While low carb beers are bigger than they’ve ever been, it’s still uncommon to see the styles range too far from the lager safe-zone. You’ll find a few zero% hazy IPA’s, but an actual low-carb-full-strength example is rarer.
Never idle for long, Auckland’s Bach Brewing have given it a crack with ‘Skinnay Ultra’ (not even looking it up), a proper hazy IPA at 5.3%abv, with 60% less carbs than an analogous example. The carb claims I will take at Bach’s word, but the 440ml can contains 161 calories, should anyone want to validate themselves.
So how does hazy IPA perform when put on a diet? Extremely well, in my opinion. The interesting combo of Superdelic, Peacherine, Azacca and Mosaic present a broad and tantalising spectrum of fruit that runs from peach to red berries and tutti frutti, even touching banana lolly on its way through. The body is (as anticipated) lighter and more nimble than typical hazy IPA, and the fresh, fruity hop character doesn’t feel like it’s wading across the palate through a swamp of sweetness and viscosity to reach the finish.
In creating this lite-hazy, Batch have (inadvertently or otherwise) have also ended up with a hazy-lite, wherein my jaded palate feels much more at home.
