New Belgim beers in michigan.

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mlyday

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I have to say I was pretty happy when I went to the store last week and saw the big display with there beers on it.

We took a trip out west last year and I drank a bunch of fat tire and ranger ipa's.
 
AW yeah! I finally got a bottle of Fat Tire. I NEED to remember to take that with me down to my BIL's house this weekend.

I hope it's as good as it's reputation would lead me to believe.
 
Homercidal said:
AW yeah! I finally got a bottle of Fat Tire. I NEED to remember to take that with me down to my BIL's house this weekend.

I hope it's as good as it's reputation would lead me to believe.
Click to expand...

No, it's not all that good really.

I think it's "ok" and it was one of the first craft beers I can think of that has mass appeal so it got kind of a cult following because it wasn't distributed to the east. It's sort of plain and bland, but with more flavor than American lagers, so it's easy to drink and inoffensive.

The good thing is that it's really cheap compared to other craft beers when we're in Texas, so we'll often buy a sixer of Ranger or FT to have on hand when guests come over.
 
Fat tire is one of my favorites but I gotta leave the state to get it. Supposedly the bourbon companies regulate the beer companies that can sell here in Kentucky.
 
Homercidal said:
AW yeah! I finally got a bottle of Fat Tire. I NEED to remember to take that with me down to my BIL's house this weekend.

I hope it's as good as it's reputation would lead me to believe.
Click to expand...

Its pretty good, but its almost at little too bready. I grabbed a ranger and a red hoptober to try also.
 
I am a big fan of Fat Tire and their new beer Shift is good stuff! It's a Pale Lager but I would say it's a pretty well hoped more flavorful lager....
 
So far the Triple, Red Hoptober, Ranger, and Fat Tire were all one time purchases for me :-/
 
bwirthlin If you can find it 1554 is one of the best beers New Belgium makes IMO.
Click to expand...

I agree. 1554 is one of my favorite beers ever and I can't wait for it to get to Michigan.

My understanding is that NB enters the market with 22's then after a while introduces 6ers and more from their portfolio.
 
I love Fat Tire. My guess is that people that don't like it just aren't a fan of that style. It is an amber ale that doesn't have the hop presence that a lot of American ambers have. Somebody mentioned that it might be too bready. I think it's just right. The truth is Fat Tire is a great beer, but some people just simply don't like it.

The Red Hoptober has been a bit inconsistent, but maybe that is to be expected for the first year of a seasonal release. I have had a couple bottles that had great fresh hop aroma and flavor and were really enjoyable. And then I've had a couple that didn't seem to have much hop character at all, and seemed boring and bland. Maybe it was inconsistency in how the beers were handled. I have a hard time believing is was inconsistency in the brewing/packaging process (NB is huge and thoroughly automated). I have bought some at nice bottle shops and others at Kroger, so I'm sure there is some variance in handling and storage between those.

I'd definitely recommend trying out the Shift pale lager. It is a light lager with almost IPA level hop aroma and flavor. When I first tried it, I couldn't think of anything else I'd had that was similar.

Also, I got lucky and went to a store with an already great beer selection the day after New Belgium's Michigan launch day. They had a couple from the Lips of Faith series. I picked up the Super IPA, which was a collaboration with Alpine Beer Co. out in California. I would rank it right up there with all of the great double IPAs I've tried.

I also picked up a bottle of their Biere de Mars, which I'm going to let age for a few more months, because of the Brettanomyces added at bottling.

One other I'd recommend for anybody interested in Brett beers is a collaboration between New Belgium and Brewery Vivant (out of Grand Rapids). It is called Escoffier Bretta Ale. I bought a 4-pack (16 oz. cans) and drank one. It blew me away. I'm going to age the others and try them at various intervals of time. The side of the can says to age for up to 5 years. The few beers I've tried from Brewery Vivant have been amazing. They are definitely not cheap though (anywhere up to $16 or more for a 4-pack).
 
I was very happy to see the appearance of Flat Tire and other New Belgium brews at Meijer a few weeks back. I love the 22oz bottles and I know that the weekly ad from Meijer or Kroger this week had an announcement of more New Belgium varieties in 6- and 12-packs coming in soon!
 
Glad the 6 packs are coming. I really like Ranger and Shift. However, they did cut into the shelf spaced reserved for Michigan beers at Meijer.
 
First sighting of 12-packs, 6-packs and individual 12 oz. bottles at my local Kroger today. Picked up a 6er of Snow Day. Woot!
 
The sale price on the 6-packs are pretty good at $7.15. Makes it a better buy than the 22oz bottles on sale for $3.49. Their dubbel is pretty good.
 
Dubbel?

Looks like you got a better price than I did. My Kroger has the 6-ers for $7.99 and the 12-packs are $13.99, but that isn't too bad.
 
Yeah, their Abbey brew is a Belgium dubbel. I've got a horrible sense of smell, but I got some really great sweet aromas from this beer, and the taste is certainly quite a welcome change from my usual IPAs.
 
