Our list of the best NEIPAs goes like this.

Brand: Garage Project
Release: Fresh IPA
ABV: 7%
Region: New Zealand
Price: AUD$49.99 – 4-Pack

Brand: Capital Brewing Co.
Release: Hang Loose Juice NEIPA
ABV: 6%
Region: ACT
Price: AUD$24.99 – 4-Pack

Brand: Hop Nation
Release: J Juice NEIPA
ABV: 7.1%
Region: Victoria
Price: $27.99 – 4-Pack

Brand: Sierra Nevada
Release: Hazy Little Thing IPA
ABV: 6.7%
Region: USA
Price: $29.99 – 6-Pack

Brand: Willie The Boatman
Release: Wet Willie Fresh Harvest Wet Hop NEIPA
ABV: 6.4%
Region: NSW
Price: $29.99 – 4-Pack

Brand: New Belgium
Release: Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze IPA
ABV: 7.5%
Region: Colorado, USA
Price: $29.99 – 4-Pack

Brand: Dainton Beer
Release: Apocalypso III Post Apocalyptic Zombie Tiki
ABV: 7.5%
Region: Victoria
Price: $31.99 – 4-Pack

Brand: Mountain Culture Beer Co.
Release: Cult IPA
ABV: 7.5%
Region: New South Wales
Price: $24.00 – 4-Pack

Brand: All Inn Brewing Co.
Release: Hazy IPA
ABV: 6.2%
Region: Queensland
Price: $25.50 – 4-Pack

With more than 10 years of experience reviewing beer, wine and spirits, Man of Many’s team of editors has selected a list of the best New England IPAs. Additionally, author Christopher Osburn has more than 15 years of experience writing about alcohol and lifestyle topics across the globe. As our resident drinks expert, Chris is the perfect person to unpack these fruity flavours.

While it seems like the hazy, cloudy, tropical fruit and citrus-filled IPA has been around for decades, it was actually invented in 2004 by John Kimmich, brewer at the highly acclaimed Vermont brewery The Alchemist. This was when he crafted a classic IPA he called Heady Topper, but didn’t pasteurize or filter it, thus creating a cloudy, murky, creamier version of the popular beer style.

The simplest explanation is that a NEIPA tastes like freshly squeezed fruit juice. Yes, that’s right. While the flavour and mouthfeel can vary depending on the hops and other ingredients included, this IPA style is known for its cloudy appearance, juicy palate filled with flavours like mango, guava, pineapple, tangerine, lime, passionfruit, and other tropical flavours. It’s also well-known for being a respite from overly bitter IPAs because, due to ingredients like flaked oats, lactose, and the hops included (and when they’re added), it’s not bitter at all (or at worst barely bitter).

Even though it carries the India Pale Ale name, brewing a NEIPA is different from classic West Coast IPAs (and other IPAs). They’re brewed with a grain base (pale malts are a popular choice) and ingredients like flaked wheat, oats, lactose, and various other ingredients. Part of the appeal of New England IPAs is the use of hops. Instead of simply adding a massive amount of hops during the kettle boil like with a traditional IPA, the hazy, juicy variety gets its flavour from adding more hops after the wort is boiled, during the secondary fermentation in a process known as dry-hopping. This adds the tropical and citrus flavours from the hops without adding any extra bitterness to the beer.

If you follow the timeline of this beer, you can see that it clearly began in New England (hence the name). Kimmich’s iconic beer at The Alchemist was the first, but it was followed closely behind by the likes of Trillium and Treehouse (breweries still carrying the hazy beer mantle to this day). So, to get back to the question, New England IPAs and hazy IPAs are ostensibly the same thing as there would be no hazy IPAs if not for the initial beers crafted in New England.