Michael hazy. Mike Hazy: Legendary Animation Artist and Writer – A Comprehensive Look at His Career

Who was Mike Hazy. What were his major contributions to the animation industry. How did he impact popular Disney films. Can you explore his work beyond Disney.

The Early Years of Mike Hazy’s Career in Animation

Mike Hazy, also known as Michael Hazy, was a talented animation artist and writer whose career spanned several decades. His journey in the world of animation began in the late 1970s, working on various television series and specials. During this time, Hazy honed his skills and laid the foundation for his future success in the industry.

Some of his early works include:

• Key art assistant for “The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle” (1979)
• Storyboard artist for “The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show”
• Key art assistant for “The Fat Albert Halloween Special”
• Storyboard artist for “The New Adventures of Batman”

These early projects allowed Hazy to develop his artistic skills and gain valuable experience in the animation industry. His work on popular characters and shows demonstrated his versatility and ability to adapt to different styles and genres.

Mike Hazy’s Contributions to Disney’s Renaissance Era

Mike Hazy’s career reached new heights when he joined Walt Disney Animation Studios during its renaissance period in the late 1980s and 1990s. His contributions to some of Disney’s most beloved animated films solidified his reputation as a talented artist and animator.

Key Disney Films and Hazy’s Roles

1. Beauty and the Beast (1991) – Assistant animator for “Lefou”
2. Aladdin (1992) – Assistant animator for “Abu” and “Narrator”
3. The Lion King (1994) – Assistant animator for “Scar”
4. Pocahontas (1995) – Assistant animator for “Ben,” “Lon,” and “Roy”
5. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) – Assistant for additional clean-up animation
6. Hercules (1997) – Key assistant animator for “The Fates,” “Gods,” “Penelope,” and “Baby Pegasus”
7. Mulan (1998) – Additional key assistant clean-up animator
8. Tarzan (1999) – Key assistant animator for “Captain” and “Thugs”

Hazy’s work on these films showcased his ability to bring characters to life through his animation skills. His attention to detail and understanding of character movement contributed to the overall quality and success of these iconic Disney productions.

Beyond Disney: Mike Hazy’s Other Notable Projects

While Mike Hazy is best known for his work at Disney, his career extended beyond the House of Mouse. He contributed his talents to various other animation studios and projects, demonstrating his versatility and adaptability in the industry.

Pre-Disney Work

• BraveStarr: The Legend (1988) – Scene planning supervisor
• BraveStarr (TV Series, 1987-1988) – Scene planning supervisor
• Mighty Mouse in the Great Space Chase – Key art assistant
• The New Adventures of Zorro (TV Series) – Storyboard artist

Post-Disney Projects

• The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) – Key assistant animator for “Miscellaneous” characters
• Fantasia 2000 (1999) – Key assistant animator
• How to Haunt a House (Short) – Assistant animator

These projects showcase Hazy’s ability to work on various animation styles and formats, from television series to feature films and short animations.

Mike Hazy’s Unique Contributions to Character Animation

Throughout his career, Mike Hazy demonstrated a particular talent for bringing complex and nuanced characters to life. His work on villains, sidekicks, and supporting characters often added depth and personality to these roles, enhancing the overall storytelling in the films he worked on.

Memorable Character Animations

• Scar in “The Lion King” – Hazy’s work on this iconic villain helped create a character that was both menacing and charismatic.
• Abu in “Aladdin” – His animation of Aladdin’s mischievous monkey sidekick brought humor and heart to the character.
• The Fates in “Hercules” – Hazy’s animation of these mythological characters added an eerie and mysterious element to the film.

Hazy’s ability to capture the essence of these characters through subtle movements and expressions contributed significantly to their memorability and impact on audiences.

The Evolution of Animation Techniques in Mike Hazy’s Career

Mike Hazy’s career spanned a period of significant technological advancement in the animation industry. From traditional hand-drawn animation to the early days of computer-assisted animation, Hazy adapted and evolved with the changing landscape of the field.

Transition from Traditional to Digital Animation

Hazy’s early work primarily involved traditional hand-drawn animation techniques. However, as technology advanced, he embraced new tools and methods. His later work, such as on “Fantasia 2000” and “The Emperor’s New Groove,” likely involved a blend of traditional and computer-assisted animation techniques.

