It is pretty fair to say that I've got a beer-crush on barrel aged Narwhal. Of the four 2014s i scored last year, i was only able to hold onto one - the other three were drank nearly immediately. I'm excited to be at the time of year again to be able to net a few of these, but so far have not heard of a Michigan date. I've noticed CA, IL, and NY - i.e. big markets - have this, as do some online retailers. Its only a matter of time before we do, right? Anyone have any regional gossip on this?
I know that our Whole Foods locations in Ann Arbor had to split a case; each store got six bottles, and this was right around Thanksgiving. After Christmas I was at a store in North Carolina that still had cases of the stuff literally stacked to the ceiling. My advice: if the allocation looks thin in MI this year, head to your closest neighboring state and fill your stash there. BA Narwhal is one that I will buy every bottle of that I see, but I won't go calling/hunting around for it. It is really darn good but not worthy of a laborious chase IMO.
It was similar with BA Bigfoot last year - granted, I think some stores got a little more than just a case, but it's still bizarre to go to other states and see 10 cases sitting around months after release. SN regular line must not sell well here, because clearly there's a demand for greater allocations of the BA stuff.
Unfortunately, the closest neighboring state won't allow this inside their border, due to the ABV. That's okay, though, because they allow me more than my regular fill of Grapefruit Sculpin, until BP makes their way here next month. I understand that, per the SN rep, Pine Ridge Market and Canopy both sell the most SN product in SE Michigan. I find that hard to believe, but if it means he favors those two stores, I'll at least know where to continue to look (and pay extortion-level prices)
Seems like CA breweries dont distribute much in michigan. Firestone walker and the things like ba barwahl, ba bigfoot, ba old rasputin have been challenging for me to find in mid-michigan. There might be a handful of cases in the area, and then you have to deal with customer lists and bottle limits.
I would imagine that Firestone Walker not distributing to Michigan at all could be adding to your challenges in finding it in Mid-Michigan
I can't remember what month it was (early summer?) but I found some BA Bigfoot in Midland when I was visiting there. 2 bottles sitting on a top shelf and I only grabbed 1 @ ~$22/bottle
