When bridging the gap between summer and fall beers, we’re looking for something that has the light, fruity, piney flavors we love about summer beers and the complexity and balance of autumnal beers. That’s why we love hazy IPAs. The juicy, hazy, tropical fruit flavor makes us realize that summer isn’t over while still preparing our palates for the more complex beers that cold weather brings.
For those new to the style, the hazy IPA (also known as the New England-style IPA) hasn’t been around forever. In fact, it’s as contemporary as beer styles come. It’s only been around for two decades and has only exploded in the last ten years. The first hazy IPA was crafted by John Kimmich the famed brewmaster at Vermont’s The Alchemist Brewery. It’s called Heady Topper and is still one of the most popular New England-style IPAs.
Even if you don’t live somewhere that gets full-blown seasons with leaves falling and such, you likely feel a little difference (especially at night) when autumn rolls around. These ten hazy IPAs are perfect for the fall days and nights ahead. Keep scrolling to see them all. As a bonus, we ranked them all on overall quality and seasonal appropriateness.
10. Firestone Walker Mind Haze
ABV: 6.2%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
With a name like Mind Haze, you’re not left wondering what kind of beer this is. Brewed with 2-row base malt, wheat, Munich malt, torrified wheat, blonde RoastOat, and oats, it gets its over-the-top hop aroma and flavor from the liberal use of Mandarina, Cascade, Azacca, El Dorado, Mosaic, Chinook, Cashmere, Callista, and Idaho 7 hops.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is a welcoming blend of tangerine, lemon peel, ripe berries, grapefruit, and dank pine.
Palate: The palate is a mix of candied orange peels, lemongrass, honeydew melon, ripe peaches, grapefruit, and just a hint of resinous, sticky pine needles.
Finish: The finish is dry, sweet, and has just a hint of citrus and pine to make you want to crack open another one.
Bottom Line:
The best thing about Firestone Walker (besides the juicy, hazy, well-balanced flavor) is the fact that you can find this banger almost anywhere beer is sold.
9. Sloop Juice Bomb
ABV: 6.5%
Average Price: $13 for a six-pack
The Beer:
The makers of Sloop Juice Bomb want you to know that this isn’t a New England-style IPA. This well-balanced, juicy, hazy beer made with a healthy malt backbone as well as flaked oats, flaked wheat, and a smattering of aromatic, flavorful hops is a “Northeastern IPA”.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a lot of citrus on this beer’s nose with tangerine, grapefruit, and lemon zest taking center stage. There’s also mango, guava, pineapple, and dank pine.
Palate: A decent caramel, bready malt backbone makes way for a mixture of mango, tangerine, caramelized pineapple, grapefruit, orange juice, and resinous pine needles.
Finish: It all ends with a crisp, sweet, tropical fruit-laden finish with very little hop bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This beer lives up to its name. It’s a hazy, sweet, tropical fruit-filled juice bomb you’ll go back to again and again.
8. Fair State Party Forward
ABV: 6%
Average Price: $11 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Fair State Party Forward is the type of beer you’ll want to bring to a…well, a party. This surprisingly crushable, 6% ABV hazy IPA is brewed simply with wheat, oats, and Citra hops. The result is a soft, tropical fruit-filled IPA that will make you want to get your party on.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Breathing in the nose, you’ll be greeted with aromas of pineapple, peaches, tangerine, grapefruit, fresh-cut grass, and dank pine needles.
Palate: The palate begins with a backbone of bready malts and weaves into tangerine, lemon, grapefruit, peach, pineapple, and herbal, earthy, piney hops.
Finish: The finish is dry, sweet, and lightly spicy. It leaves you craving more.
Bottom Line:
As hazy IPAs go, this is an interesting take on the style. It’s drier and spicier than some of the others on the market, but still fruity, juicy, and memorable.
7. Weldwerks Juicy Bits
ABV: 6.7%
Average Price: $18 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Colorado’s Weldwerks is well-known for its adventurous beers, especially its popular Juicy Bits hazy IPA. The brewery’s flagship IPA is brewed with high-protein malts as well as Mosaic, Citra, and El Dorado hops. It’s known for its soft, tropical fruit, and citrus-driven flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: A bold nose of mango, pineapple, cantaloupe, tangerine, lemongrass, and herbal, spicy hops makes for a very inviting start to this beer.
Palate: Sipping it reveals a soft, juicy beer with a ton of freshly squeezed orange juice, ripe pineapple, peach, honeydew melon, and spicy, dank, resinous pine.
Finish: The finish is filled with tropical fruit sweetness that’s tempered with gentle, piney hop bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This is a very well-balanced hazy IPA. It has all the fruity, sweet characteristics of the style, but has enough spicy, piney, hop bitterness to not be overwhelming.
6. Threes Logical Conclusion
ABV: 7%
Average Price: $18 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
If you’ve never tried Threes Brewing Logical Conclusion, what are you waiting for? The brewery’s flagship IPA is brewed with 2-row malts, American malted wheat, and American wheat flakes. It’s hopped with Mosaic, Citra, and Simcoe hops.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: On the nose, you’ll find notes of sweet wheat, ripe peaches, tangerine peel, caramelized pineapple, grapefruit, and dank pine.