This ability to adapt to new technologies while maintaining the artistry of traditional animation was crucial in the evolving animation industry of the 1990s and early 2000s.

Mike Hazy’s Impact on the Animation Industry

Mike Hazy’s contributions to the animation industry extend beyond his direct work on films and television series. His career serves as an inspiration and learning resource for aspiring animators and artists.

Legacy and Influence

• Mentorship: While not explicitly documented, it’s likely that Hazy, as an experienced animator, played a role in mentoring younger artists at Disney and other studios.
• Technique Development: His work on various characters and projects likely contributed to the development of animation techniques and practices used in the industry.
• Artistic Inspiration: The characters Hazy helped bring to life continue to inspire new generations of animators and artists.

Hazy’s career demonstrates the importance of versatility, adaptability, and continuous learning in the ever-evolving field of animation.

Analyzing Mike Hazy’s Writing Contributions

While primarily known for his animation work, Mike Hazy also contributed as a writer to the animation industry. His writing credits, though fewer than his animation roles, showcase another facet of his creative talents.

Writing for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

One of Hazy’s notable writing credits is for the popular animated series “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.” This work demonstrates his ability to not only bring characters to life through animation but also through storytelling and dialogue.

Writing for animated series requires a unique set of skills, including:

• Understanding the constraints and possibilities of animation
• Crafting stories that appeal to the target audience
• Creating dialogue that fits the characters and the world of the show

Hazy’s experience as an animator likely informed his writing, allowing him to create scripts that translated well to the animated medium.

The Collaborative Nature of Animation: Mike Hazy’s Team Efforts

Animation is inherently a collaborative art form, and Mike Hazy’s career exemplifies this collaborative spirit. Throughout his work on various projects, Hazy worked alongside numerous other talented artists, animators, and creators.

Teamwork in Disney Productions

In major Disney productions like “The Lion King” and “Aladdin,” Hazy was part of large teams of animators, each focusing on specific characters or scenes. This collaborative effort required:

• Consistency in character design and movement across different animators’ work
• Coordination to ensure smooth transitions between scenes
• Sharing of techniques and ideas to elevate the overall quality of the animation

Hazy’s ability to work effectively within these teams contributed to the seamless and high-quality animation in these beloved films.

Collaboration Across Different Roles

Hazy’s career also demonstrates collaboration across different roles in animation production. As both an animator and a writer, he likely had a unique perspective on how story and visuals come together in animation.

This cross-disciplinary experience could have enhanced his contributions in both areas, allowing him to create animations that better served the story and write scripts that played to the strengths of animation.

Mike Hazy’s Approach to Character Development in Animation

Throughout his career, Mike Hazy demonstrated a keen understanding of character development through animation. His work on various characters, from sidekicks to villains, showcased his ability to convey personality and emotion through movement and expression.

Techniques in Character Animation

While we don’t have direct insights into Hazy’s specific techniques, his work suggests a mastery of several key aspects of character animation:

• Expressive facial animations, particularly evident in characters like Scar from “The Lion King”
• Dynamic body language, as seen in his work on characters like Abu in “Aladdin”
• Subtle character quirks that add depth and personality to supporting characters

These elements combined to create memorable and relatable characters that resonated with audiences.

Adapting to Different Character Types

Hazy’s work spanned a wide range of character types, from the comedic (Abu) to the sinister (Scar) to the mythological (The Fates). This versatility demonstrates his ability to adapt his animation style to suit different character personalities and narrative roles.

His approach likely involved:

• Thorough character analysis to understand motivations and personality traits
• Collaboration with character designers and voice actors to align visual representation with other aspects of the character
• Experimentation with different animation techniques to find the best way to express each character’s unique traits

The Challenges and Rewards of Animation: Insights from Mike Hazy’s Career

Mike Hazy’s long and varied career in animation provides a window into both the challenges and rewards of working in this dynamic field. While we don’t have direct quotes from Hazy about his experiences, we can infer some of the challenges and rewards based on the nature of his work and the projects he was involved in.

Challenges in Animation

Some of the challenges Hazy likely faced during his career include:

• Meeting tight deadlines, especially on major studio productions
• Adapting to evolving technologies and animation techniques
• Maintaining consistency in character animation across scenes and collaborators
• Balancing artistic vision with practical constraints and director’s requirements

These challenges are common in the animation industry and require dedication, adaptability, and continuous learning to overcome.

