10 Reasons Why Brewers and Drinkers Hate On Hazy IPA
The spirited debate about cloudy/hazy IPAs have nowhere near died down, while the popularity of this beer continues to rise. As of this writing, more and more brewers (on the smaller side) have been able to capitalize on a very simple format. Brewers are making a beer that looks like a Hefeweizen (to put it nicely), tastes like fruit juice, smells like weed, with almost all the hops going in at the end or after the boil. This beer is being stuffed into 16oz cans, bound in four packs, and sold at roughly $0.31 an ounce, or $20 a four pack. Often times, these cans have stickers for labels, and sell out as quickly as the brewery can take a line of people’s money. The best part about this for the brewer is they have cut out the distributor and the retailer, taking a bigger portion of the profit. It’s been told that one of the more popular haze-makers in Southern California is making between $30,000 and $40,000 on a single run of hazy IPA cans. That, my friends, is no chump change.
So as a quick recap, a new wave of craft beer fans are happy and small brewers are doing great business selling directly to their customers, yet all I read is hate, jealousy and venom from brewers and long-time beer enthusiasts. I’ve been following this discussion long enough, and I can fill you in with 10 reasons why brewers and drinkers seemingly hate hazy/cloudy, New England Style IPA.
- It goes against everything a classically trained brewer was taught about brewing high quality craft beer. Pick up any brewing book worth it’s grain of malt, and you’ll see that clarity, fining and head retention are important fundamentals in brewing. Keep in mind, by the standards of a classically trained brewer, unfiltered beers and chill haze are acceptable in certain styles. A beer that looks like egg drop soup, with visible chunks of hop and yeast matter, and has little-to-no head goes against this long-followed philosophy.
- Less talented brewers are getting much more fame. This isn’t always the case, as there are some very talented brewers dipping their toe in the butterscotch pudding beer realm, but at this point in the trend, there are some startups and small-time brewers that had no recognition or decent reputation who are now getting high marks on Untappd from the group of cloudy IPA fans known as the “Haze Bros.” You can tell this is digging away at some of the veteran brewers.
- Unable to land that trade or have a hard time dealing with value issues. From personal experience, I have learned that the street value of Tree House Brewing canned IPA is worth slightly more than gold as of this writing. Expensive, rare, labor-intensive barrel aged stouts and sours pale in comparison to two cans of Tree House’s Julius. While I have passed on trading for Tree House or Trillium beers because of what I perceive to be an incorrect valuation on a can of IPA, there are people that take it a step further and badmouth the brewery, badmouth the beer and badmouth the style and haze craze.
- Hatred towards the line. There are those who will do anything to get in line for the next hazy IPA sale, there are those who can never get off work or out of family duty to get in line for the next hazy IPA sale, and there are those who have the time to get in line, and find it foolish. The latter two have taken out their feelings toward line culture on the beer. You will hear statements about how the beer isn’t worth it, or hazy IPA is stupid and not worth lining up for.
- Stuck in the middle of a glass contract. It wasn’t too long ago that 22oz bottles, known as bombers, were the preferred package of beer drinkers. Five to six years ago, many brewers starting up would have to decide what direction they were going to go, and watching successful operations like Stone Brewing, Southern Tier and Avery Brewing, it was an easy choice to procure the brown 22oz bottle. For those who chose that route, they are kicking themselves as these young, nimble breweries are printing money with a small or rented canning line. I have found some of the keyboard warrior brewers beating the haze hate drum are those without the feasible option of churning out four packs of 16oz cans. This is just an observation with a hunch, perhaps I am incorrect.
- The appearance. This might be the most valid point made by those in the cloud-shaming camp. There is beauty in a “perfectly” made clear beer, and there is, often times, something not right about these hazy IPAs. There are some beautiful bright yellow beers being made in the New England style, but some look like a trub cake, or egg drop soup. Those not executing the style well have a good deal of visible floaties, and that is to be expected when you have suspended grain, yeast and hop particulates in your brew. Personally I’m split, as I think some are beautiful while some look like hell. Those against this style use every opportunity to shame the murky beer.
- Not everyone is making them well. For every Monkish or Tree House, there are those who don’t get how to make the style 100%. I am not a brewer and I don’t play one on TV, but I can tell you that hops are bitter and that hoppy ales shouldn’t have the consistency of a protein shake. Unfortunately, these beers sell well no matter who is making them, so some are passing off bitter, vegetal and ungodly thick beers because the end results consists of a line of people and pictures on Instagram of the haze.
