Framingham's Exhibit 'A' Releases New Against-The-Grain Beer

FRAMINGHAM, MA — If you're a beer drinker in Massachusetts, you might've noticed the heavy presence of New England-style hazy IPAs. Every craft brewer from giant Boston Beer Co. (Sam Adams, Dogfish Head) to the brand new Sterling Street Brewery in Clinton has one or three available.

But Framingham's Exhibit 'A' — which brews its own Just A Kitten NEIPA — is out with a new beer this month aiming to buck the NEIPA trend. The new Market Gap IPA is an American-style, a more piney, bitter brew compared NEIPA styles, which often carry the taste and consistency of orange juice.

"Market Gap is a play on the rise and fall of the stock market, but it's also referring to the gap in the marketplace for more assertive American IPA," Exhibit 'A' general manager Kelsey Roth said. "We have a lower ABV version coming out in a month or so called Short Sell, that is more of a session IPA that 'doesn't sell itself short.'"

Although it's ubiquitous today, the NEIPA craze likely got its start only a few years ago when Charlton-based Tree House Brewing started selling its flagship Julius brew — although the style traces all the way back to 2003, when The Alchemist began brewing the hazy Heady Topper in Vermont.

The hazy IPA popularity also tracks with the availability of Citra hops, a recent invention developed with help from macro beer giant MillerCoors. Beers made with Citra hops end up being more citrusy and thick than hops used in American or West Coast styles like Simcoe, Centennial and Amarillo.

Exhibit 'A' and Framingham's other main brewer, Jack's Abby, haven't quite embraced the NEIPA trend like other Massachusetts brewers like Tree House, Trillium and Mighty Squirrel. Jack's doesn't sell an IPA at all, and Exhibit 'A' offers a wide variety, included harder-to-find styles like kölsch and barleywine.