Rewards of a Career in Animation

Despite the challenges, Hazy’s long career suggests that the rewards of animation were significant. Some potential rewards include:

• The satisfaction of seeing characters come to life through animation
• Contributing to beloved films that have touched millions of viewers
• Collaborating with other talented artists and creators
• Continuous opportunities for creative expression and growth

Hazy’s involvement in multiple successful and iconic animated films likely provided a sense of accomplishment and pride in his work.

Mike Hazy’s Legacy in the Animation Industry

Mike Hazy passed away on December 9, 2004, in Los Angeles, California, leaving behind a rich legacy in the animation industry. His work continues to be appreciated by audiences worldwide through the enduring popularity of the films he contributed to.

Lasting Impact

Hazy’s impact on the animation industry can be seen in several ways:

• His contributions to Disney’s Renaissance era films, which continue to be celebrated and studied
• The characters he helped animate, which remain iconic in popular culture
• His adaptability across different animation styles and technologies, setting an example for future animators

While Hazy may not be a household name, his work has touched millions of viewers and continues to inspire new generations of animators and animation enthusiasts.

Remembering Mike Hazy

Although detailed personal information about Hazy is limited, his professional achievements speak to his talent, dedication, and passion for animation. His career serves as a testament to the impact that skilled animators can have on storytelling and popular culture.

As we continue to enjoy the films and characters that Mike Hazy helped bring to life, we honor his memory and contributions to the art of animation. His work remains a valuable part of animation history and continues to bring joy to viewers around the world.

Mike Hazy – IMDb

Mike Hazy was a writer, known for Hercules (1997), Aladdin (1992) and Pocahontas (1995). He died on 9 December 2004 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

DiedDecember 9, 2004

Known for:

Hercules

Aladdin

Pocahontas

The Lion King

Credits

Animation Department

• The Emperor’s New Groove
  • key assistant animator: “Miscellaneous” (as Michael Hazy)
• Fantasia 2000
  • key assistant animator
• How to Haunt a House
  • assistant animator
  • Short
• Tarzan
  • key assistant animator: “Captain” and “Thugs” (as Michael Hazy)
• Mulan
  • additional key assistant clean-up animator (as Michael Hazy)
• Hercules
  • key assistant animator: “The Fates”, “Gods”, “Penelope” and “Baby Pegasus”
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  • assistant: additional clean-up animation (as Michael Hazy)
• Runaway Brain
  • additional clean-up artist
  • Short
• Pocahontas
  • assistant animator: “Ben”, “Lon” & “Roy” (as Michael Hazy)
• The Lion King
  • assistant animator: “Scar”
• Aladdin
  • assistant animator: “Abu” and “Narrator” (as Michael Hazy)
• Beauty and the Beast
  • assistant animator: “Lefou” (as Michael Hazy)
• The Rescuers Down Under
  • breakdown and inbetween artist (as Michael Hazy)
• BraveStarr: The Legend
  • scene planning supervisor
• BraveStarr
  • scene planning supervisor
  • TV Series
  • 1987–1988

Art Department

• Mighty Mouse in the Great Space Chase
  • key art assistant
• The Fat Albert Easter Special
  • key art assistant
  • TV Movie
• The New Adventures of Zorro
  • storyboard artist
  • TV Series
• Blackstar
  • storyboard artist
  • TV Series
• The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!
  • storyboard artist (1981)
  • TV Series
• A Snow White Christmas
  • key art assistant
  • TV Movie
• Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
  • storyboard artist
  • TV Series
• The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show
  • storyboard artist
  • TV Series
• The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle
  • key art assistant (1979)
  • TV Series
• Space Sentinels
  • key art assistant
  • TV Series
• The Fat Albert Halloween Special
  • key art assistant
  • TV Movie
• The New Archie/Sabrina Hour
  • key art assistant (1977)
  • TV Series
• The New Adventures of Batman
  • key art assistant
  • TV Series
• Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle
  • key art assistant
  • TV Series
• The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty
  • key art assistant
  • TV Series

Writer

• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
  • written by
  • TV Series

Personal details

• Alternative names
  • Mike Hazey
• Died
  • December 9, 2004
  • Los Angeles, California, USA

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About Us – Night Shift Brewing

ALL STYLES WELCOME

We exist to to celebrate and welcome all beverages, all people, and all ideas.
Anyone who wants a seat at our table has one.
At Night Shift, we say it simply – all styles welcome. 

