NE IPAs in Michigan?

I’ve been loving Arvon for a while now but my crush has skyrocketed over the past few weeks with the new taproom. The new space is great and the people have all been really cool and welcoming. It doesn’t hurt that my office is only a few minutes away either.

I highly recommend making a visit if you’ve been on the fence.

 

Has the NEIPA bubble popped, or just the Old Nation NEIPA bubble popped. Was in my local Meijer today and checked can dates and the M-43 was dated early November, and the boss tweed early December.

 

While what you reported seems to be the norm, I was surprised (shocked actually) to find 1 week old Boss Tweed in my local Kroger yesterday, and it is tasting great.

 

It appears to run in cycles with no rhyme or reason. But yes, for the most part it's much more challenging finding it fresh these days.

 

At my local shop, there has been an influx of other options in the NEIPA market over the last three months (Austin Brothers, Transient, Brew Detroit, etc.). Feels like the market is getting more crowded, although M-43 and Boss Tweed are better than most of these offerings. Shiny new object is distracting.

 

I can offer some insight on this. The problem is two fold. One is the massive orders that Imperial is now buying in bulk from ON at once, instead of 180-200 cases of M-43 and110-140 cases of Boss, they are now looking at about 1,800 M-43 and 750 of Boss with a normal pick up.

Second, people dont care to rush out to buy a product they can get all the time. ON is suffering from the same shelf fatigue any popular new IPA has had after becoming a more available option. (Pseudo, King Sue, Zombie Dust etc...)

My worry for ON is that they still haven't diversified their offering at all. I also grabbed a 4 pack of super fresh Boss this week and have only had the craving to have just one of them so far. They need new, fresh, and smaller batch beers badly.

 

Man I’d love if King Sue was a shelf turd for me! It doesn’t last a weekend at most stores around here

 

Damn, I actually wish it was harder to get. King doesn't age well at all, unlike alot of there other beers. Latest batch I just picked up was canned in early January, and honestly it taste terrible. I miss the guaranteed freshness that use to come with alot of TG beers, especially King.

 

This is spot on. It's the same as it ever was.

Which is why I hope all breweries that are looking to get "big" realize that they better have a rock solid plan in place to stay relavent- unless the end-game is to simply cash in.

 

They’ve released only a handful of other beers, almost always just variants of M43, and always at the brewery (with the lone exception of Strawberry M43, which is wildly overhyped). I think M43 is turning into Two Hearted - available everywhere, pretty good, a consistent craft option for people who don’t typically spend time in bottle shops. Old Nation isn’t a brewery I ever think about anymore.

 

I’m not arguing the general point you are making, as it’s rational. But in no way should Two Hearted ever be referred to as “pretty good”.

 

That's why we stock it at Walmart.

 

In all honesty, the distribution market for NEIPA in Michigan has become extremely lame and boring.
ON releases have been uninteresting or just plain bad( i'm looking at you DDH Greenstone),
Shorts is terrible at NEIPA's,
Oddside dank series has become undrinkable at best,
Big Lake had one decent beer last year....

What we need is a new brew co to join distro with a very small case input like the old ON, but on a much more differentiating basis. Arvon is my hope here.

 

You're getting King Sue in Michigan?!

 

Hopefully soon from what I've been hearing lately from the brewery, but no I pick up 80% of my beer drinking option on my bi-weekly trips down to Wisconsin.

 

Transient started distributing to Lansing recently. I visited my normal bottle shop for the first time in several weeks today. They had 7-10 different beers on the shelf. I was told only two were recent deliveries. I’ll consider purchasing when they start dating their cans.

 

I was excited to learn that Arvon will be delivering to the Lansing area on Friday, 4/10. I will definitely be placing an order Thursday.

 

I also wish they would date their cans. I guess I can go into their social media and try to figure it out but that’s too much for me. mans I like quite a few of their beers, just don’t want to buy 3-4 month old IPA and DIPA.

 

Same thing here unless the bottle shop owner has a “in’s” with Mr. Betts. Gave up on these guys a long while ago. Heard their ipas are still shit so (shrug emoji)

 

Especially not theirs. I bought some fresh Juice is Loose probably two years ago. It faded very quickly, like 4 weeks or so. I’d hate to drink it after 3-4 months.