- Not bitter enough or IPA-like enough. The term India Pale Ale has evolved quite a bit over the past 20 years and has taken on a life of its own. Moving away from what was known over in Great Britain, IPA has typically meant a very hop forward, strong pale ale, taken further by the trend of the West Coast IPA. In the last 10 years or so, IPA and West Coast IPA signified the beer you were buying and drinking was hop forward in terms of bitterness, fruitiness and aroma. These New England Style beers have great hop aroma, but when brewed as intended, have much less bitterness than the very popular West Coast Style IPA. Some have even started with experimenting by doing no kettle hopping and only dry hopping. I love hop bitterness and I can understand why those are completely turned off by this new style.
- Fear of the unknown/shelf rot. There has been a meme that has been floated around since the rise in popularity of hazy IPA coming from veteran brewers. The theory goes that this style of beer would never last on the shelf in the retail world because the beer never had a chance to finish and clear up. Vivid pictures have been painted that the beer will be a disgusting, oxidized mess, and even worse, all that suspended matter (hop particulate, yeast and grist) will be sitting at the bottom of the can and it will no longer be a hazy IPA at that point. While this may be true, this scenario has not played out in real life yet, and if it has, nobody is copping to it. The beer goes from fermenter, to can, to FedEx box, to the other side of the country, to Instagram in two to four weeks, tops. Still, when you hear a home brewer or pro brewer hating on this style, they will always mention stability in their argument.
- The abundance of incorrect vocabulary and brewing information. This article might be a great example, as there is so much chatter as to what makes these beers hazy and fruity. Is it the yeast strain? Is it the hop bill? Is it the use of oats and wheat in the grain bill? Oh, the brewer dumped flour in the beer. Fans of these beers all like to guess these types of things, and the brewers that hate these styles like to throw out these theories as well, especially the jab about Tired Hands using flour in one of their experimental beers. If you want to know how the brewer arrived at what looks like a glass of orange juice, the best thing to do is ask them. Speaking of juice, the terms juice and hazy are thrown around to the point of being silly. Just because the beer looks like juice, doesn’t necessarily mean that the beer tastes like juice. If the beer looks like a solid glass of French’s Mustard, that certainly isn’t hazy, bro. Now it sounds like I’m hating on the haze bros, I’ll save that for another article.
May 26, 2019 @ 9:32 pm
I never enjoyed the taste of beer nor any kind of alcoholic beverage for that matter. Hazy IPA’s are the first alcoholic beverage that I drank that I ever truly enjoyed. I’m sure there are millions out there who do or will feel the same way about Hazy IPA’s soon enough.
February 10, 2020 @ 7:23 pm
I’ve never really loved beer. I went through a brown ale phase and I still enjoy a good brown ale from time to time, but I always found myself drinking rum at parties because I just don’t enjoy most beer.
Until I found hazy Juicy NEIPAs. I’m in love. I’ve tried over 200 in the last two years. There are a LOT of bad ones, but when I do find a winner, it’s heaven.
I really don’t understand why conventional beer drinkers feel the need to hate on these juice bombs though. I mean, if it’s not your thing, then don’t drink it. I don’t even really consider it beer. It’s like it’s own category. I for one love it.
January 9, 2022 @ 6:38 am
I agree 100%
There only beer I ever touched on a hot day was a German unfiltered wheat beer… Until I found hazy IPAs.
So any craft brewery I go to that does not have hazy IPAs is out.
Thing is, everyone likes Doggett e things. I have friends who prefer a clean clear German lager over everything else. I never judge anyone or anything about their preferences, of you do not like it, ok.. bit do not rant about it. If it would not be a thing or would not exist.
April 23, 2019 @ 12:25 am
I enjoy the style, but I’m frustrated by brewer’s packaging product as “IPA” when it’s really a juicy/hazy “NEIPA”. It’s a recognized style so why is it not required to be labeled as such? I have purchased to many 4/6 packs labeled “IPA” only to find It to be a “NEIPA.”
March 13, 2019 @ 2:46 pm
would it be wrong to say that hazy beers are “generally” higher in calories?
February 27, 2020 @ 3:35 pm
Yes. It would be wrong.
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January 4, 2019 @ 4:13 am
[…] style. NEIPA has even been officially recognized as it’s own style. Naturally there has also been backlash from many brewers and drinkers. While some predict an impending decline in the substyle, I believe haze will continue to reign in […]
October 8, 2018 @ 11:30 am
I know Im late to this table but #8 nails it on the head for me. Im a snobby West Coast beer drinker who LOVES bitter beer. Early and often hop additions in the boil are what I like. I like my IPA to taste like an IPA. My problem with this hazy beer trend (I will not call it IPA as there is nothing PALE about a HAZY beer) is that the beer tastes like orange juice. Sweet and thick and more tropical and fruity than resinous and bitter. Also #6 resonates with me. Seems like anyone can screw up a beer with extra yeast (or Odin forbid a bunch of freaking flour) and say “Hey look, a hazy IPA.” Meh. Keep that crap. Go drink your chalky orange juice beer. Ill drink this crystal clear 100 IBU glass of golden hop perfection. For the record I am not against this style. I think people should brew and drink what they like. I just dont like it and I wont drink it. I am however against calling this style an IPA. Call it a hazy ale, call it a yeast bomb, call it a dough ale…..hell, call it anything but an IPA.