OUR THREE VALUES

Inclusivity

We seek to include (not exclude) others

Innovation

We thrive on taking risks, failing, learning, and evolving to solve problems

Integrity

We walk the walk, we’re open, we share

OUR STORY

Night Shift Brewing began as an idea. In a small kitchen on Josephine Ave in Somerville, MA, a trio of roommates started homebrewing beer for friends and family. This hobby took place after our day jobs, going late into the evenings, becoming what we called “night shift brewing.”  It was was 2007, and our goal was to craft and share beers that were more interesting and flavorful than the commercial options on shelves.

Over several years, Night Shift Brewing (the hobby) grew and evolved. Rob dug deeper into recipe development. O’Mara began working on a rough microbrewery business plan. And Ox started making labels for their homebrews, each adorned with a “hop owl” logo he drew.  The logo drew inspiration from their hobby’s nocturnal nature, along with the hops that go into each beer.

The original “hop owl” logo drawing

the night shift founders homebrewing in somerville

After hundreds of homebrews and thousands of beers shared, the trio finally quit their day jobs to turn this passionate hobby into something more. They scraped together startup money from friends and family, found a small but suitable warehouse in Everett, and launched Night Shift Brewing (the business) in 2012.

Over years of long days and late nights, their “craft better” philosophy has produced world-class beers, a passionate community of awesome fans, and a growing team of incredible people. We are a proudly independent business – our three founders collectively own about 80% of the business, with the remaining 20% owned by close friends and family. 

We maintain a relentless focus on three values – inclusivity, integrity, and innovation. And we believe strongly in the mantra “all styles welcome” – this applies to what we produce, but also to the way we run our business. Join us in welcoming all styles of beverages, people, and ideas. We are here to celebrate great flavors and great friends. Welcome to Night Shift.

Rob Burns

Co-Founder & President

Mike O’Mara

Co-Founder

Michael Oxton

Co-Founder

Careers

We have an ever-growing team of enthusiastic, motivated, and skilled individuals. If you are interested in joining, check out our Careers page!

JOIN THE TEAM

Where to Buy

Yes

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10 New British Writers of 2023 Why not take a look at the 10 New British Writers of 2023.

Steven Buoro, Andy Africa’s Five Sad Secrets

Steven Buoro, 29, was born in Ososo, Nigeria, the fourth of six children. His father was a photographer, so their family was creative, although the only books they read were religious texts. It wasn’t until Buoro received a scholarship to a missionary school where children were kicked out for not speaking English that he learned to read.

After completing his degree in Mathematics, he came to the UK to complete an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia as a Booker Prize Scholar.

One evening in June 2018, when it was already dark, a voice spoke to him. “He wanted to confess all his inner anger and irritation. I started writing and writing and writing, and when I came back and read what I had written, it was the most truthful and powerful thing I have ever written in my life.”

He wrote it on his phone and it was the introduction to Andy Africa’s Five Sad Secrets, a gripping, tragicomic novel that asks questions about what it means to grow up in modern day Nigeria, where there is a lot of Western culture but few opportunities. The story is told from the perspective of Andy himself, a fatherless 15-year-old with a soft spot for blondes and a voice unlike any other.

Tom Crewe, New Life

Tom Crewe recalls the “pressure” he felt before his bold and brilliant debut. The idea came to him ten years ago, but it had been hatched for more than four years – during his time at the London Review of Books (LRB) – and, in his words, he “desperately tried to get it out of his head …

It seemed like too much to take in one day.” Reaction to the book was also strong, with Ann Enright saying it was “captivating”.

Based in part on real people, The New Life is about a group of radical freethinkers in Victorian England who want to live and love as they please, without fear or shame.

Crewe, 33, was born in Middlesbrough and studied history at the University of Cambridge, where he also received his Ph.D. He specializes in the 1880s and 1890’s.

Jacqueline Crookes, Firefever

Jacqueline Crookes is 59 years old and was born in Jamaica but grew up in Southall, West London. Her first novel, Firefever, was written in diary form and is essentially a fictional portrait of her early years. “It is largely based on my experience as a young woman in a male-dominated world. Experience of oppression. Dancing with amazing people. Dark side and light side.

