Why is it taking so long to copy NE IPA.

We have one brewery here in Cleveland that is at least trying (platform) only to consistently come up pretty short. It cracks me up because they name beers haze, fog, ect, ect, but haven’t figured it out yet (barely even the hazy part). When I can figure out a way to ask very politely I get “we are still figuring out the yeast”.

Is this stuff really still rocket science and if it is why aren’t breweries hiring away assistants from these places at mega salaries to learn the secrets. It seems like Sierra, Stone or somebody with some R&d could figure it out by now. Like most big companies, maybe they don’t see the trend until it’s too late. But if I was a rich dude with a brewery I’d be call the guy 2nd in command at Treehouse and offer him/her some serious coin.

Different story here. Every local brewery has put out at least one version and usually several.

If you get to Michigan, Old Nation M43 is regularly available/distributed.
Transient isn’t distributed, but worth the trip.

Ditto in Minnesota - and I must admit, there have been a couple recently that have just blown my mind. I really like the style -

Seattle is still behind too. A decent amount of breweries trying, very few successfully IMO. I guess it’s harder to move past the beloved West Coast or PNW IPA.

We did a collaboration with Tree House, and learn at least a little bit about what they’re doing. The three issues that come to mind are hopping, water, and distribution. Dialing in hopping rates, and understanding the bitterness extracted during dry-hopping (particularly from high-alpha hops) are critical. Only certain water chemistry will work with the this beer. You need to really understand this issue. Lastly, when Tree House cans their beers, they are sold (and likely drunk) almost immediately. Producing a juicy IPA is a lot easier to do over the short run - the style doesn’t lend itself to the lags generally found in the typical distribution chain.

I’ll add that they have some really smart brewers working for them, and don’t leave the brewing up to a bunch of underlings.

1)Tank allocation. Breweries have a finite amount of space, and usually have brew schedules set months in advance. For a lot of breweries creating a new beer comes at the expense of reducing the volume of another established beer.

2)Hop/malt availability. Along with the tank schedules is the ordering of hops and grains which have to be contracted months if not years at a time. I know several breweries that can only brew certain favorites 2-3 times a year and in small volumes because that’s all they can get at a time of key hops. While faster to spawn than grapes, it does take several years for new hotshot hops to increase production; I think that’s one of the reason you see so many ‘experimental’ hops being developed and featured by breweries, as the naming/copyrighting rights can become another revenue streak if it catches on.

3)You do realize that not everyone likes these types of beers, or wants to follow what everyone else is doing, right? Some brewers vastly prefer the Belgian or English schools of brewing, and while they might take some cues and elements from the NE style have no interest in devoting time or resources to creating one. There is a new brewery that just opened up in VA whose brewmaster was immensely successful at one of the NE breweries, and they have NO intention of producing a hazy IPA. At all.

I get that a lot of this discussion is from people that really like this style but are too far away from a really good source to get any without spending way too much. Perhaps I’ve been lucky that Virginia has several excellent producers that I can get without too much angst. But beer drinkers are notoriously fickle. The NE IPA is a very good style, but by the time ‘everybody has one’ there will be another style everyone is pursuing.

Matt’s answers are compelling and I don’t have any additional insight as to the why. I have shared the OP’s question, though.
I was in Austin this past weekend, which appears to be a fairly serious beer town, and unless I was misled by various geeks the style has not yet made an appearance there. That surprises me.
I have to think it’s only a matter of time before there’s a true mass market facsimile, right? Some product manager at a InBev is working feverishly on this right now, right?
Closest “mass market” products I’ve seen here in Virginia are some of the Stone “enjoy by” and the lagunitas born yesterday. Not exact, but close.
I personally love the style and feel like it’s totally reoriented my affection for IPA. Feel really fortunate that The Veil, a great producer of the style, has set up shop in my state.