Hazy IPA: How to Reimagine this Trendy IPA Beer Style (2025)

Article written based on sensory analysis work conducted by Gabriela Montandon

IPA: a trend still on the rise

For more than twenty years, IPA has been making its mark in the beer world. Almost every brewer on each continent has an IPA in their range. As tastes and desires evolve over time, we’ve seen this industry trend gradually take over from lagers and other pilsners which dominated during the 20^th century. IPA, with its aromatic profiles radically differing from the beers of the last century, has imposed itself as a new standard. It is, in a way, a symbol of the craft beer revolution which started in the US at the beginning of the 21^th century and spread throughout the rest of the world.

What is IPA beer?

So what beer type is IPA? And how do we define IPA? As described in the beer guidelines of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), today the popular meaning of the term IPA tends to refer to American IPAs and their derivates. It’s a decidedly hoppy and bitter, moderately strong American pale ale, showcasing modern American or New World hop varieties such as Cascade or Citra. This very wide definition allows us to categorize, rightly or wrongly, a lot of beers as IPA. Though it’s possible to leverage the trend by simply writing IPA on beer bottles, many brewers are still exploring the possibilities of this style and in doing so, creating new sub-categories for consumers who are always looking to try something new. The first of these sub-categories was the beer style of the year 2018: the New England IPA.

The history of Hazy IPA, originally know as NEIPA

In 2018, it was almost impossible to miss the explosion of NEIPA/Hazy IPA beer on the market, at least in the US. New England IPAs (or NEIPAs) are named for the region where they first appeared: New England, which consists of six different states in the north-east of the United States. Several American sources (American Brewers Association and Brew Your Own magazine among others) agree that NEIPA’s origin dates back to 2011, when the beer Heady Topper was brewed by The Achemist brewery in the state of Vermont. The idea was to accentuate the fruity notes in beer from hops without being restricted by the constraints of the IPA style, such as clarity, bitterness and the level of alcohol. The result was definitely an IPA with its own characteristics, which are important to define. We’ve summarized the most important ones below:

• Juiciness:In a sensory way, it must be the equivalent of drinking ripe or overripe fruit juice, especially tropical.
• Haziness:A somewhatopaque, light-reflecting haze. The beer should not look like a yeast starter or a protein shake.
• A pale color: Straw to golden, but some examples can have an orange hue. The opacity of the haze can make the color appear slightly darker than it is. A dense, white, persistent head is common as well.
• An intense hop aroma / flavor: The aroma and flavor should be dominated by intense and fresh hops. The hop varieties used are commonly associated with ripe or overripe tropical fruit (mango, passionfruit, guava, pineapple, papaya, etc.), but can also have some stone fruit (apricot, peach) or citrus (orange, tangerine) characters. The excessively resiny or piney notes you can have with some hops variety is not typically found.
• A neutral malt profile: A light, toasty, honey-like or biscuity malt flavor can sometimes be found, but the malt should not interfere with the appreciation of hops.
• Amoderate level of bitternesswith a smooth and soft finish.
• The body is supportive to the alcohol content (shouldn’t be a hot). It shouldn’t be sugary sweet or heavy from unfermented sugars. Nothing to impact the drinkability.

Creating a recipe which respects these different characteristics is not an easy thing. The choice of the hops varieties is, of course, a major step regarding the quantities you’ll use, but it would too simplistic to reduce this style to the choice of hops. The choice of malts also plays an important role, as well as the yeast, which is where our expertise comes in.

How does Fermentis select its yeast?

At Fermentis, we’re confident in the quality of our yeasts and their ability to brew a variety of different beer styles. Thanks to the versatility of our range, there’s no need to release a new product every six months. Instead, we have worked closely with a trained sensory analysis panel to select the best yeasts for your next NEIPA or Hazy IPA recipe.

• A panel study

How does our sensory analysis panel work? The panel’s goal is to function as an instrument, able to measure and characterize each product coming from our pilot brewery. The panel consists of 40 internal panellists from different sectors and activities within Fermentis and Lesaffre. Individuals are selected based on their motivation, availability, consumption habits and health conditions. On a voluntary basis for one hour a week, the panel receives sensory training and participate in tests to differentiate and describe sensory attributes in beer.

To date, they have been trained in 45 beer attributes and performed a set of exercises for panel profiling and performance. In practice, the criteria to evaluation sensory sensitivity varies depending on the difficulty of the screening test and the requirements of the project. Panellists are also expected to have excellent communication skills, which is important for the consensus language development during training sessions. All panellists have been performing discrimination, descriptive and acuity tests.

