Length: 4.75 minutes (949 words)

If you enjoy this article please consider donating on PayPal.

As the craft beer industry continues to expand, new styles of beer constantly join the ranks of the classics. Most breweries produce not just IPAs, lagers, and stouts, they also increasingly produce hazy IPAs. You know a hazy when you see one: they are usually opaque, with a dense, floury mouthfeel, and most have a heavy floral taste.

But what are hazys, where did they come from, and why are they so popular?

Hazys began their life as New England IPAs, although over time the term did not keep up with the pace of the market and “hazy” has largely taken on a life of its own. But the Brewers Association, which serves as the de facto authority on the craft beer industry, has defined New England IPAs as the following:

Emphasizing hop aroma and flavor without bracing bitterness, the New England IPA leans heavily on late and dry hopping techniques to deliver a bursting juicy, tropical hop experience. The skillful balance of technique and ingredient selection, often including the addition of wheat or oats, lends an alluring haze to this popular take on the American IPA.

New England IPAs (and by extension hazys) have been a well-known style since at least 2010, when the Vermont breweries Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, and the Vermont Pub and Brewery began canning and distributing their early versions of the style. All three breweries used the same hop strain (Conan) and they believed in maximizing an IPA’s fruit-forward, hop-centric flavor without going overboard on bitterness — even if that meant an unfiltered “hazy” result. Of the three, Alchemist’s beer Heady Topper is widely considered the original New England IPA.

“It took a long time for people to realize that not all beer needs to be crystal clear,” said Tom White, co-founder of The Hop Review and a certified Cicerone. “If you'd come out with a hazy beer a few years back, most people would have asked what was wrong with it.” Indeed, the Brewers Association did not even give hazys its imprimatur until 2018 when it added “Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale” to its style guide.

Drinking a hazy IPA — especially robust versions of the style that are particularly cloudy and dense — does not always feel like drinking a beer. The flavor is intense, the mouthfeel is noticeable, and the aroma can sometimes contribute to sensory overload, and not always in the best way.

But the style can also scratch an itch that many beer drinkers didn’t know they had until they tried it. Just as the flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel can be overwhelming, a well-brewed hazy can also be immensely satisfying. Flavors pop, hops shine, and sometimes its nice not to have a bitter beer.