Beer of the Moment: Driving Miss Hazy

It’s hard to believe that four years have passed since Oshkosh’s Fox River Brewing Company released its first Hazy IPA. At the time, the style was just starting to make headway in Wisconsin. What was novel then is ubiquitous now. There’s been a lot of Hazy brewed by Fox River since 2018, but their latest may be their best. This is the sort of beer that comes only with experience.

Driving Miss Hazy

Driving Miss Hazy just went on tap at the Fox River taproom in Oshkosh and it delivers everything a HAZY IPA lover could want: an intense, fruity aroma; a full and soft mouthfeel, and a slightly sweet finish that invites you back to the glass. It’s a beer with volumes of hop flavor ranging from peach to guava to passionfruit.

Drew Roth, the head brewer at Fox River, takes an innovative approach to making his hazies. Among the hopping techniques he employs is a method called "dip hopping," which helps to minimize bitterness while preserving more delicate hop flavors. He’s also developed a proprietary yeast blend that accentuates hop aromatics. “This one was hopped with Galaxy, Sabro, and Citra and has really strong tropical fruit notes,” Roth says.

Some 20 years ago, Fox River became the first Oshkosh brewery to brew an IPA. They’ve been making a wide variety of IPAs ever since and have produced every iteration of the modern style. Few other Wisconsin breweries are able to pull from such a deep well of experience where beers like this are concerned. That methodical honing of craft is evident in a pint of Driving Miss Hazy.

Beer of the Moment is an ongoing series I’m writing for the Visit Oshkosh website. Its purpose is to provide a glimpse into the local beer culture for people considering a visit to Oshkosh. I also post them here in hopes of building a representative overview of the sort of beer that is being made here now. Most beers featured in this series have been selected by the brewers.