What’s all this craic with New England IPA?

New Englands are the latest craze in IPAs. When true to style, they are hazy, juicy, creamy IPAs. Not too many on the Irish Craft beer scene yet so here’s a little education on what these styles are all about.

There are 4 main tick boxes in brewing a REAL New England IPA.

1. Vermont Yeast – This yeast is full of fruity esters (aromas) which can add as much fruity aromas as you get from heavily hopped beers.
2. Grain bill to consist of high protein grains such as wheat and oats. These grains add mouthfeel and creaminess to the beer and also contribute to the natural and desired haze of these IPAs.
3. Low bitterness. The hops aren’t added early in the boil to add bitterness like regular American IPAs but instead, whirlpool hop additions give just enough hop bitterness (IBUs) to balance the beer. Low bitterness makes the beer easier to drink as well!
4. Finally, massive and even multiple hop additions of juicy hops are added at the end of fermentation…this is dry hopping!

These are the styles of beers we see coming out of some of the top New World breweries in the USA and UK. We have read about and sampled a few of these styles so it was a no brainer that we Rascals gave this a fair lash ourselves.

After lots of trials of various hop combinations we finally decided on whirlpool and double dry hop additions of Citra, Mosaic, El Dorado and Hull Melon and created our very own FOGGY JUICE New England IPA. We are really excited about this beer and know that you will love it too! Hitting the bars in June!