Crack open one of our cans of NEIPA (distinguishable by its striking, esoteric artwork by surrealist Valero Doval) and pour it gently into a glass. You’ll be struck first by the colour, pale mango, and its milky opacity. Then the aromas; a cloud of tangerine, citrus and mango.
This is a NEIPA; a style Jaega Wise, our head brewer, is very fond of brewing. It has its history in a beer called Heady Topper, from Vermont, which burst onto the scene and influenced a multitude of brewers to have a go. At the time the West Coast was dominant, known for having a piney and zesty aroma, with a bitter undertone - the NEIPA was its polar opposite.
This new beer style was pillowy soft, cloud-like, and most baffling of all to seasoned beer drinkers, so hazy on purpose it could be mistaken for juice. The use of hops in this beer was similarly outlandish. With a wealth of juicy, tropical hops to play with and a bigger the better mindset, the beers' aromas were more powerful than ever before.
Our NEIPAs are some of the popular beers we brew, and we are consistently asked what our next one will be. Jaega developed our permanent line NEIPA to meet a growing desire for a lower abv. NEIPA that wouldn’t break the bank, plus be a beer you can drink at the pub with your mates. This NEIPA is an absolute pleasure to drink and pint, yet still super punchy and unmistakably tropical.
So how do Jaega Wise and the Wild Card Brewery team brew this style? Like with any brew, you start with building an exceptional fit-for-purpose malt bill. Excess is the order of business for NEIPA and the malts are no exception. Loads of pale malt, oat malts. The latter is important - we use flaked oats for the creamy, yoghurt-y texture that is the backbone of a delicious NEIPA beer. In fact, if you bite into a flaked oat you can taste a gummy sweetness that contributes a fair amount to the finished beer's overall taste.
Equally, the yeast you pick is essential to crafting your dream NEIPA. New England yeast strains have low flocculation, PLUS the right yeast strain plays a vital role in producing those gorgeous fruity esters and enhancing the haziness.
We like to lovingly dry hop our permanent line NEIPA with a power hop combo of Citra and Simcoe. The aromatic powers of these hops are out-of-this-world, making the flavour profile of the finished beer dizzyingly tropical and filled with sunshine, peach blossoms and sticky citrus.
We headed to the brewhouse to chat more to Jaega about how she feels about the still significant influence of the NEIPA on an ever-evolving industry. Hazy IPAs were definitely not new in the world of brewing, she says, but the NEIPA seemed to take the trend and turn it up by a million. I knew I wanted my NEIPA to have the lush, juicy aromatics with just a tad more drinkability!’
Have you tried our NEIPA? It's usually pouring at our bars or you can grab a can here, from our webshop!