Where do you live? I see them seldom here, and even less when I travel.
It’s already infected southern CA. Just another thing for hipsters to cling to.
There is a local brewery i used to enjoy visiting but within the last 6 months 8-10 of there beers on tap have been NE IPA’s. IMO their not very good but ppl round here are going nuts aboot them.
I should say that I am talking about the best examples, mostly Treehouse but also trillium. I’m sure there are bad copycats but I also think some will get them right. Treehouse is getting much bigger in 2017 and I’m not sure what that translates to for distribution.
Its not a hipster thing where I live. People of all stripes are loving these beers here. Again, these might be better examples.
I mean, look at regular IPAs. Half of them at least are lousy.
I’ve not enjoyed the one NEIPA I’ve tried, but I’d try one again.
IMO, most APA’s don’t have enough malt flavor to be called an APA. Often seems like folks try to make them into “session” IPAs.
Those are the ones i always hear about.
Virtually unattainable for me.
It would be fun to do a truly blind taste test on the best NE IPAs and the best PNW IPAs. By blind I mean blindfolded.
I am willing to fall on this grenade if someone wants to send me some Heady Topper, et al. 8)
In SoCal, but saw plenty in Portland a couple of months back.
All of the ne ipas smell and taste like overripe fruit and body odor to me, not my cup of tea.
My unpopular opinion is that too many people reach a comfort level in brewing, stop learning, and think polite praise is a sign of quality. A lot of homebrew sucks. (Not that I go around saying that).
And I don’t like Amarillo and Mosaic.
A lot of homebrew does suck. Come on over, I’ve got some here for you! 
I totally agree about Mosaic. That is one hop I cannot stand.
My possibly unpopular belief is that this is total BS…Those darn runty yeasts
In fact, many of today’s hazy IPA brewers are trying to harvest the Heady yeast to propagate their own, hoping for similar results. What started as a hand-me-down culture from his mentor at Vermont Pub & Brewery, and, before that, an English brewer in the ‘90s, has become the progenitor of an entirely different strain of IPAs. And that’s not necessarily a good thing.
“They’re brewing with the runtiest of the runts that you might be able to culture out of the bottom of the can,” Kimmich says. “When you get to the bottom of the can, there’s a very fine layer on the bottom. Sure, there’s yeast in there—it’s unfiltered. But that yeast didn’t drop out over 3.5 weeks of conditioning. That’s what you do not want to brew with. That is far, far removed from the best, healthiest yeast. So when you culture that up to brew with it, of course, you’re going to have even hazier beers.”
And…El Dorado hops suck…
I haven’t seen any NE IPA’s up here near Seattle either, though I admit I’m not out looking for them. All that yeast is bound to cause some nasty beer farts.
5 gallons is just too much beer.
I once brewed 2.5 gallons thinking I could brew more often. The brew day was just as long and what a disappointment when I looked into that 1/2 full bucket at the end of the day…5 gallons is just right for me…
Same here. I do small batch hop trials but once I get the recipe I want, it’s 5 gallons.
I would think it would not save time to do a smaller batch if you simply did a half batch in the same system. I have to lug everything from my cellar and a shed to my yard to do a 5 gallon batch. The winter is the only time I get to brew regularly and I rarely have time on the weekend. During the winter I brew biab on the stove top. I can get home at 5:15 and be cleaned up by 9:00 with 2.5 gallons in the fermenter. My 5 gallon system takes 5-6 hours if you include hauling the equipment and completely putting it away. I don’t want to do 2.5 gallon batches but for now I can do them almost every week for a few months as opposed to being lucky to do it once a month. When I get a proper brewery set up I’m going to be a juggernaut.
As to NE IPAs I am lucky to have access to the better versions. Those are so good that I think more breweries will eventually figure out how to do them justice.
Agree with Pete on this one. Some breweries are reinventing themselves with the NEIPA style. Great Rhythm in Portsmouth made some pretty plain-Jane beers, but now are selling out on a regular basis and just built themselves a new facility.
Smaller batches do actually save up to about an hour on average – less time to get to a boil, less time to runoff, no need to make yeast starters in a lot of cases, yadda yadda. But I’ll agree, there are definitely some tradeoffs to consider with small batches. For me personally, I might have less beer at the end of the day, but overall my beer is fresher as it isn’t sitting on the shelf for (as many) YEARS before I drink it. Unlike most folks, I am not a heavy drinker at all, I drink maybe 2 beers per week on average, and contrary to popular belief, I really don’t have many friends to give it away to either (doh!). ;D
So why do I obsess over homebrewing if I’m such a putz, anyway? I’m really in love with the whole process, and the creativity of it. It’s really a creative outlet. Plus it satisfies my love for mathematics… in fact I almost majored in Math in college but my family told me to “be an engineer instead, they make more money and can find a job ANYWHERE”. Good advice, I wouldn’t change a thing. But I do love doing math more than just about anything. I’m sick, I know. I can teach you how to do square roots by hand the pseudo-long-division method sometime if you’re curious – ha!
You know, I wonder if the reason the good ones are good is because they are the only ones brewing them low oxygen style. I think most other breweries just think that they need to be fruity and cloudy. Just a theory…
I don’t understand how someone can love brewing and beer so much and only drink 2 beers a week. I try to limit myself to 2 pints a night.