Pleasantly Hazy IPA is Lake Pleasant Brewing Company’s signature hazy IPA, brewed in North Phoenix with a soft wheat-and-pilsner malt base and a layered dry-hop charge of Citra, Mosaic and El Dorado. At 6.9% ABV, it sits in that satisfying middle ground: substantial enough to feel like a proper IPA, but still built around aromatic fruit and an easy, hazy texture rather than punishing bitterness.
Pleasantly Hazy IPA at a glance
At a Glance
| Beer | Pleasantly Hazy IPA |
| Brewery | Lake Pleasant Brewing Company |
| Style | New England / Hazy IPA |
| ABV | 6.9% |
| IBU | No consistent figure confirmed; public third-party entries conflict |
| Malt | Pilsner malt and white wheat malt |
| Hops | Citra, Citra Cryo, Mosaic, Mosaic Cryo, El Dorado and El Dorado Cryo |
| Community rating | 4.01 out of 5, supplied rating; rating count not provided |
| Brewery location | North Phoenix, Arizona |
| Calories | No official calorie figure located |
The 4.01 score is the rating provided for this review. No community rating count accompanied it, so I am not adding one. This is a locally rooted beer, not a nationally ubiquitous shelf IPA, and the best way to understand its character is through the recipe: a pale, wheat-supported base carrying an assertive blend of modern American hops.
Lake Pleasant Brewing Company: a North Phoenix story
Lake Pleasant Brewing began with two friends, Nick Kelley and Dustin Westby, who connected over beer while working together and spent years brewing at home. The brewery’s own history describes how that shared hobby grew into a business plan after both founders were affected by job uncertainty in 2020. They found a North Phoenix location near 19th Avenue and Rose Garden Lane, began construction in February 2021 and opened to the public on February 11, 2022.
That background helps explain the beer’s role. Pleasantly Hazy is presented as a signature beer rather than a one-off experiment. The taproom is at 1950 West Rose Garden Lane, Suite 130, in Phoenix, in the Deer Valley area. It is a neighborhood brewery with a family-friendly focus, a changing tap list and regular food-truck and event updates. If I am deciding what to order at a brewery like this, the flagship is the natural place to start: it tells you what the brewers want their house style to be.
Phoenix’s craft scene has become much richer than the old assumption that desert beer means only crisp lagers. This IPA shows how the city’s breweries use hazy styles to lean into juicy hop aroma while keeping the beer recognizable as an IPA. It makes a useful local counterpart to larger, more widely distributed examples such as Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing, a national benchmark, while still having a smaller taproom identity of its own.
ABV, IBU and ingredients: what is in the glass?
The verified ABV listed for Pleasantly Hazy is 6.9%. That puts it above a session IPA and below the high-octane double hazies that can edge past eight percent. It is enough alcohol to bring warmth and body, but not so much that the beer needs to drink like a boozy sipping ale. In a modern hazy IPA, malt sweetness, hop aroma and fermentation character all need to stay in balance at this strength.
The brewery profile identifies Pilsner and white wheat malt, with a double dry hop of Citra, Citra Cryo, Mosaic, Mosaic Cryo, El Dorado and El Dorado Cryo. Pilsner malt gives brewers a clean, pale base. White wheat adds protein and body, helping the beer carry its cloudy appearance and pillowy impression. The hop selection combines well-known citrus and tropical-fruit associations: Citra can bring grapefruit, lime and passionfruit-like notes; Mosaic often contributes berry, citrus and tropical aromatics; El Dorado is commonly associated with pear, melon and stone fruit. Those descriptions are general hop-character references, not a promise that every batch will taste identical.
Cryo hops are concentrated lupulin products, so the Cryo versions of Citra, Mosaic and El Dorado allow a brewer to add intense hop aroma while limiting some of the plant material. The double dry-hop treatment places aromatic hops after the main boil, prioritizing fragrance and flavor over additional bitterness. For a quick explainer on this process, see what dry hopping does to beer.
The IBU data is less tidy. Third-party listings show conflicting figures, including 14 and 30 IBU. I could not find a current official specification sheet that settles the difference, so I would not treat either figure as definitive. IBU is a laboratory-derived measure of bittering compounds, not a direct guarantee of perceived bitterness. Haze, malt sweetness and hop oils can make a beer with a higher number seem softer than a leaner pale ale. Our guide to what IBU means explains why the number is only one piece of the tasting picture.
I did not find an official calorie figure or a full nutritional panel for Pleasantly Hazy. I am leaving calories unlisted rather than extrapolating from ABV or inventing an estimate. The same restraint applies to exact bitterness: when listings disagree, the honest answer is to tell you what is known and where the uncertainty remains.
Tasting notes: citrus, tropical fruit and a soft landing
In the glass, Pleasantly Hazy reads as a hazy golden beer with a soft, pale head. Its appearance fits its style: it is not trying to be brilliantly clear, and the wheat and dry-hop focus give it a fuller, more opaque look. The aroma profile I would expect from the published hop bill leads with citrus and tropical fruit, with Mosaic and El Dorado adding a rounder fruit basket behind Citra’s brighter edge.
On the palate, the grain bill should keep the hops from feeling sharp or watery. Pilsner malt contributes a clean backbone, while wheat helps create a smooth, cushioned texture. The double dry hopping makes aroma and flavor the main event. Expect a juicy impression, citrus peel, ripe fruit and a gentle herbal or resinous note in the background, rather than the crisp bitterness of a classic West Coast IPA. The finish should remain hop-led but not aggressively dry.
