I have been spending a fair bit of time recently thinking a lot about hazy beer. Why is it becoming such a thing? What makes for a good one? Where did it come from?

My musings have resulted in a couple of outputs. One was a post I wrote recently offering my gentle criticism of how breweries are handling it, which you can read here.

The other was my CBC column in early July, which they just recently posted online. In the column I discuss the history of hazy beer, the technical aspects of brewing it and, most importantly, my misgivings about many of the hazy beer being produced these days.

I stand by my comments that many breweries are producing a muddy, silty mess. But I also argue there are some lovely examples being produced. In the lead up to that column I tweeted at people to offer their ideas for a hazy beer to try on-air. I got a dozen or more ideas and all could have been a good candidate for sampling with Adrienne Pan. In the end I chose Annex Ale Project’s Force Majeure, a New England IPA. My selection does not reflect on the quality of the other suggestions, just that I thought this version would highlight what I wanted to demonstrate to the listeners (as much as tasting beer on the radio can do that…).

I will continue to drink my share of hazy beer – I do sincerely like the style. But I fully intend on being rather finicky about which ones I choose.