You don’t need us to tell you that hazy IPAs are the darling of beer, the twinkle in everyone’s eye, the bee’s knees, the cat’s pajamas, the dog’s bollocks, the cream of the crop, the crème de la crème, the bomb.
You get the idea.
And if New England-style / hazy IPAs are the best, then what does that make double/imperial versions?
And which ones are unequivocally the best of all time?
Let the debate rage!
But to give you some statistics-based idea (because, hey, we live in a metric-based ranking society), here’s a list of “Untappd’s All-Time Top-Rated Imperial New England-Style / Hazy IPAs.”
You’re going to see a lot of heavy hitters here, most from one brewery in particular that we bet you can name (it rhymes with “free mouse”)…
So again, let the debate rage!
Untappd’s All-Time Top-Rated Imperial New England-Style / Hazy IPAs
Editor’s Note: These are not Hop Culture’s personal ratings. This list is based on Untappd’s ratings on the All-Time Top-Rated Imperial / Double New England / Hazy IPA. The list shows the top beers based on Untappd’s weighted average formula, which effectively rates all beers against each other. A beer must have 150 ratings or more to qualify for this list. For more information on our rating system, please view the Untappd ratings explainer.
We’re simply reporting on Untappd’s list based on statistics from check-ins from people all around the world.
Additionally, for this piece, we have removed beers that are no longer in production.
Very HHHazyyy | Tree House Brewing Company
Charlton, MA
We are shocked, startled, aghast, blown away, and all the synonyms to see Tree House capture the number one spot on this list…said no one ever!
Spoiler alert: Sixty percent of the beers in this ranking come from the hoppy ale GOAT, including three in the top five.
And we totally get it. With over 20k ratings, Very HHHazyyy has maintained an astounding 4.6 average score. That’s almost unheard of.
Tree House calls Very HHHazyyy one of its most flavorful imperial IPAs that “remains effortless to drink,” writes the brewery in the beer’s Untappd description. “It tastes like overripe peach nectar, pulpy orange juice, and the most delicious fruit cocktail ever. It is all we could ever hope for, and it tastes even better than we imagined that it could. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.”
Tree House has planted roots with beers that crush your tastebuds with hops, yet drink with a trademark pillowy elegance that confounds and perplexes.
Sometimes, it’s best to stop trying to decode the puzzle and just sit back and sip on one of the all-time greatest imperial hazies you’ve ever tasted.
Trust us on this one.
Very GGGreennn – Tree House Brewing Company
Charlton, MA
To its credit, Tree House admits that for the longest time, they couldn’t imagine actually improving Green or Very Green. But if night follows day, we know that time will come eventually.
Very GGGreennn actually shares the first spot on this list with Very HHHazyyy, with almost 29K ratings and a 4.6 average ranking.
A beer brewed initially for Tree House’s eighth anniversary, Very GGGreennn “gave us a truly memorable beer that has its own swagger and individuality,” writes Tree House in the beer’s Untappd description. “This is a beer that reflects upon the past and energizes us for the future – Juice of the highest order!”
Emperor Julius – Tree House Brewing Company
Charlton, MA
Funnily enough, Tree House stacks Emperor Julius up there on its favorites list alongside Very HHHazyyy. The same holds true here.
Rounding out the top three on Untappd’s all-time ranking, Emperor Julius triumphs with notes of orange Starburst, candied orange, and creamsicle while still maintaining that all-important balance of softness.
According to Tree House, this beer is “the summation of almost fifteen years of refinement of our unique style of hoppy beer!”
DDH Ghost in the Machine – Parish Brewing Co.
Broussard, LA
Parish has been dropping diamonds all year, riffing off its revered Ghost in the Machine with a host of collabs to celebrate the beer’s ten-year anniversary. The year-long party has included beers like the MC^Ghost (w. Equilibrium), Ripe in the Machine (w. Great Notion), Baby Ghost, and more.
But we’ll admit, we’re a sucker for a vintage. DDH Ghost in the Machine is scary good. In the kind of way a scary movie like Scream has become a cult classic. You can’t help but watch it over and over again.
