hazy ipa

In the context of the sky, we’re usually not very enthusiastic when it’s cloudy. We much prefer a cloudless firmament in azure blue with bright sunshine. When it comes to beer, things are completely different: Hazy is trendy and, especially in the craft beer context, there are hardly any beers that are crystal clear and brilliant. In the past, even the smallest cloudy matter was meticulously removed by filtration, but today it can’t be cloudy enough.

A delightfully cloudy specimen that proudly bears this quality in its name is SweetWater’s HAZY IPA. The juicy beer specialty from Atlanta is brewed with the hop varieties Mosaic, Citra, El Dorado and Azacca. To take the hop flavor to the extreme, the beer was then dry-hopped with the same varieties plus Simcoe. This extra step fills the brew to the brim with the wonderfully fruity aroma of green gold. The hoppy abundance is contrasted with three malts, which form a soft base, but are hardly significant in terms of taste. Louder, more dominant and more intense is the whole fruit basket of tropical fruits, the spicy pine resin and the abundance of sparkling citrus notes. A hint of yeast and a degree of bitterness appropriate to the amount of hops complete the play of aromas.

This type of cloudiness can happen every day!