Why are craft breweries across the US are experiencing a hazy IPA craze?

Greeley’s Weldwerks Brewing celebrated its first anniversary in March 2016 by making a unique beer style that had long been relegated to the Northeastern United States.

The New England-style hazy IPA called Juicy Bits was only intended to be brewed once. Instead, it helped spread craft beer’s hottest new trend westward.

The beer that resembles a glass of pulpy orange juice earned Weldwerks national recognition and is now its flagship brew — accounting for more than 70 percent of the 7,000 barrels the brewery will produce this year.

“It has become its own animal,” said Weldwerks co-owner and brewer Neil Fisher. “We had been hearing a lot about New England-style IPAs. We tried a couple examples from there, took the blueprint and made it our own with no expectation of what would come.”

What is a hazy IPA?

The beer style first developed in the mid-1990s in Vermont has been one of the largest growing segments of the craft beer industry across the country over the past two years.

Breweries of all sizes have attempted their own versions of the the cloudy, unfiltered variety.

“It used to be that the most common beer order was, ‘Whatever is the strongest,’" said Justin Crossley, who runs The Brewing Network web series and two Hop Grenade craft beer bars.

“Now it is, ‘Whatever is the haziest.’ It has really taken off.”

Hazy beers are known for having a creamy mouthfeel and fruity aroma and tasting less bitter than their more traditional American IPA counterparts.

“It appeals to a much bigger audience,” Fisher said. “It still caters to hop heads with hop flavor and aroma, but is also more approachable to a more casual beer drinker that hates bitter beers.”

The style was formally recognized earlier this year as the hazy or juicy IPA by the Boulder-based Brewers Association despite the protest of some brewers. Many breweries still refer to the beer style as a New England-style IPA.

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In its upcoming inaugural year at the Great American Beer Festival, the hazy or juicy IPA leads all categories with 414 submissions. The category dethrones the American-style IPA that had the most entries annually since 2002.

“For better or worse, it is now part of the mainstream,” said Fisher, who helped lobby the Brewers Association. “It is now official and not just an indie rock thing.”

Major craft brewers New Belgium Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing and Sam Adams have all rolled out their own hazy beer versions.

'It is now part of the mainstream.'

Nielsen data shows that New Belgium’s Juicy Haze IPA — which was released at the start of 2018 —  is currently the country’s top selling bottled hazy IPA.

“While innovation trends in craft can often be short lived, hazy IPAs seem to be here to stay,” said New Belgium spokesperson Jesse Claeys. “The haze craze is not going away anytime soon.”  

Prior to releasing the beer, New Belgium worked through the challenges of mass distributing the beer style known for having a shorter shelf life than most beers. Juicy Haze IPA is currently available in all 50 states.

“It is very difficult to maintain quality, aroma and flavor the farther away the beer gets from the brewery,” Claeys said. “It is a notoriously unstable style.”

Just down the street in Fort Collins, Odell Brewing released its own hazy IPA called Cloud Catcher earlier this month. Odell's Milkshake IPA version is a hazy beer substyle that’s brewed with lactose milk sugars.

Odell also recently brewed a hazy IPA exclusive to Buffalo Wild Wings. The brewery spent significant time developing its recipes and tested them out as specials in the Fort Collins taproom.

“We were flying through kegs of this pilot Milkshake IPA,” said Odell technical director Eli Kolodny in a press release. “It was only a matter of time before it moved off the pilot system and into the big brewhouse.”

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The beer variety is also routinely served on tap in small neighborhood taprooms.

C.B. & Potts, Equinox Brewing and Intersect Brewing of Fort Collins have all brewed their own versions. Red Truck Beer debuted with one out of the old Fort Collins Brewery this month.

Fellow Choice City brewery Snowbank Brewing added a hazy New England-style IPA called Snow Juice in spring 2017, and it's been the brewery’s top seller ever since.

“It introduces a lot of people to hoppy beers in a new way,” said Snowbank owner Dave Rosso.

Follow Jacob Laxen on Twitter and Instagram @jacoblaxen.