Even in New England, brewers of what’s become known as “New England–style IPA” have to deal with a lot of misconceptions about their beer. These soft juicy beers surprise drinkers with attributes such as haze and creaminess that aren’t typically associated with IPA—negative connotations and cheap rhymes about laziness ensue.
Great Notion Brewing in Portland, Oregon, has experienced more than their fair share of naysayers, in large part because their IPAs are drastically different from the clear, sometimes malty, and usually aggressively bitter India pale ales for which the region is known. Co-founder and Co-brewer Andy Miller says that in the brewery’s early days, customers would give back pints and accounts would return kegs because they weren’t used to seeing haze in their beers. One customer was so audacious as to tell him that he would never make it in such a competitive beer town as Portland.
Miller was a homebrew hobbyist before going pro, and his lack of professional brewing experience didn’t help with the misunderstandings Great Notion customers had with his IPA.