Come spring 2025, Big Little Thing has a new recipe and a new look. “We certainly wanted to bring up the ABV,” says Isaiah Mangold, our Manager of Innovation, “but it was really the entire experience, boosting the flavor, boosting the bigness.” Now at 9.5% ABV, this Little Thing goes BIG on haze, juicy hop flavor, and drinkability. Mosaic, El Dorado and Comet hops are in the mix, but Isaiah notes a ringleader. “It’s just this cornucopia of fruit, and that’s Citra hops making it all sing,” he says. “What you may get is blueberry. I may get white-grape sweetness coming through or candied orange peel. That’s the complexity that we’re trying to get.”
And because alcohol itself adds to a beer’s perceived sweetness and body, we changed the grains in Big Little Thing to lighten its finish while still keeping the soft mouthfeel you expect from a hazy IPA. “You’re almost drying it out a little bit,” Isaiah explains, part of a careful balancing act that allows a Hazy Imperial IPA to sip smooth, especially when you grab a 19.2-ounce can on the go.
DIVE DEEPER: IMPERIAL BEER
