like California’s Firestone Walker Brewing Co. entering the fray with their new Mind Haze hazy IPA.

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Modern Times Beer & Pueblo Vida Brewing Company | Arcosanti Fresh Hop IPA

Everyone has a favorite brewery, or a few of them. If the stars ever align and those breweries get together and brew a collaboration beer, then that’s about as good … Read More

National Brewers Take the Haze Craze to 12oz Cans

Chances are, your local brewery has experimented in the Hazy IPA trend. It would be silly not to given the incredible popularity of the newish beer style that has taken the nation – and even GABF – by storm thanks to its fruit-forward appeal and inherent drinkability. Hazy IPAs have expanded into many areas of the craft beer economy, but they’ve yet to really make an impact on the 12oz can segment. That is all changing thanks to the vision of three nationally-known breweries, 21st Amendment Brewery, Deschutes Brewery and Odell Brewing Co., making their hazy offerings readily available in the easily accessible aluminum format. We asked each brewery why they’ve decided to can their hazy creations.

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Wren House Brewing Co. | Wally’s World Triple IPA

There are a lot of amazing IPAs out there these days, but something you don’t hear about as often is an amazing triple IPA. Triple IPA is not an official style recognized by the Brewer’s Association, but generally speaking, it is a high ABV IPA (typically double digits). Some IPAs that are 10% ABV or higher can be very boozy and wouldn’t be something you’d consider “easy drinking.” However, Wren House Brewing Company in Phoenix has cracked the code.

These guys have brewed a hazy triple IPA that is very easy drinking (almost too easy) not just once — but four times. Those four tantalizing IPAs are what you’ll find in their Wally’s World IPA series: Good Boy Wally, Bad Boy Wally, Sad Boy Wally and Where’s Wally. The beers were named after one of the founder’s dogs, Wally. Each brew ranges from 10%-11.2% ABV and drinks like the ABV is half that amount. Grab a mixed four pack, sit back and enjoy the series — just maybe not all in one sitting. Read More

Three Magnets | Big Juice Smoothie

Guy Fieri may be an unconventional catalyst toward opening a successful brewery, but when a video store manager and a truck stop bartender marry and open a restaurant in Washington’s capital, you may as well expect the unexpected. So when Nathan and Sara Reilly’s restaurant was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in 2013, they decided to capitalize on their 15 minutes of fame — Three Magnets Brewing was born, and Big Juice Smoothie was not far behind.

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Forbidden Root’s ‘Assembly Required’ Line Brings Sour Haze to the Midwest

Scroll through your Instagram these days and you’re sure to find a wide selection of hazy beers in tulip glasses, strategically positioned to capture the faintest glimmer of sunlight on the glass. For many, the fanfare around the NE-style IPA is as much about the visuals as it is about the beer’s inherently juicy sweetness. Humans are visual eaters after all, so creating a beer that delights both your eyeballs and tastebuds makes sense. When I scrolled through my feed a few months back, my finger stopped on a post from Chicago-based Forbidden Root. The West-side brewery has made a name for itself with their botanical brews and hazy concoctions, but this newest endeavor, dubbed Assembly Required, was daring even for them. It was a sour NE-style IPA, more opaque than hazy, with a bright rosy red hue that departed from the typical orange juice color of a traditional haze bomb. Their new Assembly Required line is a bold evolution to the must-make trend of the present. After tasting the next batch, I’m confident in saying that the sour haze trend is alive and well in Chicago Read More

Narrow Gauge Brewing Company | King Fallen Flag

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the breweries in western Pennsylvania — Dancing Gnome, Grist House, Voodoo Brewery and Brew Gentlemen, to name a few of my favorites. The craft beer served at those places, as is the rest of the craft beer served in the region, is absolutely delicious. However, every once in awhile you want to branch out and explore other breweries. That is where Narrow Gauge Brewing Company (St. Louis) comes into play, including its King Fallen Flag.

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Platform Beer Co. | Haze Jude

The New England IPA (NEIPA) was once only available via bottle trades or to those willing to wait in long lines. But that has slowly started to change because larger breweries are making this style and distributing them in much larger volumes. That’s good news to those that previously couldn’t get their hands on these beers. However, it is worth asking if the large scale production can mimic what made this style so unique and special. Cleveland’s Platform Beer Haze Jude helped answer that question.

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Ultimate 6er | Southern Arizona Sampler

I feel fortunate as a beer nerd to live in Southern Arizona, Tucson specifically. The beer scene here has started to gain some national attention, but still largely flies under the radar. Tucson is a legitimate beer destination with 20+ breweries, drive out a little bit further and there are additional breweries in Tombstone, Bisbee, and Sonoita. The desert is definitely not dry here, so sit back and crack open a few delicious local brews. Read More

Trendy Fad or Innovation in Beer? Inside the Curious Case for Hazy IPAs

The craft beer movement in the US has forever changed the definition of beer. The grapefruit and pine flavors of the cascade hop catalyzed a revolution in the late 1970’s that couldn’t be stopped. Brewers revived old styles, improved on current styles, and created entirely new ones at an astonishing speed.