November 17, 2018 @ 9:11 am
Have you had a Monkish ipa? Still has what you want in a West coast ipa, has lots of dank, hop bitterness (depending on the hops) some hops can be more piney/resinous. Plus Monkish ipas have plenty of head if you pour the beer correctly. The mouthfeel of their beers isn’t so thick like east coast brewaries such as Treehouse, Tired Hands. Yes Monkish make hazy beers that look more like OJ but, they taste absolutely incredible and I love West coast ipas. I think Monkish has found the balance between westcoast (which is what they are) and the NEIPA. Also, everything I just said also applies to Cellarmaker in San Francisco. Cheers.
December 12, 2018 @ 5:03 pm
I have been to Monkish and think their hazy is okay. Not quite sure why there are lines around the block, but it’s good. I find it comical that not too long ago they had a sign on the wall (think non-smoking sign with a cigarette butt) with the letters IPA inside. I am a west coast IPA man, but do enjoy trying the hazy stuff. I’ve never had Treehouse or the other stuff mentioned above so I can’t comment. I will go on record and say that Alvarado in Monterey and Fieldwork in Berkley are wayyy better than Monkish. If you think Monkish is good give them a try.
March 15, 2018 @ 8:59 am
Good blog and I respect a different opinion than mine, however it is funny because the 10 reasons listed are the reason I totally “get it” and like a hazy IPA.
Peace out!
February 27, 2018 @ 9:17 am
I’m not a fan for 2 reasons: one, if you have a yeast sensitivity this style can cause major reactions that filtered ipas do not. A lot of people get headaches from yeast, I have several negative reactions to unfiltered lagers and it has proven no different with most hazy ipas. Not everybody can eat every food you know, brewers, and people’s bodies reject more and more foods the older they get (I am 48 and have been with “craft” since before many of the fan boys and brewers were born).
Second, I simply do not like the excess of exotic tropical fruit flavors mined from the hops. I do not eat passion fruit, mango, etc as a food bec I do not like the taste, I sure as hell don’t want a 9% abv passion fruit full of misc brewing particulates that then cause histamine reactions.
My style wheel on Untapped is well into the 20s on level, so fear of style experimentation is not my deal. Ingredients and taste are the 2 things that bring me to or push me away from a beer. Those who love them, enjoy! I don’t have any issues with brewers catering to your tastes, just don’t forget about those who prefer a filtered beer. Like any craze, when all breweries switch production to the same trendy style, and a demographic does not like it, sales drop bec there are fewer options for the others to purchase.
June 29, 2022 @ 3:21 pm
I recently have had a sever allergic reaction to Unfiltered Beers(Hazy IPA’s). I do enjoy the mild hoppiness and the unique flavors the unfiltered beer presents but I cannot drink those kind of beers now. I fear I have developed an yeast or pollen allergy from the unfiltered beer. I had a mild reaction to a supposedly filtered IPA now too. I am getting allergy tests in the coming weeks. I am in my late 30’s now. Its my first major allergic reaction. Do you have any beers that I can drink? I am not really a pilsner type of guy. Can I drink Imperial beers?
November 29, 2017 @ 8:42 pm
Does anybody know of breweries in Nashville that serves these?
November 27, 2017 @ 4:24 am
I love this article. I live in Boston and regularly stop at Trillium because it is a quick in and out (albeit overpriced) but usually minimal line. I refuse to stand in line at Treehouse and will continue to bash it. The place is literally open 3 days a week and every day is over an hour wait. Not to mention the drive from Boston anyways. They are creating fake hype over constantly canning the same beer. I still have yet to try it! Literally never seen Treehouse in a store or a restaurant. I see Trillium on tap all over town. IMO, there are more versatile breweries in the area serving more beers than just 100 diff types of a hazy IPA.
May 11, 2018 @ 4:33 pm
Treehouse only sells their beer in a can. It’s the greatest profit margin known to man. And they don’t have to spend a penny on distribution. That being said, I’ve tried a couple via trade from San Diego- and Treehouse is the most over-hyped nothing special beer I have ever had or heard of. F that line!
