NE IPAs in Michigan?

The only local hops I'm drinking right now are from Arvon... I really, really dig the stuff they are putting out. I miss Homes cans but that'll have to wait until we can leave the house again.

 

Lansing-area Meijers hve Ellison cans, Dawn St, Crescent Fresh and Relativity, for $10.99, I also found Austin Bros Murky Murk for a decent price. I like their beers.

 

I emailed Transient after I posted this stating that I wouldn’t be buying their beer if they weren’t going to date the cans and inquired if they had considered it. I have not gotten a response yet.

 

i responded to a Facebook post regarding their beers, and Transient said they would put the canning dates on the site. That was yesterday
I do see a few of their beers have canning dates listed on the website now.
Baby Steps
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THE JUICE IS LOOSE (canned 4/8)
8% DIPA, citra and simcoe
GOV'T MANDATED LONELINESS (canned 4/6)
7.3% IPA, spelt, enigma, southern passion; collaboration with hailstorm
MOON MONEY (canned 3/24)
6.5% IPA, citra and galaxy

 

Michigan has the best NEIPA there is. The elephant juice from ferndale project/eastern market brewing. It’s like Kobe beef from japan once you taste it everything else is just mah. I had an M43 yesterday which IMO is one of the best NEIPA out there and one of the highest rated beers on this site and all I could think is that it’s like a watered down version of elephant juice. And I do think the M43 is an excellent beer. EDIT: they just came out with a new NEDIPA and are dropping another NEIPA this week after I try them I will leave a review.

 

Got M43 yesterday from 711 in Wyandotte on Biddle and was dated 3/27/20. I bought some boss tweed from a local liquor store in Wyandotte a couple months ago and was dated over a year old. Forgot to check the date. They gave me a refund at least. EDIT: the M43 was actually from marathon on Biddle and Northline. Not the 711 I mixed up two purchases

 

I’ll have to try this but I just looked this up in Untapped and it has a rating of 4.06 with like 3100 ratings.

 

Doubt it!

I drive the 2 hours to 3 Floyds every few months for a brewery run, then hit up an Indiana bottle shop on the way back to stock up on Toppling Goliath beers.

 

It.... is far from the best NEIPA in Michigan, it isn’t even the best NEIPA they make. Ferndale Project’s Salad Days and Seeing Green both better. It would be one thing if they priced it like Brew Detroit’s Cloud 19, but they charge premium prices for a beer that IMO is decidedly worse than M43.

 

You have to try it man that’s why I’m trying to hype this beer up because I think it is way too underrated. I think it is because a lake of reviews. Do you know how many that rating is based on? It’s an awesome beer you have to try it. I just check there site today any they are out of stoke unfortunately. I plan on trying the new unfortunate times NEIPA they just released. There just released another one to but I can’t remember they name of it

 

Six point will be launching in MI in June, Trailhaze and Meltdown will be coming with their initial drop.

 

Send me up some of the APW and Dreadnaught 4 packs. Really wish they would start distro of those to WI.

 

I'm hearing good things about Wax Wings and Ascension

I tried to get down on Wax Wings but their prices and online experience is just obnoxious. They are selling singles and I think the cheapest I saw was 5+ last release. Beyond that there is no structure to their drops, its like here's an instagram post, good luck.

No chance on Ascension yet. Anyone had them?

Also, M43 is fantastic. It can't be understated. Those guys were on the brink of closing down and were single handedly saved by that beer. The problem is they rested on their laurels and haven't shown much (success) in diversifying. They even had that Wood Shed series and the best beer there, the Brut, was just repacked as B43.

 

I didn’t find Ascension to be anything special. I would put them behind HOMES, Old Nation, Transient and Arvon (that is how I rank them). I’ve only had a few beers from Arvon and Homes. I wasn’t overly impressed with Arvon. Two of the 4 beers were very good. The other two were nothing to right home about. I don’t get the fascination with kettle sours. Arvon was 4 for 4. I put Old Nation 2nd because of the quality and consistency of Boss Tweed and M43. They make a ton of both and it’s always great. I don’t care that they don’t have a ton of variety. Throw in an occasional ME-MI or DDH M43 and I’m happy.

If you

 

Looks like Old Nation is releasing Full Earth in a couple weeks. The post said limited distribution through the summer. Been a couple years but if I remember this one was pretty popular.

 

Ascension is just OK. A far cry from HOMES, Transient, Arvon, Austin Brothers, and Wax Wings. Old Nation is just hard to care about when they only make a couple beers, but M43 and Boss Tweed are definitely better than Ascension's stuff. I think Ascension's best stuff is with the Gorilla Juice line of stouts.

Wax Wings does their sales like Treehouse does (who they were reportedly inspired by, used to live in Massachusetts), by the can, and Arvon is doing their sales the same way. I pay $20 for a HOMES four pack, there's no difference paying $4-5 per can for singles. If anything, it's nice to have the flexibility to only pick up one or two. Wax Wings is making exemplary IPAs, kettle sours, and porters/stouts.

 

Weekend review - popped open HOMES All Together, Austin Brothers Sir Murks A Lot, and one I’m very excited about, Bells’ Incessant, in cans for the first time.

HOMES continues to be by far the most consistent NEIPA brewer in Michigan. This is a pretty standard IPA and hop bill done extremely well. Could drink a million of them.

Sir Murks A Lot is a return to form for Austin Brothers after a few less exciting offerings recently (looking at you, X Murks The Spot and We Can Juice It!). Thick, lush body - this seems to be a trademark of theirs at this point. Tropical fruit, honey, caramel, piney bitterness, all very well balanced.

Been waiting for Bell’s to really commit to doing a NEIPA and distributing it widely. Had this last year in bottles and remembered liking it. This is really delightfully juicy, big peachy tropical pineapple, white winey, has a really great light fruitiness, excellent balance with piney bitter hops. Thinner than a true NEIPA but a nice sort of hybrid. I loved their Sideyard NEIPA release last year and hope they’ll fully commit to having a few hazy offerings around, we all know Official ain’t it.

 

I had the All Together offering from Arvon yesterday. It was great. Also got a can of Jurassic Haze. I’ll try that one soon.

 

Did a face off between the HOMES and Transient All Together....HOMES wins that battle. I thought HOMES was a fantastic beer that lead you down a path of juiciness to hop bitter that was really well done and at a slightly thinner body then I expected but that was enjoyable as you can throw back a few easier. Transient's version did not have the explosion of juice and was more floral. More of a blend of a East/West coast beer but still enjoyable and worth it for the cause.

Also got a delivery from Arvon, a few weeks ago and boy oh boy were those some great beers. Silk in the Wind and Detour Reef were the stand outs from five different beers I got. Still kicking myself for not getting more of that Silk in the Wind than I did.