The book, a poignant story about black women and dub music in the late 1970s, tells the story of Jamaie and her friends visiting the underground club The Crypt. There she meets the charming Musa and falls in love with him, but things soon go awry. Jamaie then embarks on a fateful journey through London, Bristol, and Jamaica, where she becomes embroiled in racial unrest, violence, revolution, and revenge.

Although Firefever is her debut novel, Crookes has already published Ice Migration, a collection of short stories shortlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Literature.of the year. One of her short stories, “Silver Fish in the Midnight Sea”, was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award the same year. She admits that writing “Fire Fever” was more difficult than “Ice Migration”.

“I am a very fast writer. When writing a novel, you have to slow down a lot. But now I’m working on my second novel, so I understand the process much better.”

Aidan Cottrell-Boyce, End of Night Work

“It’s not as depressing as it sounds!” Aidan Cottrell-Boyce, 35, explains with a smile why the devastating lockout prompted him to write his debut novel, The End of Night’s Work, an apocalyptic novel.

“When you are going through a difficult time, a narcissistic feeling arises: how can everyone else not see that this is a disaster? How can everyone else just go on with their daily lives? But that is the experience of the apocalypse that we are all experiencing right now,” he says. “Everyone knows one way or another that the end of the world is coming, but most people are not involved in strong climate denial or extinction rebellion. Most people think, “Maybe we’ll burn down soon, but I’m not sure. ”

This labyrinthine and convoluted tale of a crystal clear economy involves a global youth rebellion, a 17th-century prophet, and a rare hormonal syndrome that causes victims to age prematurely—inventions cleverly woven into the picture of pre-Brexit London as a new father sees it in a failing marriage.

Cottrell-Boyce is a Cambridge theologian who was once a member of the Green Party and is now a scientist. While he knows that The End of Night’s Work is likely to be seen as a novel of ideas, for him it is a very personal novel. “I haven’t read many books about a relationship of care, love and intimacy between two people who destroy each other through this care. Wanting to be good all the time can be devastating.”

Jyoti Patel, “What We Lost”

Jyoti Patel’s first novel received rave reviews not only before publication but also before writing. What We Lost won the 2021 New Writers Award for Chapter One from Merky Books.

Patel, 30, was working in digital marketing when she submitted her work for the award. “There were many tears, disbelief and quiet reverence. I had to struggle a lot to study English at university,” says Patel, who was told she received the award during the pandemic. “I celebrated in many groups.”

She was born in Paris to British Indian parents and grew up in North West London.

At the center of the sensitive and empathic debut What We Lost is Nick, an 18-year-old struggling to navigate college life in a rural town, and his mother, Avani, who has long mourned the tragic death of her husband, Elliot. When Nick’s grandfather dies, he receives a key that reveals uncomfortable secrets about his father’s life and the family’s shame. The novel also travels back to the 1980s, exploring Avani and Elliot’s relationship and their experiences as an Indian and white British couple. At its core, this is a story about family secrets, love, belonging, the diaspora, and how immigrants create a dual identity.

Michael Magee, Close to Home

33-year-old Michael Magee always knew he wanted to write about his home in West Belfast, but he was still held back by “a strange idea of ​​what a novel should be – it wasn’t western Belfast, you know? Most of the books about Belfast are written by non-working class people. For them, West Belfast is a ghetto, a no-go zone. But the history of this place is the only story I know.”

This understanding paved the way for Close to Home, a poignant exploration of masculinity amid the devastation of recent times. The narrator Sean is the first in his family to go to college, but after a breakdown, he finds himself in a wasteland with no prospects, and it does not help that he kills someone at a party.

Meiji couldn’t find an outlet for his partially autobiographical material until he struck up a conversation with writer Thomas Morris, then editor of the influential Dublin literary magazine The Stinging Fly. Morris suggested that Meiji write him a letter, “starting at any point in my life and going through the text.” Within two weeks, the letter consisted of 20,000 words.

Further inspiration came from studying the French writers Édouard Louis and Annie Ernault, whose autobiographical writings on class relations pointed the way forward and fueled Meiji’s skepticism about the social mobility that comes with literary success. “What part of yourself are you losing in the process?” he says. “What does this do to your relationship? And how do you fit those things into the books you want to write?”

He thinks that one way to do this is to go back in time, not forward; his next novel will be about his childhood, and the next will be about a single woman raising two children during the Troubles, just like his mother did.