August 30, 2017 @ 7:56 am
I’m sorry but I find the article a little wrongheaded. If you don’t like a style don’t drink it. Why spend time inventing reasons to hate on it?
Hating on a beer for any other reason than poor quality is, in my humble opinion, a waste of time. For example, I fail to see why dealing with switching in bottles should affect your feelings about a particular style of beer. That’s silly!
Also, hating on a beer because it’s popular is just plain “amateur hour.” Does that mean you will dislike any beer that it’s popularity makes it hard to get? That doesn’t make sense, does it?
FWIW I do enjoy your articles in general. I’m just not goin’ there with ya on this one. Cheers!
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August 28, 2017 @ 9:35 am
[…] heads. As with every new trend, there are those that fight back against it. Some of those differing opinions can be valid. Y’all remember the kerfuffle over black IPAs (aka Cascadian dark ales)? […]
July 21, 2017 @ 10:25 am
Let me just say, I brew a lot and work at a bar with 61 taps, and let me tell you, making a really hazy drinkable IPA is much harder than making a run of the mill clear IPA. Making clear beer really isn’t that hard to be honest. Look at brewers like Omnipollo, they are pushing the envelope of what can be done, and it tastes amazing.
What really surprises me about the hatred towards this style of beer, is that craft beer drinkers have no problem drinking a 13,5% bourbon barrel aged imperial stout with coffee, vanilla, oak and chillies, but when their beer is a bit hazy, they go on a rant. You would think people would be more open minded, but I guess some aren’t. But let me tell you, these types of beers sell out, almost as soon as we can get them on tap. So hate them as much as you like, they are here to stay for some time.
October 10, 2018 @ 12:05 pm
Finally some sanity in this conversation!
June 20, 2017 @ 10:35 am
I think the most important issue a person might have with hazy IPAs went unmentioned. As with any beer, it’s taste.
(Flaws were mentioned, but in the form of packaging issues like chucks and hops.)
The few examples I’ve had on the west coast have had a yeasty/hop bite, something I would think is inevitable when using a yeast that doesn’t flocculate plus lots of hops, that I find unpleasant.
By “yeasty/hop bite” I mean a sharp, tickle the back of your throat kind of thing, that you would get if you were to take a sip of any sludgy, bottom of the fermenter sample of IPA. It’s yeast covered in hop oils (that’s one thing hop oil does to yeast, it covers them).
And while I personally love low bitterness, extra flavor IPAs, having yeast in solution doesn’t cause that, and, in the examples I’ve had, it only reduces drinkability.
June 15, 2017 @ 11:10 am
What drove me nuts about the style when it first came out, and what continues to drive me nuts about it is, to get cans of its examples, you typically have to go stand in a line at a brewery on a Saturday morning, or some random weekday, wasting a work vacation day. That’s what pisses me off, the whole “rarity” culture that has come to surround these beers. I want to be able to drop by the brewery and grab a 4-pack from the cooler, whenever. They are perfectly enjoyable beers that I’d drink more often if I could. At some point, the crazed hype surrounding these beers has to die way down, right?
May 26, 2017 @ 2:23 am
Dan,
This is a great article and some very valid points. You see in from both sides of the table.
Good work.
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May 16, 2017 @ 10:48 am
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May 10, 2017 @ 10:01 am
Well done Dan! I get that there is so much stress for brewers to be even more innovative, yet also at the end of the day actually make a profit. Personally, I’m not a big fan of this style, however I can appreciate it when it’s made well. I do think it’s a style that is here to stay for a while, but like Red IPAs and Cascadian Dark Ales/ Black IPAS will diminish over time. Also, I have a theory that with the weather continuing to get warmer across the world, drier finished IPAs will continue to be king.
People will always want something hoppy, but IPAs will continue to be innovated.
May 8, 2017 @ 3:51 am
The number one reason why there is so much hate for style is that it is an extremely dumbed down style. It is essentially the “number two vaue meal” of beer. There has been a MASSIVE increase in the number of craft beer drinkers over the five years. By definition, these people are new to craft beer. What’s the latest and greatest “best style evah!” beer that these people drink? An “IPA” that has no bitterness. Has a very soft mouthfeel and as many citrusy/”juic” flavors in it to make it as simple on the palate as possible. It’s a noob beer for a massive wave of noobs. Now, all of that said, personally… I don’t think any of that makes them inherently “bad” at all. I have no problem hitting a McDonalds drivethru myself from tine to time but at the same time, I call fast foor, “fast food”. As for the “haze bros”, you have to just ignore them and hope they and their palates mature. 99% of them are, as mentioned above, noobs to craft beer who feel like they now belong to a “thing” and they’ll defend it like it’s family. Really? Accusing people of “butthurt” or trashing an article because it describes a very real situation? Really? What are these people, 12 year olds? Grow up noobs.