Sensory panel, Fermentis campus

To work on NEIPA beer, we first established a control recipe. To determine which of our yeast strains were appropriate for the style, we followed this recipe for every brew, only changing the yeast. The control recipe is briefly described on the figure opposite. Nine Fermentis yeast strains were tested: seven in our SafAle^TM range: S-33, S-04, US-05, BE-256, K-96, BE-134, T-58 and two in our SafLager^TM range: S-189 and S-23.

NEIPA representative recipe, source: Fermentis

For the nine beers, the panellists evaluated different criteria relative to NEIPA beer style. Each criterion was evaluated on a notation scale from 0 to 8 (see example of the malt character in figure 5) or with a semantic differential scale (see example of the turbidity level in figure 4). Finally, when we put all the criteria together, we were able to build a radar chart (see figure 6). By looking at important critiera for a NEIPA beer (juiciness, turbidity, hop character etc.), we were able to deduce which yeasts would best fit the style, however the results still needed to be validated with a data analytic method.

NEIPA Sensory Characteristics radar chart – source Fermentis

The data analytic method

The method chosen to verify our results is a Principal Component Analysis or PCA (figure 7). It consists of transforming our correlated variables (turbidity, juiciness, body, etc.) in non-correlated variables called principal components or principal axes. In statistic, its considered that one has to keep a sufficient number of axes to explain at least 50 per cent of the total inertia of the study. In this case, with statistics software, we have selected two axes which explain together 58.75 per cent of the total inertia. Once this is complete, you can see which variables correlate with the axes. The closer a criterion is from one the axes, the better it is explained by this same axis. In our case, we can see that the most important criteria for NEIPA (hop tropical, turbidity and juiciness) are well explained and positively correlated with the axis F1.

PCA NEIPA study, source: Fermentis

The next step was to increment on a graph all the results presented in figure 6. The statistics software transforms these results into a unique point for each yeast with an abscissa and an ordinate. Each yeast which appears on the right part of the graph will be interesting for a NEIPA beer, as it is positively correlated with the axis F1 and so with the main characteristic of the style. We are not looking for bitterness or phenolic character for example.

So, as you can see above, we have four potential yeast strains which are well suited to the style. They are all part of our SafAle^TM range: BE-256, S-04, K-97 and S-33. To go deeper, we have crossed these results with another study based on analytical observations made in a laboratory. We can see that the laboratory analysis confirms the panel’s results. Indeed, SafAle^TM S-04, SafAle^TM S-33 and SafAle^TM K-97 are still there, but we can exclude SafAle^TM BE-256 because it is on the left hand-side of the graph. The NEIPA brewed with SafAle^TM BE-256 does not contain enough hop oils for us. The three yeasts selected can all fit with the NEIPA style; but which one is the best for you? How can you differentiate between them?

The right yeast for the right recipe

With what we see in the different markets across the globe and by talking to brewers, we know that NEIPA is evolving. In 2018, it was a point of difference to brew a NEIPA. Now, brewers want to brew a truly unique NEIPA to set them apart from the rest of the market. This is why, at Fermentis, we prefer to let you choose between three different yeasts depending of the final taste you’re after. Each strain strongly adheres to the NEIPA style, but differ based on their aromatic expression:

• SafAleTM S-33 is the most appropriate for a “classic” NEIPA. It mainly reveals aromas of mango and passion fruit with a high level of turbidity and a very high level of juiciness.

NEIPA Characteristics SafAleTM S-33, source: Fermentis

• SafAleTM S-04 is a good alternative if you’re looking for notes of stone fruits, such as peach or apricots. It expresses a very high level of turbidity and a medium level of juiciness.

NEIPA Characteristics SafAleTM S-04, source: Fermentis

• SafAleTM K-97 is more on the resinous side of hops, with piney notes but also slightly floral ones. It reveals a very high level of turbidity and a medium-high level of juiciness.

NEIPA Characteristics SafAleTM K-97, source: Fermentis

The future of NEIPA beer

NEIPA was definitely the trend of 2018, but how will it fare in the future? At Fermentis, we believe the trend is here to stay. Why? The first reason is that big organizations, such as theBeer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) and the American Brewers Association (ABA) have officially recognized New England IPA as a style – in category 21B of the BJCP and under the name Hazy/Juicy IPA for the ABA.

The second reason is because we’re looking at the trend on a global scale, not only in the US. In the states, the NEIPA market is really mature and a lot of consumers are starting to move on to new trends. This is not the case in the rest of the world. While brewers are all aware of the style, local consumers are not. In many places it’s still the latest thing, so consumers are still asking for this kind of product. Globally, we are still in the growth phase, which is why we still believe NEIPA has a bright future.

About the author

Hugo Picard