NE IPAs in Michigan?

They sold out about 7:30 last night.

If they can get some of the (horribly named ) Froot / Fruit Road in cans i'll be there.

 

I'm walking back my earlier statement about Boxer not being as good as M-43. Enjoying it more and more with each can I open. Not quite the true hazy IPA that M-43 is but it has everything I like in an IPA. Cans seem to have better carbonation than it did on draft also. Old Nation keeps putting out IPAs like these and they'll have themselves a customer for life.

 

Just to follow up on my earlier comments re: Ellison. I did reach out and they were more than accommodating in regards to the DDH Galaxy release. I will make a point of regularly purchasing their beer in the future.

 

For anyone hunting Old Nation Boxer in the Ann Arbor area, Session Room on Jackson Road just tapped it today. $7.50 for a 16 oz pour with smaller sizes available. I definitely enjoyed it a lot!

 

Maybe they didn't have the carbonation right in their tap system at Old Nation. The carbonation was perfect when I had it yesterday at Session Room in Ann Arbor.

I haven't been able to have M43 and Boxer side by side and instead had them at different times, only on tap. I liked both but would lean slightly towards Boxer.

 

Ran into some Stormy last week and while it was a solid beer, my biggest issue with it was a rough/bitter taste of oats on the finish. Still, I think it's fair to slot it under the "NE IPA" subcategory, because some variation across a style is to be expected and it hits most of the main characteristics--hazy, full-bodied and even that somewhat juicy/saturated taste until the finish came in and ruined it.

I'll drink the rest of my sixpack (was really hoping to find a single), but won't buy it again, especially with all the options that are available these days in Michigan with a little bit of effort. Case in point--with just a little bit of work, I'm now sitting on a case of mixed Old Nation, Witch's Hat and Ellison beers, which is just about the right amount for me to drink it all before it turns back into a pumpkin at midnight on Week 3.

Also had Boxer this weekend, followed closely by some M-43 on tap, and while I prefer M-43, both are really good, and different enough to be worth getting both. Still need to get my hands on some more Transient hops--the little I've had has been really good.

 

Is this implying that Witch's Hat bottles are in distribution now?

 

They have bottles at the brewery.

 

Let's just hope for another release before March 4th... c'mon Flightless and Obligatory!

 

Regarding Stormy, I feel like the bitterness is hop-derived (reminds me of grapefruit pith) and it does seem to fade with time. Unlike some other beers of this style, this still tastes quite good with over a month on it (from the 12/16/2016 batch). The most recent batch was packaged on 1/24/2017.

 

Im in Florida and tried a bottle yesterday (bottled 1/24/17) at a local place. I was really surprised how good it was, and quickly found out that a bunch of stores here carry it. Im going to grab a six pack in a bit. I had never heard of North Peak before, and was surprised that we get it here in FL.

 

Maybe I'm just dumb--where are the bottling dates for North Peak? I must've looked special standing in the beer aisle at Lucky's for 15 minutes trying to divine a date of some kind...

 

On the label itself in the government warning section. It's in black ink and blends in well.

 

After a bunch of M-43 I find I really like that bitter finish of Stormy

 

Tap only for now but Old Nation put their Greenstone DDH APA on tap last night so I stopped in to try it. Another quality offering from them. Tons of flavor and haze packed into a 5.5% ABV.

 

A quick update: I was told at the brewery today that Sipplicious was just an internal name for this beer when it was first brewed and on tap as experimental. As of today this beer is being released in bottles as their newest year-round packaged beer which is now called Mango Surprise. It is quite turbid and juicy, if you can consider mango as juicy.

 

Is it a Mango IPA (with added juice)?

 

They keep saying "mango infused"

 

I didn't ask the question, so I don't know. I could not taste mango specifically, so it just kind of gives a juicy flavor.

 

M43 release this Saturday 8am. And very good news for us Michiganders...one of the best posts from a brewer I've seen in quite a while. Old nation, if you are on BA, well done.

The question:

Why aren't they emptying the other tanks and only brewing this? Founders prob does $50 million off of all day IPA. Only need 1 beer to get on the map and run with it​

The response:

It's as frustrating for us as it is for you, AJ. First, we have to scale up in a way that makes certain that we are being fiscally responsible (brewing, say, 120 bbl of beer at huge cost and not making great beer would hurt us a lot more than help), and responsible to the folks spending what is, to my mind, a lot for a 4 pack of beer. Right now we have our last scaling step in the tank, at 60 bbl. Starting next week, all we will be doing is making M43 in 120bbl batches. On april 7, we'll release a lot of this beer, with 2 large batches of 60 and 80 bbl between now and then. I'm not a rich man, and we've just now experienced any success after a year and a half of trying to reach out to beer fans in MI. We need to build dry powder up in the form of funds and notoriety to make sure that once we hit the market we can sustain growth. That's for you, me, my wife, kids and employees. By spring, if the distributor does it's job, we'll be everywhere and THEN, we'll see how it goes. 15 years of work as a professional brewer led up to this month for my brewing partner Nate and I, and we need to make sure that when we shoot, we hit the target. I promise that you'll get what you want, in the volume you want and with the convenience you want by the spring. Thanks for sticking with us as we grow!!!​

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