The word “IPA” has been known to conjure up some negative images for drinkers who dislike the style. They imagine face-puckering, aggressively bitter, piney monstrosities they’d like to avoid at all costs. But while there’s a market for the dankest of dank, resinous, hop bombs that make you feel like you’ve fallen headfirst into a Christmas tree farm, there’s more to the IPA than the West Coast style.
Specifically, New England-style IPAs with their juicy, tropical fruit, and barely any bitterness.
For those unaware, the New England-style IPA is all about hop aroma and flavor without the expected bitterness. The hops (and other ingredients) used (as well as dry-hopping) give the beer a hazy, cloudy appearance and aromas and flavors like caramelized pineapple, guava, mango, ripe peach, tangerine, and other citrus flavors. It’s known to be juicy, flavorful, and much lower in bitterness than its IPA counterparts.
The best part? Many exceptional, highly-rated New England-style IPAs are available at most grocery stores and beer stores. To help you on your hazy IPA journey, we picked eight of the best and ranked them below.
8.) Lagunitas Hazy Wonder
ABV: 6%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
With a name like Hazy Wonder, you better believe this is a juicy, hazy New England-style banger. It’s brewed with more hops than seems humanly possible. This includes Comet, Citra, Cashmere, Centennial, Chinook, Sabro, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops. To say this beer is loaded with hop aroma and flavor is an absolute understatement.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of ripe pineapple, guava, mango, passionfruit, and citrus peels. The palate has the same caramelized pineapple, mango, guava, and other tropic flavors but there are also hints of grapefruit, lemon, tangerine, grass, and light pine. The finish is sweet, fruit, and lightly bitter.
Bottom Line:
If you enjoy hazy IPAs, but can’t make up your mind about what hops you prefer. This is your beer. It pretty much has all of them.
7.) New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze
ABV: 7.5%
Average Price: $12 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Brewed with American hefeweizen yeast as well as pale malt, C-80 malts, wheat, and oats, it gets its hop aroma and flavor from the liberal use of Nugget, Simcoe, Centennial, Cascade, and Citra hops. The result is a hazy, juicy beer known for its flavors of tropical fruits and zesty citrus peels.
Tasting Notes:
Before your first sip, you’ll be met with notes of grapefruit, pineapple, guava, mango, and tangerine. The palate is a mix of passionfruit, mango, pineapple, tangerine, lime, and just a hint of resinous pine. The finish is a nice mix of tropical fruits and spicy hops. There’s a gentle bitterness at the very end.
Bottom Line:
New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze is exactly as the name would make it appear. It’s a classic, juicy, tropical fruit-filled New England-style IPA.
6.) Dogfish Head Hazy Squall
ABV: 6.5%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Normally, you’d want to avoid a squall. But not when it’s a hazy squall from Dogfish Head. As is the tradition at the Delaware-based brewery, this beer is continuously hopped with Cascade hops before being dry-hopped with a secret blend of hops. The result is a pineapple, tangerine, tropical fruit, and hop-filled explosion with little to no bitterness.
Tasting Notes:
Big aromas of lime peels, tangerine, mandarin, grapefruit, mango, pineapple, and ripe peach greet you before your first taste. Drinking it reveals notes of caramelized pineapple, ripe oranges, lemons, grapefruit, mango, passionfruit, and just a hint of hoppy, piney bitterness. It’s tempered perfectly by the overall sweetness.
Bottom Line:
As hazy IPAs go, this stormy squall is all about the citrus and tropical fruit flavors. It has very little bitterness and that’s a good thing.
5.) Oskar Blues Hazy Blues
ABV: 7%
Average Price: $12 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Oskar Blues is a big name in the American beer world with such hits as Dale’s Pale Ale and Mama’s Little Yella Pils. Back in 2022, it launched a New England-style IPA called Hazy Blues. This readily available, year-round offering is dry-hopped with Strata, Galaxy, and Citra hops. The result is a beer bursting at the seams with tropical fruit aromas and flavors.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a mix of ripe berries, pineapple, tangerine, apricot, passionfruit, oats, pine needles, and mango. The palate is swirling with notes of candied orange peels, lime, honeydew melon, strawberry, mango, peach, pineapple, caramel malts, and grassy, lightly piney hops. The finish is sweet, and fruity, and has just a hint of hop bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This is another hit from Colorado’s Oskar Blues. It’s a classic, balanced hazy IPA for true fans of the style.
