NE IPAs in Michigan?

I share this idea as well.... with the ever continuing pressure from customers for the absolute freshest IPA these smaller breweries are brewing and "canning" before the beers truly blend. So we are tasting a beer that constitutes the some of the parts....After a week or so of conditioning(blending, changing) they become what they are supposed to be.

I think people for get this is chemistry and sometimes it takes a bit of time for the parts to meld.

 

I certainly don't dispute the existence of the phenomenon. And I suppose this does get into a philosophical question of whether to release the beer "when it's ready" or to sell it to consumers hoping they know to wait a few weeks to open it. One could then debate the merits of releasing such a beer on New Year's Eve Eve.

When the taps were getting foamy at the release on Friday, Ellison started pouring from cans. So they were serving us beer from a can that need a couple more weeks in the can?

I contrast this with Old Nation who pushed back the release of M43 because it was "not ready". I believe they intended it to be released before Christmas. Though I can't blame Ellison for wanting to release all of their beers in one swoop as opposed to a couple different releases.

Finally, had a Juice on tap last night and it was quite good, perhaps still a little acidic. Had an M43 from the can later in the evening and probably preferred it slightly. I second the sentiment that M43 from the can was better than the draft pour at Old Nation on Friday. It's good to know that others feel the same way and I'm not crazy!

 

The two main issues I have would be

1. If it truly does need to condition a little. That's fine. But that is putting a product to market that isn't ready. That's a quick way way to lose customers if people open those up and they don't taste good because they needed more time. I get the "getting super fresh IPAs" but as a customer we wouldn't know if they finished brewing them yesterday or if they finished two weeks ago and then let them mellow out before canning. I'd argue the brewing isn't done until it is what you intended. Mellowing or not.

Three of us sitting there on Friday and we barely made it through a mug.

2. I had ddh Galaxy on 11/29 as well. I'll argue day and night that this wasn't the same beer. Wish I had a photo of it the first time... My untappd description was "cloudy as f$#k". What I had on Friday was slightly hazy. But not super cloudy. Yes the keg could have been stirred previously. But the first time I also got such an acidic burn from it my tounge was tingling like I had went to the dentist and got novacaine. This was better as it didn't feel like my tounge was asleep. But I still didn't like it.

Again, could just be me not liking it. But all 3 of us had similar opinions.

 

I think there is still some debate as to just how easy it is to scale up the NE style of IPA. All the NE style heavyweights do things on a scale that is orders of magnitude smaller than Founders or Bells.

I don't brew, so take everything I say with a grain of salt, but until we see someone produce a NE style IPA on a larger scale, I'm going to presume that it's a difficult substyle to scale up.

Still, there's enough of a market for it that any state with a large beer culture should be seeing smaller breweries doing this locally.

 

Agreed with this whole heartedly. I feel like it's not even just ramping up production of that style either. Most small batch beers that Founder's has brewed in the past (think Lizard of Koz for the black party, etc.) have been great, yet when they do the same beer for their large scale nation wide releases, the quality seems to suffer. I'm guessing if Founder's ever does nail a NE style IPA, it'll be a small batch, draft only offering. Really hoping a smaller place in GR catches on to this style soon though, it's tough justifying all of that drive time with a family full of little kids.

 

I hadn't had DDH Galaxy before and I would add that You Can Get With That Juice did not taste the same as their previous release, IMO. Not sure if this is the intent of the brewery. I guess I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one as I am a big fan of most of their offerings and all of my previous experiences there were great. If this had been my introduction to Ellison that definitely would not be the case. I was really looking forward to trying DDH Galaxy for the first time and to having Juice again. I was very impressed with the initial release and enjoyed several bottles. Something was definitely off with the first (and only) can of DDH Galaxy that we opened Friday. I am hopeful that these will taste better in a week or two, but who knows.

I am glad to have a source like BeerAdvocate to learn that conditioning would even be an option. I never would have guessed that one could buy beer that was 'too fresh'.

 

Please report back on your findings in a week or two.

 

Agree with what others are saying, the DDH Galaxy is kind of a bitter mess right now. Dawn Street was a nice surprise as I hadn't tried it before, very crushable. I also felt like JUICE was better the first time around but then I had another can last night and I thought it was pretty great all over again. Fingers crossed the Galaxy chills the F out.

 

I only bought a 4pk of the DDH Galaxy, counting my blessings now, very disappointed with the one can I drank, and the other three went to friends with a "wait a week or two" warning. Old Nation definitely has impressed me with M-43, Ellison not so much overall.

 

Relativity. Without a doubt their best beer and 10x better than "juice" why they decided to can any of the recent releases over that beer is surprising to me. Agree with everyone else here though DDH galaxy is not very good and honestly, I highly doubt 2 weeks is going to change that. Although, I did open a juice bomber from the first realease about 3 weeks ago and it was tasting remarkably better than I had to remember it being. Maybe Ellison beers just need a month and a half on them to reach their peak? Either way, I have very little hope for galaxy.

 

Has anyone actually seen North Peak Stormy Oat IPA in the wild? Doesn't seem like its hit distribution in Grand Rapids or even points north up to Cadillac. Reviews seem quite favorable, maybe due to generally low expectations from North Peak?

 

Drinking my NP Stormy right now. Disclaimer: I don't think I've even had a true "NE-style" IPA before, so I'm not sure what I'm looking for. But as a beer in general, this one is just okay. It's par for the course for North Peak and pretty much a middle of the road IPA. There is a bit of juicy punch up front, but the finish is a bit too bitter for me. It does have a nice hazy appearance though.

 

I found a 6pk on the way home. The bitter piney finish is somewhat a detraction from an otherwise decent take on the style. Regardless, it's still the best beer I have had from North Peak. The price point and availability is a plus.

 

Not looking at your other comments, I'd say this doesn't mean too much!

 

Agreed. Cracked open some DDH Galaxy tonight and was also not a fan:



Maybe it was wrong of me to assume this beer itself was going to lean towards a NE style but like others have mentioned, it's a bitter/floral mess.

 

Ironically, the most expensive beer was the worst.

I wish I had just went to Old Nation that morning, TBH.

 

Hey don't start that pricing talk...lol

 

And the first beer to sell out.

If it's priced higher it must be better!

 

Or maybe because it was in the smallest supply. 50 cases vs 200 cases of the Juice.

 

...thought the winky face was sufficiently implied....