Beer Matters
Return of the West Coast IPA BY JAMIE DOOM OVER A DECADE AGO one of the biggest trends in craft beer history began taking shape in Vermont. Alchemist first and then Hill Farmstead later began making these flavor-forward, silky smooth New England-style or hazy IPAs. Other great Vermont breweries, like Lawson’s Finest Liquids and Fiddlehead Brewing, began experimenting with this style. These breweries gained a cult following, and avid beer geeks began making a pilgrimage to these small towns in Vermont to try these beers and often mule that beer to their 28 | SAND& PINE MAGAZINE April/May 2022
homes and local breweries all over the United States. Fast forward to five or six years ago when almost every craft brewery in America began making their own versions of these dense, thick, flocculate-rich IPAs. The craft drinking public was hooked. People who had forgone IPAs previously because of their bitter, often palatecrushing bite suddenly had something much more easier and smooth. The hazy IPA craze continued to spread like wildfire across the country and today almost every
brewery you visit have some form of this delicious/accessible IPA on the wall. Today, the hazy IPA is king no matter where you go. However, the craft beer drinking public is as nostalgic as it is fickle, so in reaction to this Hazy Boi craze we are once again seeing a correction and a market for my favorite style of beer, the West Coast IPA. Craft beer in the United States really began taking off way back in 2010 because of the West Coast IPA. West
