Hazy I.P.A.

It took us a while to catch on to the hazy I.P.A. trend. We have mixed feelings about their place in the craft beer market, and the hype surrounding them. There’s too much emphasis right now on a single style that, compared to a barrel-aged sour beer that takes years to finish, just really isn’t that hard to brew, and doesn’t take near as much investment of time or labor.

But what we don’t have mixed feelings about is how good they can be, when done well, and with that in mind, we set out to brew one that reflected our brewing philosophy. Primarily, it needed to be drinkable, so not overly thicc. But not dry either. No noticable “hop burn”, where the abundance of dry hopping actually scrapes the back of the throat. This style was largely made in order to get away from the overly bitter West Coast I.P.A. I.B.U. war, right? So why replace overly bitter flavor with another harsh hop flavor?

To embrace our leanings toward local sourcing, we chose a mash of Ohio 2-row pale barley and wheat malts from Haus Malts, plus some rolled oats and carapils.

Hop aromatics is key, and we were not going to achieve that with Ohio hops. We went straight up, new school, Pacific Northwest, trademarked hop varieties. Choosing Mosaic and Citra as the only 2 hops in our flagship hazy I.P.A. was a no-brainer, as they deliver maximum fruity and tropical complexity.

We like to, unconventionally, ferment You Wanted a Hit with Espe kveik yeast, which isn’t something you’d directly notice in the aroma or flavor, but it does add a “fruit cup” yeast ester that plays well with the hops.

This is the beer that made us appreciate the craft work that goes into brewing a good hazy I.P.A.. It’s not as simple as jamming the most expensive hops you can get into a kettle and fermenter and selling $22 4-packs. There is an art to it that deserves appreciation. Do we lay awake at night thinking about brewing and drinking hazy I.P.A.? No. But we like them in moderation and we think this one is pretty damn good.

Flavor Profile: Hoppy burst of aroma that includes all kinds of fruit. Smooth drinking with low, slightly spicy bitterness. Clean finish.

6.5% ABV, Gluten Reduced.