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A category that has rocketed into popularity over the last couple of years, hazy beers are a style of which Kiwi beer lovers can’t seem to get enough, writes Denise Garland.
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ew Zealand beer drinkers are currently going crazy for hazy beers. The popularity of hazy IPAs has grown exponentially over the past couple of years, with it currently one of the most sought-after styles at both the on and off-premise alike. Hailing from the state of Vermont in the United States, the style – also known as a New England IPA or NEIPA – is primarily an unfiltered, hoppy IPA that has some hop and yeast matter left in the keg, bottle or can, giving the beers a cloudy, or even juicelike, appearance. Brewers add the majority of the hops very late in the brewing process and as dry hops in the fermenters, resulting in a juicy, sweet beer with lots of fruit character and minimal bitterness. It’s that punch of fruit flavour and the limited bitterness which has drinkers inundating bars, restaurants and off-licenses with requests for hazy IPAs.
Jason Bathgate, McLeod’s Brewer
30 THE SHOUT NZ – MAY 2021
Foodstuffs, which runs the New World supermarket chain, has seen huge growth in this style of beer, even within the past 12 months, and this year decided to include a hazy category in its annual Beer and Cider Awards for the first time. Of the 656 entries in the 2021 competition, 100 were entered in the hazy class – the second-largest category in the judging lineup, representing 15% of the whole field. Of the winners, which are announced this month, five hazies made it into the top 30, which will be sold in New World supermarkets across the country. Jason Bathgate, Brewer at McLeod’s in Waipu, grew up in Vermont and was familiar with the style before it was really even known about here in Aotearoa. McLeod’s is wellknown for its 802 series – named after the Vermont phone code – where they release a new hazy IPA each month, using different combinations of hops in each version. Bathgate says the aim is to produce a beer that’s clean and balanced with fruity hop aromatics and flavours, and also a soft mouthfeel. “And then just having a lot of fun with hops, because there’s just so many new hop varietals coming into the marketplace,” he says. “It is really exciting to try to see the combinations and different malt bills to bounce them off, and different yeasts.” While many hazy IPA examples use oats or
Denise Garland is a journalist with a love of all things beer. She has been writing about beer for a decade and was the winner of the 2019 Brewers Guild Beer Media Award. She has previously worked in hospitality in Christchurch, Wellington and Edinburgh. Denise home brews – though not as often as she’d like – and has been a judge in several home brew and commercial beer competitions.