That is the appeal of a thoughtful hazy IPA: it can be expressive without turning into a fruit smoothie, and soft without feeling dull. For people who want a clearer account of how this style differs from a traditional IPA, our guide to what defines a hazy IPA lays out the yeast, malt and hop choices behind the look and feel. My quick read on Pleasantly Hazy is that it is aimed at drinkers who prize aroma, softness and layered fruit more than a big bitter finish.
Food pairing: what to eat with Pleasantly Hazy
A soft, fruity IPA can pair with food that would overpower a delicate lager, but it is still worth avoiding dishes so hot or sweet that they flatten the beer. I would start with grilled chicken tacos, especially with citrus, avocado and a modest amount of chili. The Citra-led aroma can echo lime and salsa while the malt cushions char and spice. A guide to pairing beer with food has broader principles for balancing intensity and texture.
For a richer meal, try a burger with sharp cheddar, onion and a lightly spicy sauce, or barbecue chicken with a tangy rather than sugary glaze. The hop aromatics cut through the savory richness, while the beer’s body stands up to grilled flavors. A generous portion of fries or a loaded nacho plate is an easy taproom match too. For seafood, grilled shrimp with citrus or a lightly spiced fish taco works better than a delicate white fish preparation, which could disappear beside the hop intensity.
Cheese is an easy match: choose a medium cheddar, Monterey Jack or pepper jack rather than a very sharp blue. The wheat-supported softness makes the beer friendly with creamy textures, and moderate heat from pepper jack can underline its fruit without making it taste harsh. I would avoid pairing it with a dessert that is extremely sweet. A ripe-fruit IPA can seem thin or more bitter next to heavy sugar.
How it compares with other hazy IPAs
Pleasantly Hazy belongs in the same broad conversation as the hazy beers already covered on this site, but it has its own recipe signature. Compared with Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing, it is a more local taproom flagship with a precise Pilsner-and-white-wheat base and a six-part Citra, Mosaic and El Dorado dry-hop bill. Hazy Little Thing is easier to find across the country; Pleasantly Hazy’s draw is the combination of Arizona identity and the brewery’s own hop recipe.
The site’s Liquid Candy review gives another useful point of comparison: a fruit-forward hazy built to emphasize soft tropical character. If you want a more intensely saturated, modern haze, Alien Church is a bigger, denser option. Meanwhile, our review of Foggy Geezer offers a northern take on the same broad hazy IPA family.
For readers who are exploring beyond one beer at a time, browse our best hazy IPAs selection or the broader IPA brands guide. Those pages help put Pleasantly Hazy in context: it is neither a novelty pastry IPA nor a high-bitterness West Coast beer. Its focus is the familiar hazy combination of soft grain, lifted hop aroma and moderate strength.
Five similar hazy IPAs to try
Pleasantly Hazy is a North Phoenix taproom beer, and Saucey does not list this exact Lake Pleasant release in the searches checked for this review. Rather than leave you at a dead end, here are five real hazy IPA alternatives with working Saucey links. The first is another Arizona craft pick; the others range from fruit-forward hazies to a lighter session option.
Liquid Candy is the closest style cue in this set if you want lush fruit character. Aloha Sculpin and Hazy Like a Fox offer other interpretations of citrus and tropical hops, while All Day Haze is a lighter choice for a more relaxed pace. Hazy Little Thing is the broad-availability option. The actual beer and exact inventory can vary by delivery area, so check the product listing before ordering.
Who should try Pleasantly Hazy IPA?
I would put Pleasantly Hazy on the shortlist for anyone who likes a genuine hop-forward beer but prefers aroma and rounded texture to a bracingly bitter finish. At 6.9% ABV it is not a low-alcohol session beer, though it avoids the stronger, heavier feel of a double IPA. That makes it a sensible one-pint choice with food or as the opening beer in a brewery flight.
It may be less suited to drinkers who specifically want a clear, resinous West Coast IPA or a sharply bitter finish. The IBU discrepancy in public listings means I would not buy it solely on a stated bitterness figure. The hop bill and style classification tell a more useful story: expect a hazy, aroma-first IPA built with modern hop varieties and a supportive wheat malt base.
For me, the strongest case for it is the clarity of the idea. It is not trying to be all things to all drinkers. It is the house hazy at a local brewery, with a full dry-hop bill and a malt framework chosen to carry the fruit. The 4.01 rating supplied for this review reinforces that it has earned a warm response from its community, even without a rating count to put the number in perspective.
- A clearly defined flagship hazy IPA from a neighborhood Arizona brewery.
- 6.9% ABV brings solid IPA character without double IPA strength.
- Pilsner and white wheat malt give the hop bill a soft foundation.
- Citra, Mosaic and El Dorado, including Cryo variants, create layered aroma potential.
- No official calorie figure located.
- Public IBU listings conflict, so bitterness cannot be stated precisely.
- Regional taproom access is more limited than national hazy IPA brands.
Frequently asked questions
What is the ABV of Pleasantly Hazy IPA?
Pleasantly Hazy IPA is listed at 6.9% ABV.
What hops are in Pleasantly Hazy IPA?
The published beer description lists Citra, Citra Cryo, Mosaic, Mosaic Cryo, El Dorado and El Dorado Cryo.
What malt is used in Pleasantly Hazy IPA?
Its listed malt base is Pilsner malt and white wheat malt.
How many IBUs does Pleasantly Hazy IPA have?
Public third-party entries conflict, with 14 and 30 IBU figures appearing in separate listings. I could not verify a current official figure, so neither should be treated as definitive.
How many calories are in Pleasantly Hazy IPA?
I could not find an official calorie figure or nutrition panel for this beer.
Where is Lake Pleasant Brewing Company?
Lake Pleasant Brewing Company is at 1950 West Rose Garden Lane, Suite 130, Phoenix, Arizona 85027, in North Phoenix.