4.) Rogue Batsquatch
ABV: 6.5%
Average Price: $12 for a six-pack
The Beer:
We’re not sure what a “batsquatch” is. We can only assume it’s some mythical creature that’s half bat and half sasquatch. Either way, it has a beer made in its name featuring 2-row base malt, malted wheat, oat, and flaked wheat as well as imperial juice yeast, Mosaic, El Dorado, and Belma hops.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of strawberries, raspberries, tangerines, peaches, limes, honeydew melons, pineapple, caramel malts, mango, and pine needles are prevalent on the nose. Sipping it brings forth notes of grapefruit, pineapple, bready malts, apricots, raspberries, tangerines, and pine needles. The finish is sweet, juicy, and memorable.
Bottom Line:
While some hazy IPAs lean into one type of fruit, Batsquatch seems to have it all. Tropical fruits, citrus, melons, and even ripe berries.
3.) Sixpoint Stooper
ABV: 6.4%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Sixpoint describes this New England-style IPA as an after-shift beer that is best enjoyed on an airy stoop. Known for its cloudy, hazy, creamy mouthfeel, it’s brewed with Galaxy and Citra hops. This results in an IPA loaded with tropical fruit, citrus, and bright pine flavors and aromas.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of bready malts, tangerines, grapefruit, pineapple, nectarine, mango, guava, honeydew melon, and light pine needles. There’s more of the same on the palate with a nice caramel malt backbone and juicy apricot, pineapple, grapefruit, mandarin orange, mango, and grassy, piney hops. The finish is a nice mix of juicy fruit and light, piney bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This is a sweet, hazy, juicy, crushable beer that is aptly named as it’s a great choice after a long day of work.
2.) Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing
ABV: 6.7%
Average Price: $12 for a six-pack
The Beer:
When it comes to grocery store New England-style IPAs, there are few as well-known as Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing. It’s cloudy, borderline unfiltered, fruity, and lightly bitterly hopped. It gets these aromas, flavors, and attributes because it’s brewed with ale yeast, Munich malt, two-row pale malt, oats, and wheat. It’s “aggressively” dry-hopped with El Dorado, Citra, Mosaic, Magnum, and Simcoe hops.
Tasting Notes:
A lot is going on with this beer’s nose. Ripe pineapple, grapefruit, peach, tangerine, caramel malt, passionfruit, berries, and pine are very noticeable. Drinking it reveals notes of peach, passionfruit, caramelized pineapple, bready malts, grapefruit, tangerine, mango, melons, and gently bitter hops. There’s a nice mix of astringency, fruit, and hop bitterness at the finish.
Bottom Line:
There’s something for every palate with this beer. Juicy fruit, astringency, and hop bitterness. It has it all.
1.) Firestone Walker Mind Haze
ABV: 6.2%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Firestone Walker’s Mind Haze is so popular that it spawned a handful of offshoots. Still, there’s no beating the original. It’s brewed with two-row malt, Munich malt, wheat, torrified wheat, Blonde RoastOat malt, and oats. It’s hopped with Mandarina, Cascade, Azacca, El Dorado, Mosaic, Chinook, Cashmere, Callista, and Idaho 7 hops.
Tasting Notes:
Gentle aromas of tangerine, grapefruit, mango, peach, lemongrass, berries, passionfruit, pineapple, and pine start everything off on the right foot. The palate is loaded with caramel malts, juicy pineapple, grapefruit, apricot, passionfruit, guava, mango, orange peels, lemon, lime, grass, and pine needles. The finish is prickly, gently bitter, and filled with tropical fruit sweetness.
Bottom Line:
If you only purchase one grocery store New England-style IPA, make it Firestone Walker Mind Haze. It’s balanced, flavorful, and exceptionally drinkable any time of year.