Based on the OG Ghost in the Machine recipe, DDH Ghost in the Machine doubles the hops used, equaling a dry-hop rate of over eight pounds of Citra per barrel.
At 8% ABV and with that massive mound of hops, DDH Ghost in the Machine “will dominate your senses,” according to Parish.
Certainly blew our minds (and taste buds).
TDH More Citra Than All Citra – Other Half Brewing Co.
Brooklyn, NY
You probably could have guessed that a couple of Other Half beers would end up on Untappd’s list of the top-rated double hazies, but could you have guessed precisely which ones?
TDH More Citra Than All Citra deservedly slips into the top five because Other Half earned a Ph.D. in Citra to make this one.
“More Citra Than All Citra has always been about pushing the limits of Citra, and this triple dry hopped version takes it way beyond,” writes Other Half in the beer’s Untappd description.
Hopped with hand-selected, Yakima-grown Citra, this imperial New England-style IPA is all about one thing and one thing only: Citra, Citra, and more Citra.
DDDoublegangerrr – Tree House Brewing Company
Charlton, MA
A doped-up declaration on the original Doppelganger, Tree House’s series of beers with a King Julius base that are dry-hopped with Mosaic and Amarillo, DDDoublegangerrr goes to the lip of the cliff and jumps.
A mind-bending amount of hops pairs with some high-tech hop products to drive this beer to push sky-high limits.
However, Tree House assures that while DDDoublegangerrr is aggressive, it still maintains that trademark “drinkability you have come to love from our beer,” writes the brewery in the beer’s Untappd description. “It pours a glowing orange color into the glass and features a bouquet of tropical fruit, fresh citrus, and stone fruit.”
TDH Double Citra Daydream – Other Half Brewing Co.
Brooklyn, NY
Other Half describes TDH Double Citra Daydream as a triple dry-hopped version of its favorite oat cream IPA.
The 8.5% imperial hazy nets 4,245 ratings on Untappd with an incredible 4.45 average score to match.
Probably because this beer, despite being triple dry hopped, still mysteriously drinks like an orange creamsicle.
Very Green 10th Anniversary – Tree House Brewing Company
Charlton, MA
Ten-year anniversaries are nothing to sneeze at. If a beer makes it a decade in this industry, that is something to celebrate for the next ten years.
And celebrate Tree House did when its iconic Very Green turned ten in May of this year.
Very Green 10th Anniversary benefits from hundreds of batches of beer, mashing together everything the Tree House team has learned from its travels around the world, constant experiments, and tireless efforts.
“[We’ve] dedicated our working lives to making it a beer we love to drink,” writes Tree House in the beer’s Untappd description. “It would be impossible to overstate its importance to Tree House.”
This significant version included Galaxy, sourced exclusively from Tasmania, and Citra from Oregon.
“This Citra is particularly juicy and serves to amplify the core hop blend of Very Green further,” writes Tree House. “Finally, a very small splash of Motueka rounds out the sweet lemon-lime note that makes Very Green.
Very Green = Very Good…even ten years later.
Juice Machine 10th Anniversary – Tree House Brewing Company
Charlton, MA
Another beer celebrating its tenth anniversary, Juice Machine 10th Anniversary lands at number nine on this list with 2,362 ratings in just two months (since dropping in mid-April) and a 4.51 rating.
This celebratory version includes “our best Peacharine selections from the 2024 New Zealand crop,” writes Tree House in the beer’s Untappd description.
Probably explains why this beer has accrued so many high marks in such a short amount of time while still paying homage to a timeless beer.
Foggier Window – Monkish Brewing Co.
Torrance, CA
Incredibly, a brewery that isn’t Other Half or Tree House landed in the final, tenth spot on this list! Monkish’s Foggier Window hits a 4.45 average rating from 18,611 check-ins.
A double dry-hopped IPA with Citra, Galaxy, and Nelson, Foggier Window impresses with its tropical turbidity.
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