“That’s where I’m at, because this place is obsessed with the past,” Meiji says. “People who were born on both sides of the Good Friday Agreement, like Sean, were promised that they would reap the benefits of the world. But the working class, which has been disproportionately affected by the conflict, is still incredibly poor. People look around and wonder: What was all this for? We are still damn poor.”

Monica Hazey, “Very Good, Actually”

Marian Keys, Rob Delaney, Nina Stibbe, Paula Hawkins, Dolly Alderton, Ashling B: here are some of the names lined up to praise Monica Haya’s painfully funny first novel, Very Good, Actually.

Set in the author’s hometown of Toronto, the book follows the aftermath of a young couple’s divorce in the year between the narrator Maggie’s 29th and 30th birthdays. Sounds bleak, but it’s not.

Fun details – including Google search history, unanswered emails, selected Tinder conversations, and fantasy scenarios. “I wanted to portray the absurdity of a broken heart,” Hazy says.

When her own marriage fell apart at age 20, she tried to find an accurate reflection of her situation in books and films: so it’s bad, but getting better. There was nothing like that, and I decided to write about it myself.”

Hazy, now 34, moved to London in 2010 to complete her master’s degree in early modern literature from King’s College and supported her early forays into writing and comedy while working as a bartender at Secret Cinema. Visa problems sent her back to Toronto, where a parody of newspaper advice column “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better” became a book. This launched her career as a screenwriter for series such as Shitts Creek.

She also got married, divorced and moved back to the UK. Today she lives in London and is working on her second novel. She is also filming a romantic comedy series for Sky and is about to start adapting Very Good, Actually for television.

Georgina Moore, Garnett Girls

Georgina Moore, 50, is a book publicist who has worked with some of the biggest names in the business, including Adele Parks, Maggie O’Farrell and Patrick Gale. Books are part of her legacy – her father ran a small academic publishing house and took her to the London Book Fair as a child. But in her adult life, she became familiar with the industry, with what it requires of authors and how much they have to work to promote their books, and this pushed her away from trying to write her own book.

She then spotted the perfect place for romance: an old beach house on the Isle of Wight where she and her partner have a boat. The result is a whimsical family saga about journalist Margot Garnett, her three thirty-year-old daughters, their alcoholic father, and a home that beckons them back no matter how far they run. Garnett’s Isle of Wight is more of a Hampton than a mockery, and Moore’s expressive prose makes it easy to see why The Garnett Girls is compared to the works of commercial fiction queens Penny Vincenzi and Maeve Binci.

Moore and her family live mostly on a boat in London. She celebrated the sale of her book by buying Betsy, a small canal boat, which she moored near where she is now writing her second novel.

K Patrick, “Mrs. C”

Patrick, 36, is a former landscaper living on the Isle of Lewis and a recent graduate of the Creative Writing Master’s program at the University of Glasgow. He wrote most of the first draft of “Mrs. C” in just three months.

The main character is a young Australian who comes to England to take a job at an elite girls’ boarding school, where she begins an affair during a hot summer. Strong physical emotions and the novel’s stylish, gritty prose make a compelling pair, as protagonist Patrick struggles with an emerging identity.

Santanu Bhattacharya, One Little Voice

One Little Voice is set in contemporary India and spans three decades and multiple cities, offering a whole universe of emotions. The action of the book starts at 1992 and describes the time of the rise of nationalism and the country engulfed in unrest.

The main character, Shubhankar Trivedi, is a ten-year-old boy who lives with his family in the northern city of Lucknow. One day, he witnesses a horrifying act of violence that will change him forever and cast a shadow over his difficult and traumatic path to adulthood.

41-year-old Bhattacharya grew up in India and moved to the UK seven years ago to study for a master’s degree in public policy from Oxford. He now lives in London and works as an educational consultant. He has already received several awards for his writing, including the 2021 Mo Sivcharran Prize and the Life Writing Prize.

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how the hops that changed the face of beer appeared

Citra hops began to be used a little over ten years ago, and today it is very difficult to imagine what craft brewing would be like without it. VinePair tells how this variety rose to the top of popularity.

In 2010, Fred Miller Pub, a place for Miller Brewing employees, put a new beer on tap. At first glance, this was nothing remarkable. The company’s Milwaukee facility has a test brewery that regularly releases exclusive beers to staff and patrons in the name of research and innovation. But this beer – an IPA with 70 IBUs and dry hopped at 1.5 kg per 100 liters – stood out from the usual Miller beers. And it had a funny and provocative name – Wild Ting.

