Most of us hop-heads that are deep in the Hazy IPAs game know ball and acknowledge that for the past few years a new revolution has been unfolding in front of our eyes. One that is saturated in hops and that is little known to folks outside our bubble.
The New England IPA style (a.k.a. Hazy IPA) has evolved quite rapidly in recent years, and some breweries are pushing the limits of this style. The quest is simple enough: explore how many hops can be crammed into an IPA while keeping it smooth and drinkable.
Troon Brewing is one of OGs of this revolution, calling their IPA/DIPA/TIPA just Hoppy Ale™️, but hop saturation has been there previously with breweries like Monkish (Los Angeles, CA) and Trillium (Boston, MA), among others. Nonetheless, I believe many breweries were inspired by Troon and have started pushing their limits too, ushering in a new era of hop-saturated liquids.
RaR: Hop Saturated Ale (HSA)
The HSAs coming out of Cambridge, MD are absolute fire!
These are some of the most notorious hop-saturated IPAs you’ll find in the beer market right now.
Shelton: Hopzy Ale
Shelton Brewing keeps on pushing the limits down south in Beaumont, TX with their signature “Hopzy Ale”s.
Freak Folk: Hi-Saturation DIPA
Based in the New England region, Freak Folk are known for their incredible core beers, including some of the best IPAs in the market. On top of that, their Shrunk Head series: Hi-Saturation DIPAs (green can in the pic) are all about exploration.
Lolev: Ultra Hopped Ale
This young brewery from Pittsburg, PA is one of the latest to join the hop-saturation quest, and it’s already making quite the noise in the beer community.
Photo 📸 by hoptopian — one of the best beertographers out there!
Azvex: Hyper Hopped Ale
It’s always great to see the UK making the list! The noble folks from Liverpool have joined the hop-saturation revolution and their beers are absolutely scandalous.
This series is quite recent, but after a few celebrated collaborations with RaR and DFB, don’t sleep on them!
More than just a name
The previous list only mentions breweries I know of that have adopted a clever nomenclature for their IPAs (did I miss any?), but Hazy IPAs are well represented with other breweries that don’t necessarily care about names, and here are some examples.
Brujos Brewing
Hailing from Portland, OR, they may not use fancy names for their beers, but Sam Zermeño (Brujos head-brewer) is certainly pushing the boundaries of the style, and their latest Sextuple IPA is quite the proof.
I haven’t had the chance of trying this, but it looks absolutely ridiculous!
Deep Fried Beers
This brewery from Athens, NY run by Johnny Osborne is known for their astronomical hop-saturation techniques.
Fidens Brewing
Fidens has a series of QDH (Quadruple Dry-Hopped) IPAs, and even their TDH and DDH series are as saturated as well.
Their signature Jasper with the QDH treatment? Yes, please!
Hop Saturation isn’t Hop Burn
While there’s some correlation between the two, do not confuse one with the other! Hop saturation is the technique of cramming as many hops as possible in a beer, which can in many cases result in hop burn, but the breweries listed above have demonstrated over and over again that hop saturation doesn’t necessarily have to mean that.
There are different levels of hop saturation, however. I certainly know mine and there’s a point where I stop enjoying my beer, but other beer friends would happily down that same beer and have a bigger smile than a house! And that’s the fun part of this, there’s a hop-saturated ale for everyone, you just need to find yours 😎
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Cheers.
