On a clear day at the Deschutes Brewery Public House in Portland, Ore., you can see for miles. But these days, the brewery is more excited about the haze. Fresh Haze, to be exact.
A Fresh Start
For close to 10 years, craft beer drinkers have been fanatical for Deschutes’ flagship Fresh Squeezed IPA. The runaway success of Fresh Squeeze showed the innovation team at Deschutes that there was demand in the craft beer market for more citrus-forward, hazy IPAs. Now, Deschutes is leveraging that continued popularity into a new “Fresh Family” of beers, according to the company, of which Fresh Haze Hazy IPA will be the next addition.
To develop the new hazy IPA, Brewmaster Veronica Vega and her team used Deschutes’ pilot brewery and brew houses in Bend and Portland to work through a bushel of hop flavor profiles to find just the right mix for their new release.
“The pubs had some fun puzzling through the unique brewing processes involved in a hazy brew, while watching the fans drink the beer so fast it was hard to keep on tap,” said Vega. “The pilot brewery then refined the recipe and experimented with several hop blends while we worked through the specifics of scaling. We tend to overthink things for sure, due to a desire to exceed the expectations of our fans.”
A Clear Winner
The resulting beer, Fresh Haze Hazy IPA, combines the juicy citrus and rich sweetness of its ancestor, Fresh Squeezed IPA, and is hopped with generous amounts of Mandarina, Amarillo and Simcoe hops for a rush of orange and tangerine flavors. A carefully curated selection of malts and grains, such as malted wheat, unmalted wheat, and flaked barley that contain haze promoting proteins, deliver the beer’s namesake haze. Taken together, with a little help from particular brewing salts, these factors combine to create a smooth, full-bodied mouthfeel which complements the flavor of Fresh Haze IPA.
Starting this fall, Fresh Haze IPA will be available to businesses and consumers as a year-round offering. Talk to your Breakthru Sales Consultant about adding this innovation to your selection, or making it a permanent addition to your craft beer menu.