They Call It Mellow Yellow: What's all the fuss with yellow craft beer?

There’s something really inviting about a freshly poured yellow, hazy craft beer. Maybe it’s the warm glow as it catches the light, or the promise of some solid refreshment on a hot summer's day. Whatever it is, yellow beers have enjoyed quite the growth in popularity, and we are here for it. You'll find a few of these modern classics in our line up too.

Want to find out more about these beers? Dive in.

Yellow beers have actually been part of the brewing world for many, many years (centuries actually!), but in recent years, they’ve grown in popularity along with craft beer in general. There’s a joyful simplicity to their appearance, with that yellow, bright, golden, sometimes hazy style making them as easy on the eye as they are on the taste buds. They just look juicy, delicious and refreshing.

For craft beer lovers these yellow beers strike the perfect balance between easy drinking and bold, full flavours. They’ll be lighter than dark stouts or porters, but with plenty of character from hops and malts to keep things interesting.

The colour in these hazy craft beers mainly comes from the malted barley used in brewing. Lighter malts, kilned at lower temperatures, give you that classic straw-to-golden hue. When we brew beers like Slipway IPA or Alora DDH IPA, we carefully select malts that provide body and sweetness without overpowering the hop character. The malts are the foundations, and the hops will give it those glamourous flavours.

In other beers, like Mean As DDH NZ IPA, the yellow can also be hazy and cloudy too. This is thanks to proteins from the grains and the sheer volume of hops we add late in the brew, creating that luscious, opaque look that screams modern craft beer.

For many of these beers the key is late and dry hopping, which is something we do with our hazy beer,  this locks in maximum aroma and flavour without piling on bitterness.

Here's a few of our hazy, yellow offerings:

Mean As DDH NZ IPA is a hazy beer inspired by Southern hemisphere hops. It's bold, featuring citrus flavours and aromas of orange, lime and herbs.

Destination DIPA dials things up with more strength, weighing in at 8% ABV and packing flavours of fermented fruits and a more boozy feel.

Alora DDH IPA is a complex and fruity number, using Alora and Sultana hops to craft this 6% ABV with aromas of Pineapple and Yuzu.

Slipway IPA is our best seller, a tropical 5% ABV session NEIPA. She's tropical and moreish and the perfect beer for all occasions. 

Head over to the webshop to fil your beer fridge with hazy craft beer.