Freaky Fresh! Hazy IPA

Name: Freaky Fresh! Strata Hazy IPA

Style: Hazy IPA

ABV: Less than 0.5% ABV 

Quantity: 4pack/16oz. cans

Description: Strata was by far one of our favorites from last year's fresh hop season. This year, we knew we needed to use it again during fresh hop season, but we wanted to mash things up with inspiration from our flagship Freak Flag. Our head brewer Aaron thinks some of the very slow tweaks to Freak Flag, and lessons learned, will lead to some improvements of the already amazing edition of last year. This year, albeit it a little crazy, we decided to mash hop the batch with pellets. He'd actually never even done that before. It’s not by any means a new technique, heavily practiced by bigger breweries like Firestone Walker and Stone of ages ago.

Aaron wanted a smidge of under current bitterness in a hazy but really didn’t want to overshadow this massive fresh hop steep. We ran with a somewhat typical Freak Flag mash profile that highlights Skagit Valley Malt, and we have been dabbling in a newer variety that highlights English heritage malt grown in WA soil. Even though a pilsner varietal is used, it got good support for body and fullness.

What else? Look--the term "hazy IPA" is used so much, we are sure it's in the the upper right-hand quadrant of Craft NA sales now, but done right they aren’t easy, and they should have a simple elegant beauty to them. This batch, considering it was mash hopped, steeped on 200#’s of hop flowers and dry hopped with some Strata pellets at our normal Freak Flag rate, makes this something special. It should however remain soft and balanced; water profile and malt usage were highly fussed over to achieve this. Aaron assures you we aren’t just auto-tuning our hazy and churning them out.

Enjoy, ALWAYS STORE COLD. DRINK THIS RIGHT NOW, ITS A DAMNED FRESH HOP! 

WARNING: similar to many juices, kombucha, and other beverages you'll find in the grocery store, this product has not been pasteurized, and therefore may contain harmful bacteria that can cause serious illness in children, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems.

PLEASE NOTE: like other beverage industries have been doing for centuries, we mitigate the potential for bacterial growth in other ways, rather than to pasteurize and destroy the nuanced flavors that make our beer stand out from many pasteurized non-alcoholic beer offerings, though we do acknowledge pasteurization is the most effective way to inhibit bacterial growth, or potential for refermentation in the can. Risk may be exacerbated by prolonged warm storage, so to mitigate risk, always cold-store Self Care immediately upon receipt, and avoid exposure to extreme heat.