“That beer was great,” says Dr. Patrick Ting, former hop specialist at MillerCoors, after whom the beer was named. It tasted like white wine to me. It also had mango and lychee flavors. Many people liked it.

This beer, brewed with an experimental hop variety originally known as 9148-114, had a fresh citrus aroma and tropical fruit flavor that was cutting edge at the time. As Dr. Thing recalls, quite a few colleagues found its taste too strong – some called it “cat’s”. However, Wild Ting IPA seemed different to him – and this other was great. In over 30 years of studying hops at Miller and MillerCoors, he has never tasted anything quite as unusual.

Three or four years earlier, he had persuaded the company’s management to contract a test site for this hop variety after he tested it in trial brews. MillerCoors did this in 2007 and sponsored the Hop Breeding Company (HBC) to plant two acres of hops. The experimental strain was named HBC 394. Today we call it Citra.

Citra is one of the world’s most popular hops and has played a role in popularizing the IPA. MillerCoors was unable to find applications for this variety, but four other companies – Widmer Brothers, Sierra Nevada, Boulevard and Deschutes – funded its development, and this provided the variety with a great future. They decided to take a risk and thus influenced the development of modern brewing and hop-growing. Over the past 14 years, and especially in the last six or seven years, Citra has gone from being a test variety to arguably the most popular hop in the world—giving rise to modern-day hazy fever and consumer greed for Other Half, WeldWerks, Tree House, and many other breweries.

Citra is now easy to find. A top popular IPA that doesn’t have these important hops is another thing to look for. It’s found in other styles as well, from blondes and witbeers to farmhouse ales, and it’s even featured in Canada’s Labatt Blue Mass Camp. Michael Ferguson, director of the Haas Hop Breeding Program, says that Citra in beer is like autotune.

“Citra gets along well with everyone at the IPA party,” says Cloudburst Brewing founder and head brewer Steve Luke. – This variety can be a star, it can be an ordinary figure, and sometimes you can not even feel it. Citra’s impact on taste is also incredibly predictable. There is no other variety that pairs better with other American hops. Citra makes many other hops more fruity, blends with them and softens them.

Luke has been using Citra for over a decade and still sings the praises of the wonderful flavor notes of fresh yellow peach, mandarin and apricot. He calls the character of this hop unpretentious and clean, without smeared undertones and persistent bitterness. Luke uses Citra in about 80 percent of his popular hop varieties. At the 2020 Great American Beer Festival, the jury awarded Cloudburst a silver medal in the hazy imperial IPA category for Not a Scientist, brewed with Strata, Mosaic and, of course, Citra.

Citra was created in 1990 by Gene Probasco as a new hybrid. Wanting to try something new, he cross-pollinated a “brother” and “sister” from the same Hallertauer Mittelfrüh family. The resulting plants were not very productive, but he liked the shape and weight of the buds and their high lupulin content, which is important for brewers. Probasco, who founded and led the agronomy and breeding program at John I. Haas from 1978 until his retirement in 2016, was interested in the new aromatic varieties but failed to find customers for them. In the 1980s and 1990s, hops were a consumable commodity, not like they are now, when hop varieties have become brands that are marketed to thousands of breweries seeking new flavors for their creations.

“When I got into the business, the American hop industry was 100 percent alpha, there was just a little bit of Fuggle,” says Probasco. His employer was developing new hop varieties for large brewing companies that didn’t really need hops with a grapefruit character. They needed consistent quality and quantity.

– At first it was just me. Back then, we didn’t do much with microbrewers. I just thought it was an interesting variety and we left it in the field.

With little interest from buyers, Citra remained in the field for more than ten years. But even after Haas merged its hop breeding program with Select Botanicals Group (a division of Yakima Chief Hops) to create HBC, Probasco left a few plants on what he calls a museum, out of sight, out of mind. And then, at the beginning of the 2000s, he was approached by Dr. Ting, who was looking for something new. Probasco, meanwhile, has quietly taken to small breweries, talking about the variety at industry events.

“In 2005, I started attending Hop Research Council meetings,” says Tom Nielsen, research and raw materials manager at Sierra Nevada Brewing, California. Jin quietly took people aside and tried to get them to cooperate. We experimented with this variety for about a year. Haas even gave us rhizomes, the biggest and juiciest I’ve ever seen.