Palate: Drinking it brings forth notes of candied orange peels, ripe peaches, pineapple, tangerine, and herbal, resinous, spicy pine needles.
Finish: The finish is dry, memorable, and filled with citrus peels and dank pine.
Bottom Line:
The heavy dose of wheat and mix of hops give this beer a soft, pillowy, juicy mouthfeel, and well-balanced aromas and hop flavors.
5. Solace Partly Cloudy
ABV: 7.5%
Average Price: $13 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Solace Brewing considers Partly Cloudy to be its juiciest IPA to date. And that sounds great to us. This double dry-hopped New England-style IPA gets its complex aromas and flavor profile from the use of El Dorado and Citra hops.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Complex aromas of bready malts, ripe pineapple, tangerine, grapefruit, mango, and resinous pine greet you before your first sip.
Palate: There’s more of the same on the palate in the best way possible. It’s sublimely juicy and hazy, There are notes of grapefruit, caramelized pineapple, bubblegum, tangerine, guava, and spicy, prickly pine.
Finish: The finish a sweet, dry, and surprisingly well-balanced.
Bottom Line:
If you’re looking for an epic juicy IPA that still manages to be balanced between sweetness and hop bitterness, this is the beer for you.
4. The Alchemist Heady Topper
ABV: 8%
Average Price: $18 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
As we mentioned earlier, The Alchemist Heady Topper is the OG hazy IPA. Today, it’s still one of the most popular, thanks to its balanced profile featuring British malts as well as Simcoe, Apollo, Centennial, Columbus, and Amarillo hops.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: A lot is going on with this beer’s nose. There are aromas of zesty grapefruit, apricot, guava, mango, lime peels, wet grass, and spicy pine needles.
Palate: On the palate, you’ll find notes of orchard fruits, lemon zest, peaches, pineapple, passion fruit, tangerine, and prickly piney hops.
Finish: The finish is a nice mix of citrus sweetness and sticky, prickly pine needles. It’s a very memorable finish.
Bottom Line:
This is the first New England-style IPA ever created. If you’re trying hazy IPAs, you have to start with this one.
3. Treehouse Julius
ABV: 6.8%
Average Price: $16 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Look at any list of highly-rated hazy IPAs and you’ll see a handful of Treehouse IPAs. If you’re going to try one, we suggest starting with its award-winning Treehouse Julius. This 6.8% ABV hazy IPA is well-known for its fresh-squeezed juice-like flavors including pineapple, orange, and mango.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This beer’s nose is exactly like you hope it would be. There’s a ton of mango, pineapple, peach, guava, tangerine, and lime. It’s zesty, and fruity, and draws you in.
Palate: This pillowy soft, juicy beer is filled with flavors like fresh squeezed orange juice, mango, caramelized pineapple, peach, and just a hint of prickly pine.
Finish: The last few sips are sweet, juicy, hoppy, with little bitterness. Overall, a very balanced beer.
Bottom Line:
There’s a reason Treehouse Julius is regarded as one of the best hazy IPA gateway beers. It’s juicy, sweet, hoppy, and perfectly balanced.
2. Toppling Goliath King Sue
ABV: 7.8%
Average Price: $19 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Adorned by a roaring dinosaur, this iconic brew is a double IPA that gets its hop aroma and flavor exclusively from the use of Citra hops. The result is an award-winning citrus-forward, juicy, complex IPA that you’ll go back to again and again.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Fragrant aromas of tangerine, lemon peel, fresh squeezed orange juice, mango, guava, passionfruit, and pine are prevalent on this beer’s nose.
Palate: Gritty texture, low carbonation, late chew as it leaves an oily coating behind despite drinking like water. Bready malts make way for grapefruit, fresh-squeezed orange juice, tangerine, mango, peach, guava, apricot, and dank pine.
Finish: The finish is citrus-filled, and sweet, and ends with a lightly bitter, stinging kick of piney hops.
Bottom Line:
Sweet, juicy, fruity, with a slightly prickly, piney finish, there’s a reason this well-balanced hazy IPA is one of the highest rated of all time.
1. Bissell Brothers The Substance
ABV: 6.6%
Average Price: $18 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
The Substance is Bissell Brother’s flagship IPA. It’s brewed with Crystal malt as well as Maine-grown 2-row malt, oats, and wheat. It’s loaded with hop aroma and flavor including Apollo, Centennial, Chinook, Falconer’s Flight, and Simcoe hops.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Elegant aromas of wet grass, pineapple, candied orange peel, mango, peach, and dank pine make for an inviting nose.
Palate: The palate is a symphony of tangerine, caramelized pineapple, lemongrass, mango, honeydew melon, guava, and lightly sticky, dank pine.
Finish: The finish is filled with fresh citrus juice, and sticky, dank, lightly bitter pine needles.
Bottom Line:
If you only try one hazy IPA, make it Bissell Brother’s The Substance. It might not have the same acclaim that some of the other hazies on this list have, but it absolutely should.
