Beer Forum

I've seen a few beers from the new england area that look like they have super haze, not just haze from a butt ton of hops or chill haze, the beer looks like orange juice. It seems to be a trend around here, anyone else seeing this?

Starch or yeast?

I don't think it's yeast, I had a can sitting in the beer fridge for a few weeks and still poured just as hazy. Starch is definitely possible.

Yeah, that seems to be the trend nowadays for some east coast breweries. Hill Farmstead, Alchemist, etc. The beers are definitely not clear at all. Taste great though!

Yes, I have seen many VT and NH beers that are hazy as hell. Some of them are yeast, plain and simple. You can taste the yeast bite in them when you drink them. I'm not sure what people are doing to keep that much haze in there, or why they think it is OK, but I am sure they would be better if they were cleared up.

There was one brewery around here that fined 1 keg of stuff and people thought it was a much nicer version of their beer.

The whole cloudy thing in "east coast beer" really drives me nuts.

I've only visited one New England brewers (603) and ironically the pale ale and IPAs were pretty hazy.

I can understand haze when its necessary. Like from wheat when its used to build body. Or a hefe when it is intentionally bringing a good flavor to the glass. I can understand it when its expected like from hoppiness in an IPA. But more and more often it seems to be due to a fault and then explained away as normal. If the cause of the haze is detracting from the quality, the explanation falls on deaf ears with me.

603 is one of my preferred NH brewers (I like the rye pale ale...the green can). I have noticed over time that their clarity has improved. The last can I had (yesterday) was pretty clear, similar to a sierra pale ale. Six months ago when I got one, it had a noticeable haze in it (I am not sure what kind of haze it was).