Beer Forum

Hi all, lately I've been hearing a lot of negative opinions on the New England style IPA, calling them "yeast slugs", "lazy", "can't brew clean beers", etc. I've also heard that all the extra hop material left in the beer will lead to faster oxidation, changing the beer dramatically in a week. I've had some Trillium, HFS, Grimm and other New England Style IPA's and have liked them (not better nor worse than west coast imo). The ratings for New England beers have skyrocketed, it seems that no brewery over there can do wrong, rating wise, as long as their IPA's are unfiltered and dry hopped heavily with fruity hops. I am just wondering what everyone's opinion is on this huge difference in opinion between West Coast brewers and New England.

Living in New England, I can say that I am not a fan of the yeasty crap in many of the beers that are available in the area. I don't know what they are getting at with it, but I have never had a beer that I didn't think was better when it was clear.

Now if you are referring to the east coast beers being a bit more like english IPAs (a bit more caramel/crystal character and less dry), then I have no problem with that at all. I like both really dry and not so super dry beers.

To the point of high ratings for IPAs, does anyone really go wrong ratings wise? It seems like anyone that just puts a mountain of hops in their beer (regardless of the rest of the aspects of it) seems to get highly rated, or at least raved about.

Based on the line at Bissell Brothers this weekend for the Swish release, I'd say people like them.

I had Substance at Great Lost Bear and it's a great beer. Not yeasty at all, but no way see through. I figure some people don't want to drink them, there will be more for me

What I find ironic is that there are SF Bay Area Brewers making this exact same style, and they seem to be immune to this criticism. Cellarmaker in particular makes beers that are exactly the same way as many of the NE Brewers... Soft, juicy, big hop character without much hop bitterness.

TheDarkSide wrote:Based on the line at Bissell Brothers this weekend for the Swish release, I'd say people like them.

I had Substance at Great Lost Bear and it's a great beer. Not yeasty at all, but no way see through. I figure some people don't want to drink them, there will be more for me

. I've had beers from them that I liked and some that have had a terrible yeast bite. I had one Reciprocal that could have been a yeast starter. But who can argue with the sales.


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nodstonothing wrote:

TheDarkSide wrote:Based on the line at Bissell Brothers this weekend for the Swish release, I'd say people like them.

I had Substance at Great Lost Bear and it's a great beer. Not yeasty at all, but no way see through. I figure some people don't want to drink them, there will be more for me

. I had one Reciprocal that could have been a yeast starter.


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Sounds delicious!

New England IPAs are beers that are purposely hazy or cloudy, which can give these brews a smooth, creamy mouthfeel – a departure from the light/dry mouthfeel you often get with West Coast IPAs – with little to no hop bitterness at the end utilizing hops that impart a tropical, juicy sweetness rather than the classic bitter, dank or citrus-y flavors West Coast IPA lovers have come to expect.

Cacturne wrote:New England IPAs are beers that are purposely hazy or cloudy, which can give these brews a smooth, creamy mouthfeel – a departure from the light/dry mouthfeel you often get with West Coast IPAs – with little to no hop bitterness at the end utilizing hops that impart a tropical, juicy sweetness rather than the classic bitter, dank or citrus-y flavors West Coast IPA lovers have come to expect.

Sounds like my homebrew before I learned water chemistry and became more disciplined with my IPA technique.