All Day Haze - Founders Review
Summer is coming to a close, and our reviews of sessionable IPAs are closing with it. Founders’ All Day IPA series has made our summer beer adventures fun, but we’re not done yet, All Day Haze still awaits, glistening like a summer fruit sweating in the sun, and we hope it tastes just as refreshing.
Founders starts this sessionable hazy IPA off with 2-row, Red Wheat, Rolled Oats, and Simpson Crystal Light, and they round it out with Citra, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops. This gets packaged up and delivered to us with 4.9% ABV and 50 IBUs.
Strong and assertive, this hazy IPA, so let’s see how it compares to the other great sessionable beers we’ve sampled this summer.
First Impressions:
On the Eyes--Orange and hazy and topped with a cream-colored head that diminished quickly.
On the Nose--Orange and peach with a touch of pine. The Amarillo aroma is always so prominent and lively with orange notes and the Citra adds a fresh fruity touch. Then the old banger Simcoe comes in with that note of pine. All the hops have a voice making it a surprisingly complex and enticing aroma for a sessionable beer.
On the Palate--The orange/mandarin from the Amarillo is the strongest flavor to me, with a touch of tropical fruit coming from the Citra before the Simcoe brings the pine-floral one-two punch. It’s a little more bitter than a typical Hazy IPA, and I would even venture to say it leans a little more to the West Coast IPA, especially with the myrcene (floral) flavors coming from the Citra hops. It has a light body and little malt flavor, which I think makes the bitterness stand out more, but there are no complaints here. All Day Haze finishes dry and the higher IBU allows the hop bitterness to linger.
Food Pairings: Grilled meats or vegetables, roasted sweet corn with lots of butter, and good old hot dogs and hamburgers. It’s summer, baby, keep it fun!
Final Thoughts:
I’ll admit, I’m always a little cynical when approaching sessionable IPAs. I mean, why would I want something that tastes watered down when I can just grab the six-pack to the right or left and get the real thing. Luckily, Founders and their All Day IPA series has pushed those notions aside and left us with a light bodied, low ABV, and flavorful friend to spend a lifetime with.
This hazy is a little more bitter than a modern hazy, and it does lack some of the silky mouthfeel you may have come to expect from the really dense hazies. But that’s the point with this beer. It’s meant to be chugged under the sun or around the campfire, because who doesn’t want more than one? All Day Haze is light-bodied and smooth with a complex aroma, a strong citrus, pine, and floral flavor, and a low enough ABV to keep it fruity and sessionable. Beers like this make beer drinking light and fun.
Cheers!
Mr. Brew