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A Beer Insider’s Road Trip Guide to Northern California

For most, the foray into the world of beer trading is swiftly met with an introduction to the secondary value world, as that perceived value tends to drive the trading market. Fortunately, there are still areas free from the shackles of “me first” mindset. Luckily, through my own beer journey, I’ve been fortunate enough to find a small group that acts as a family. While the group mostly allows us to maintain connections online and send each other beers as presents, surprises, and BIFs (beer it forward, essentially chain mail but with beer as presents); recently I have focused my domestic travels on meeting these people in person. With SF Beer Week in progress and more than a half dozen faces I had yet to meet in person, I “sailed off for the San Francisco Bay”.

“Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship. Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip.”

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Three New Hazy IPAs You Can Find Nationwide

Let’s face it, the haze craze is here to stay. Amid slowing sales in the craft beer market, the incredible popularity of the Hazy IPA has butted the trend, as its juicy approachability captured the hearts (and wallets) of both brewers and consumers across the country in 2017. What started as murmurs among beer blogs is now a nationwide phenomenon and can be lauded (or scoffed at) as one of America’s major craft beer creations over the past decade.

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Jekyll Brewing | Secret Apollo IPA

If you’ve been keeping up with Alpharetta, GA based brewery, Jekyll Brewing, you would know that their experimentation with juicy IPAs have increased overall over the last several months. One of their first juicy IPAs that gained tremendous traction in Georgia was Southern Juice. Since then, they’ve released the McLovin IPA, a NE-style IPA; 4Hundy, Milkshake Boys, Bad Breakup and Spaced Out. One of my favorites from their recent IPA trials was the Flightless Fowl, which was damn good.

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HenHouse Brewing | Chemtrails IPA

You know when you find a beer or brewery that just tugs at all your little beer heartstrings? That was HenHouse Brewing for me when I first visited the Bay Area in July. Being a beer girl from Seattle, I have a natural tendency to scope out all the breweries in any area I visit.

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National IPA Day | Southwest Regional Roundup

From the lush green landscape of eastern Texas, through the dusty Llano Estacado in the Texas Panhandles and New Mexico and into the deserts of Arizona, there’s plenty of craft beer, including an abundance of floral, aromatic, tasty IPAs. One would expect the beer to reflect a region so vast, and so diverse — and it does. Here’s a sample of what’s good in the Southwest. Happy National IPA Day!

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2 Row Brewing | Tastes Like Citrus IPA

ABV: 7.1%

In the land where lower alcohol brews rule the draft lines, many excellent strong beverages are continuously being produced by our local breweries. According to a few hundred like-minded local beer geeks, 2 Row Brewing’s Tastes Like Citrus IPA is Utah’s current number one high point ABV beer. Not only does 2 Row’s mastermind Brian Coleman craft great IPA, he seemly introduced our first native born hazy IPA. Coleman is no stranger to the IPA game. He has been brewing some of the state’s best hoppy beers since opening his brewery less than two years ago. His foray into the haze craze naturally seemed only a ‘when’ and definitively not an ‘if’.

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Why DryHop and Corridor Brewery are Embracing the Hazy IPA Trend

Feature image courtesy of DryHop Brewers

For DryHop Brewers & Corridor Brewery & Provisions head brewer Brant Dubovick, the insight to start focusing on hazy IPAs started when he was in DC for the Craft Brewers Conference with DryHop Lead Brewer Adrian Vidaurre and Corridor Lead Brewer Roger Cuzelis. While there, Brant decided to wait in line for up to 2.5 hours for a Trillium and Bissel Brothers New England-style IPA at a tap takeover. Since then, the haze craze has been front and center for both DryHop and its sister brewery Corridor Brewery & Provisions in particular. Corridor has proven to be a particularly good testing ground to test Chicago’s demand for the hazy IPA, and according to Dubovick, the response has been “amazing.”

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Burial Beer Co. Releases Seasoned Skillet and A Paranormal Vibe

Cover photo courtesy Danele Bova @Daneleheartshops

Tomorrow, Burial Beer Co. (Asheville, NC) will release Seasoned Skillet Donut Stout for the second consecutive year and A Paranormal Vibe Double IPA (DIPA) – the latest addition to their DIPA Earth Series. This comes as Asheville Beer Week announces last call for the week’s celebratory and beer-centric events. Read More

Fiction Beer Company | Logic is Relative

ABV: 7.9% | IBU: 85

If you like beer then you must have heard about the newest “trend” in the craft beer world — the hazy IPA. Craft brewing is an ever-evolving industry that has witnessed numerous trends, but this trend isn’t really a trend because it’s nothing new and it is definitely here to stay. More than a decade ago, The Alchemist brewed the infamous Heady Topper whose rare and unique flavor profile created a buzz around the country that quickly led to it being one of the most sought after beers in America.

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