Juicy IPA: the cloudy beer of New England
In Italy and abroad people are talking about them. Juicy IPA beers are on everyone’s lips, and mug, raising the curiosity on this aromatic cloudy beer.
Why are they so peculiar? This subcategory of Indian Pale Ale is characterised by a cloudy body, clearly visible but also perceptible in the mouth thanks to its full body and the full flavoured effect. The term Juicy has been chosen because of this visual aspect, highly cloudy that has become the main characteristic of these beers to recognize them at first sight.
It could be better to call them New England IPA or Vermont IPA from their place of origin, even if many people wonder why it has sense to talk about a new style and new types of IPA beers, when the distinctive features are not so highlighted.
Juicy IPA, characteristics and peculiarities
A good beer has to be clear and characterised by a visual cleanness; the research of the clarity is the worry of many brewers. In fact they are committed to it through the productive process, in the filtering or decant phase before the bottling with processes that aim to reduce the proteins in the must, partially responsible of the cloudiness.
Juicy IPA beers are pretty different from this type of beers, as they intentionally look for a strong cloudiness, responsible go give consistency, solidity and softness in the mouth. To look for this velvety effect, some producers use fruit’s pectin or lactose, that give a velvety effect but more often the main responsible are the yeasts and hop’s proteins.
The hop is used in great quantities and the result is a strong aroma with notes of tropical fruit and citrus; strong aromas above all in the hops coming from United Stated, Australia and New Zeland. These beers, besides the opalescence are in fact, easily recognizable for their tropical and citrus notes, the intensity of the hop, and the bitter flavour, never annoying.
The success of the Juicy IPA beers?
They was born and loved in New England and successfully drunk in United States, these beers raised the interest of Europeans as well and they arrived in Italy, where many microbreweries have been ready to deal with new productions, more hopped, more opalescent and highly aromatic.
Just to mention some of them, the microbrewery Toccalmatto in Fidenza (PR) made the Freak Out: spice, fruit and hop are pushed by a Double Ipa enriched by oat and lactose. Another producer, the brewery 50&50 in Varese that in the Juicy MF used American hopes to obtain a strong hopping and slight bitter notes, the addition of pink grapefruit is pleasantly perceivable in the nose and in the mouth. Many other breweries are experiencing these products and who knows if the Juicy IPA beers are just a trend or a style that will last for a long time.