The Sierra Nevada Brewery planted Citra in their hop farm in Chico and used the variety in several strains, including a couple of years in Estate Ale. But another beer from Citra caught my attention. Around the time Nielsen got his hands on the HBC 394, Sierra Nevada was working on a powerful draft-only beer that was somewhere between an IPA and a double IPA. It used a bunch of Crystal and Magnum hops. While experimenting with different dry hopping combinations and a new piece of equipment called the hop torpedo to extract more resins and oils, the brewery found a missing ingredient in the recipe.

“Citra made beer brighter,” Nielsen recalls. “It was like being punched in the face.

Sierra Nevada added Citra dry hopped Torpedo Extra IPA to the range in early 2009of the year. It was the first change to the brewery’s permanent range since 1980, and the Torpedo has been in service for 12 years now. That same year, 560 km north of the Deschutes brewery, Fresh Squeezed IPA appeared on taps for the first time. Basic hop? Citra again. The Deschutes brewers started doing trial brews with this beer in 2006 and they liked the result. When Fresh Squeezed became popular with consumers as well, they realized there was something to it.

“Citra is the protagonist of the Fresh Squeezed story,” says Veronica Vega, director of product development at Deschutes. “He created the beer, he inspired the name, and he became that instant huge success that every brewer dreams of. In addition to the unique taste and aroma, Citra has a powerful effect. It looks like he’s punching him in the face.

Four years after the launch of the bottled version, Deschutes introduced Fresh Squeezed in bottles. The variety instantly soared to the top of sales and remains there until now. Later, the success of Fresh Squeezed and the expansion of Citra’s supplies prompted the brewery to launch a pale ale called Lil’ Squeezy, as well as an Imperial IPA, Royal Fresh. Meanwhile, Sierra Nevada, building on Torpedo’s experience, released Tropical Torpedo, a less potent IPA with an intense Citra fruity character and several newer hops.

In 2009, Washington hop growers harvested 40 hectares of Citra and it was quickly snapped up by several craft brewers. Just four years later, the area has grown to 525 hectares, plus another 7.5 hectares in Idaho. The world knew about this unusual variety and there was enough demand for the achievement of Probasco. Back then, brewers took IPAs in a new direction, creating hazy, juicy beers with a softer texture and much less bitterness than their predecessors. In 2020, Citra accounted for about 19% of the total hop acreage in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. With an area of ​​almost 4.5 thousand hectares, it bypasses all other varieties far.

“Citra already has a much larger share than Cascade had in 2015, both in terms of planted area and yield,” says Jakey Brophy, director of marketing and communications for hop growers association Hop Growers of America. – Cascade, which has been ranked first for many years, fell to fifth in 2020. Citra is now securely entrenched in first place. Between it and the second largest variety is more than 1900 hectares.

Industry experts believe that the area under Citra will continue to grow, although perhaps not as impressive as in recent years. Recently, other new flavor hops have attracted interest, such as Mosaic (HBC 369), Strata and Idaho 7. Mosaic harvested 2,224 hectares last year, making it the third largest crop in the US. Still, as much as some brewers would like to use something new in beer, Citra’s popularity shows no signs of fading, thanks in large part to its “friendliness”.

From a strain that was gathering dust in a hop museum two decades ago, Citra has become a favorite among brewers and consumers and has secured a place in breweries and taprooms for the foreseeable future.

Steve Luke also believes that the growth of Citra plantings and the rise of cloudy IPAs are closely related. In his opinion, one would not be possible without the other. This theory is confirmed by the experience of the Sierra Nevada brewery. According to Nielsen, they didn’t originally plan to use Citra in the hit IPA Hazy Little Thing, which went on sale nationwide in 2018. However, he still ended up in beer.

– We have experimented. But Citra is such a beautiful hop. It has everything Mosaic has and everything Simcoe has,” says Nielsen.

The beer that owes its appeal to Citra is not so different from what it was in 2010, when the first Wild Ting keg was hooked up in Milwaukee. But that doesn’t mean people like it less. It’s only been three years since Hazy Little Thing hit stores across the country, and it’s already the second-biggest selling Sierra Nevada, behind Pale Ale and one spot ahead of Torpedo Extra IPA.