April 29, 2018 @ 12:26 am
Ok I am a year late to this and you’ll probably never read this but chill out dude. How long have you been drinking craft? I myself have been drinking it for over 10 years and have had every style under the sun and I myself LOVE hazy IPA’s them and a good sour is all I really need these l days. I’ve also stopped trying to collect and get the latest and greatest thing. I mostly just drink local.
August 8, 2019 @ 3:47 pm
This is what I call the ‘trendy effect’. People will hate a style of beer (it’s another thing to not like a style) mainly because its popular. They will make fun of and call names of those that drink it, making statements that it won’t last, it’s not a real beer, or its made poorly, etc. But they will say they had some that aren’t bad. I can’t help wonder if they worry that others will see them as a trendy drinker or hipster (or a noob) so they bash the style. They do come off as someone who suffers the trendy effect.
May 23, 2018 @ 8:11 pm
What a turd response callling people “noobs.” Like its a bunch of 12 year olds. It’s just a different beer bud. Quit being a snob and realize that maybe other people like different beer than you. I too have drank craft beer for about 15 years, and brew beer. Although his isn’t my favorite it’s still a decent beer. Calling people noobs with underdeveloped pallets is such a loser comment.
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March 31, 2017 @ 7:13 pm
Week shelf life at best…this article could maybe have passed 6months ago…c’mon man!
March 31, 2017 @ 1:28 pm
Hi,
This is the author here. I love hazy IPAs, not sure how you gather otherwise. Check out our instagram, @thefullpint, you’ll see what love these style beers.
March 31, 2017 @ 1:25 pm
Well.. the author is definitely not a fan of hazy IPA’s.. we get it. But don’t try to spread your butt hurt and make it seem like everyone hates the style for the opinionated reasons you listed.
March 31, 2017 @ 12:55 pm
Don’t listen to these morons, Danny. Good article.
Hey, nimrods, the title of the article is “10 Reasons Why Brewers and Drinkers Hate On Hazy IPA.” What did you expect, a goddamned hazy IPA love letter???
I like some hazy IPAs as much as the next guy, but the lines are crazy (I won’t do it), the beers are usually ugly AF, and the mouthfeel screams anything but beer. They taste great a lot of times, but the issues raised here are spot on.
March 31, 2017 @ 11:28 am
I like this article. It catalogs all the reasons I have hated on murky IPAs. I bought a six pack of Reuben’s Crush and enjoyed the heck out of it, and at $16 a six-pack it’s just not an everyday beer. So am I a hypocrite? Yep, but I’m still not going out of my way to buy the murk. I’ve mostly been curious as to what all the brouhaha was all about. I am still an old-school clear, bitter IPA guy. BeeTeeDubs, English IPA after WWII took a steep downturn in gravity to end up in the 4-5% ABV range. Not until American small independent brewers revived the style (Worthington White Shield notwithstanding) at the higher gravity did some British small independent brewers take note.
March 31, 2017 @ 6:31 am
Complaining about haze is a bit asinine. Complaining about floaties is another story altogether. Trillium has been a serious offender. After a month or more many of their brews will exhibit giant brown or grey chunks in the bottom of the glass. While it doesn’t seem to be affecting the taste, it’s not appetizing.
March 31, 2017 @ 5:59 am
I agree with Matt above; this is an absurdly stupid article. The writer makes his disdain for hazy IPAs known in the first paragraph and it gets worse from there. Granted, this is a blog and you can write whatever you want, and truthfully, you make a couple of valid points (the ridiculousness of the long lines, some brewers throw in flour) but the rest of this article just feels like the writer has an axe to grind. Get over it and yourself.
March 31, 2017 @ 4:54 am
Yup, totally pathetic article. All I get from it is “waaaaahhhh, I don’t like good beer and I’m gonna come up with stupid reasons why it’s not good.”
March 30, 2017 @ 7:34 pm
On item #5 your more off-base than you know. Although your spot on with reference to the demand for cans, the small guys are certainly not “printing money”, in fact quite the opposite. Cheers.
March 30, 2017 @ 6:08 pm
@andy,
Pure project, mikkeller, resident, and modern times!
March 30, 2017 @ 2:38 pm
Wow, I didn’t even know this was a thing. Any brewers in San Diego making good “hazy” IPA? 🙂
March 30, 2017 @ 2:38 pm
This is an absurdly stupid article. Beer nerds who cry about hazy IPAs need to get another hobby.