Beyond the Haze: In Search of the Best OG IPAs

Maybe you tried Dry January and succeeded, or perhaps you didn’t fully but just kept your beer consumption in check coming out of the New Year. Either way, it’s time to ease back into the craft beer game now that it’s February. A fun way to do so is to kick it old school, yo! Get nostalgic and go back to your beer-drinking roots with some OG IPAs. OG- this means original beers that you were enjoying 15, 20 years ago. Instead of those 800-calorie, 16-ounce juice bombs, I’m talking twelve-ounce beers such as Stone’s IPA, Ballast Point’s Sculpin IPA, and Smuttynose’s Finestkind. Let’s go beyond the haze and in search of the best OG IPAs. 

The craft beer scene has changed, and drastically so. 2024 marked the first year that more craft breweries closed than opened since the beer boom. Younger drinkers are opting for seltzers and canned cocktails. Alcohol manufacturers are taking a hit from the burgeoning cannabis industry. And many of your once favorite craft breweries are merging or being eaten up by the big guys. Additionally, as the years roll on, not only does the median age of craft beer drinkers increase, but so do their waistlines. This means lower-calorie options may become appealing.

Much has changed since the heady days of the craft beer industry. Even looking at a blind IPA taste test that we at Backyard Road Trips conducted seven years ago shows how the landscape has changed. Peeking into your grocer’s cooler or at the shelves of your neighborhood liquor store, you’ll see a whole lotta local. Of course, supporting local is a wonderful thing, but much of what has been squeezed off the shelves are these OG IPAs, and many of the local libations are variations of the same thing: the juicy New England-style IPA.  

Beyond the Haze

After years of juicy and unfiltered, many of my craft beer-drinking friends are looking to go beyond the haze and back to the single IPAs of yesteryear that introduced them to the craft beer scene. They are heading away from a thick, pureed OJ-looking beer toward the hoppy, clean taste of an OG IPA. After much discussion, a few friends and I channeled our inner Doc Brown and decided to turn back the clock and conduct a taste test in search of the best OG IPAs. We rounded up whatever OG IPAs we could find on the shelves of stores on the South Shore of Massachusetts. For this endeavor, we were looking for classic IPAs and ones that are readily available coast to coast. For example, as much as I love my local brewery, Mayflower, we didn’t include it since their product could only be found regionally, especially during the company’s early years. 

The OG IPA rodeo round-up

The list we came up with included: Ballast Point, Stone, Bear Republic, Flying Dog, Dogfish Head, Cigar City, Harpoon, Lagunitas, Bell’s, and Smuttynose. We wanted the beers to have been in production for at least 15 years and they had to be widely available (at least once upon a time) and at 7% ABV or under, no doubles! We also thought of others such as Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale or Troegs Nugget Nectar, but these all had to be IPAs, not pale or amber ales such as in these cases.

The small group of us scoured the shelves of our local packies to see what we could find. We nixed Jai Lai by Cigar City since the ABV was too high, the same with Bear Republic’s Racer 5 and we couldn’t find it anyway. One of us located Flying Dog, but at 8.3% ABV, it wasn’t to be included in this exercise. Along the way though, Sierra Nevada’s Celebration IPA and Deschutes’ Fresh Hop joined the crowd.

Let’s talk beer

As a lead-in to the taste test, I interviewed each guest in our crew regarding their particular beer palate; what is their favorite beer, and which of the candidates they think they will enjoy the most. Their answers varied. One chose Maine Beer Company’s Lunch as his favorite beer and also mentioned MBC’s Dinner and the Alchemist’s IPAs as his other top choices. In describing his perfect beverage, the adjectives he used were “crisp, clean, and hoppy”, and thought that Ballast Point would be the winner. Another described Troegs Perpetual IPA as his go-to beer but said his choice ultimately varies with the season and the beer-drinking environment. He wasn’t sure what would come out on top. Yet another put Mayflower’s New World IPA as his favorite of all time and thought that Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA would be his fave. Finally, another taster stepped away from the IPA game and said that Great Lakes Brewing Dortmunder Gold lager is his favorite, citing that he craves a beer that is, “smooth and easy drinking.” He conjectured that Bell’s would be his favorite. 

Starting to Sample

Once all of the OG IPAs were procured, we met at my house to blindly sample. Six ounce pours of each beer were tasted. We then ranked the beers without knowing which was which. Many of us commented on how good all of these beers are and what a change they are from the juice bombs. All beers were enjoyed, with a few of the top-rated beers being Smuttynose’s Finestkind, Ballast Point’s Sculpin, Stone’s IPA, Deschutes’ Fresh Hop, and Sierra Nevada’s Celebration. We bet the remaining three beers from each six-pack in a game of Left Right Center with yours truly winning the booty. I now have enough beer for the remaining months of 2025.  Based on the results, our collective palates have gone beyond the haze, as we searched for the best OG IPAs. Depending on the brand, some of the IPAs were hoppier, others maltier but all were appreciated and triggered a sense of nostalgia. A sense of nostalgia not only for the past but for a simpler time of drinking good beer with friends. 

A Personalized Experience

The beers also evoked a sense of personalized nostalgia. They were among the first craft beers that many of us were introduced to many moons ago  With a stroll into the past, the memories came flooding back. Nostalgia doesn’t mean a thing when it comes to beer though if it lacks taste, as I don’t feel too sentimental for Natty Ice. But all in all, beers like Stone, Ballast Point, and Harpoon all bring back fond memories. Whether it was a visit to breweries in San Diego or purchasing my first Harpoon six-pack at Shaw’s grocery store in Copley Square, these beers are tied to personal memories. For others in the group, Smuttynose was the beer that evoked fond memories, and Bell’s for others. I recall that my early favorite craft beers were found in mixed winter twelve packs of Long Trail and Sam Adams. With retro back in vogue, whether it is a throwback jersey or an OG IPA, both these classics stand the test of time. 

With the craft beer industry, such as with life, one never knows what lies ahead. Will the general public want to look beyond the haze, with these OG IPAs retaking the shelf space of our local stores? For this beer drinker, I know that whenever I find any of these beers I’ll be satisfied. This taste test is a good reminder of why these were so enjoyable in the first place. When it comes to beer, I like variety but instead of always clamoring for something new, sometimes a tried and true OG like these is the perfect choice. Cheers! 

What beers bring you back to an earlier time? Are there any that you have nostalgia for?  Comment below!