Yeah, it was at our Meijer here in Allen Park just the other day on an end-cap. Picked up a six-pack. They also had the IPA, tripel, Flat Tire, Hoptober, and maybe a couple others.
 
Huh, I haven't seen that one around me. We've had the Ranger IPA, Tripell, Red Hoptober and Fat Tire. I think Red Hoptober has now been replaced by Snow Day as the current seasonal brew. One store did have a couple from the Lips of Faith series right around the original MI launch day. Other than that, I haven't seen others.

And it is Fat Tire, not Flat Tire.
 
I saw those vivant colaborations, but was didnt feel like dropping that much on a unknown. With your raving review, ill have to pick one up.


signpost said:
I love Fat Tire. My guess is that people that don't like it just aren't a fan of that style. It is an amber ale that doesn't have the hop presence that a lot of American ambers have. Somebody mentioned that it might be too bready. I think it's just right. The truth is Fat Tire is a great beer, but some people just simply don't like it.

The Red Hoptober has been a bit inconsistent, but maybe that is to be expected for the first year of a seasonal release. I have had a couple bottles that had great fresh hop aroma and flavor and were really enjoyable. And then I've had a couple that didn't seem to have much hop character at all, and seemed boring and bland. Maybe it was inconsistency in how the beers were handled. I have a hard time believing is was inconsistency in the brewing/packaging process (NB is huge and thoroughly automated). I have bought some at nice bottle shops and others at Kroger, so I'm sure there is some variance in handling and storage between those.

I'd definitely recommend trying out the Shift pale lager. It is a light lager with almost IPA level hop aroma and flavor. When I first tried it, I couldn't think of anything else I'd had that was similar.

Also, I got lucky and went to a store with an already great beer selection the day after New Belgium's Michigan launch day. They had a couple from the Lips of Faith series. I picked up the Super IPA, which was a collaboration with Alpine Beer Co. out in California. I would rank it right up there with all of the great double IPAs I've tried.

I also picked up a bottle of their Biere de Mars, which I'm going to let age for a few more months, because of the Brettanomyces added at bottling.

One other I'd recommend for anybody interested in Brett beers is a collaboration between New Belgium and Brewery Vivant (out of Grand Rapids). It is called Escoffier Bretta Ale. I bought a 4-pack (16 oz. cans) and drank one. It blew me away. I'm going to age the others and try them at various intervals of time. The side of the can says to age for up to 5 years. The few beers I've tried from Brewery Vivant have been amazing. They are definitely not cheap though (anywhere up to $16 or more for a 4-pack).
Click to expand...
 
metanoia said:
Yeah, it was at our Meijer here in Allen Park just the other day on an end-cap. Picked up a six-pack. They also had the IPA, tripel, Flat Tire, Hoptober, and maybe a couple others.
Click to expand...


Our meijer had all those, shift, snowday, and 1554.
 
I didn't see 1554 in the Allen Park Meijer last week when I was there, but I have some friends from Colorado bringing me some tomorrow.

EDIT: 1554 is now at Meijer. It's my favorite so far! Dark, roasty/smoky flavor but still not heavy tasting. This might be a regular around here.
 
dongemus said:
I didn't see 1554 in the Allen Park Meijer last week when I was there, but I have some friends from Colorado bringing me some tomorrow.

EDIT: 1554 is now at Meijer. It's my favorite so far! Dark, roasty/smoky flavor but still not heavy tasting. This might be a regular around here.
Click to expand...

It amazes me how different all the Meijer selection are base on store. Our meijer has a huge beer selection, but the one 10 miles down the road is mostly BMC and a small craft selection.
 
dongemus said:
I didn't see 1554 in the Allen Park Meijer last week when I was there, but I have some friends from Colorado bringing me some tomorrow.

EDIT: 1554 is now at Meijer. It's my favorite so far! Dark, roasty/smoky flavor but still not heavy tasting. This might be a regular around here.
Click to expand...

Awesome, I saw it there the other day too, as well as Snow Day. I'll have to pick up some 1554 next; I've been slowly picking up 6-packs from Meijer and 22oz bottles from Kroger one style at a time. So far I've liked everything I've tasted: Flat Tire, Red Hoptober, Abbey, Trippel, Ranger. I'm glad all these styles showed up real quick, it reminds me of collecting Pokemon cards back in the day!
 
Meijer had 12-packs of Fat Tire for $12.80 this past week, not a bad deal.

By far the best selection I've come across at Meijer has been the one by Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills / Orion Township. At one point they actually had Sam Adams Utopias ("only" $200 I believe). They routinely have things that shock me. Just a crazy beer selection for a mega-mart...
 
Yeah, I was just in that Meijer yesterday. Crazy good beer selection for a place that isn't a dedicated bottle shop.
 
I almost picked up a 6-pack of 1554 today, but at the last minute decided that a porter would be better with a rich meal like Thanksgiving tomorrow, and decided to go with Founders.
 
iaefebs said:
I think that is a different Meijers than what we have in Michigan
Click to expand...

Nope, same old Meijer where I can find just about anything (I remember back when they were "Meijer Thrifty Acres").

They re-did this Meijer a few years ago and added all kinds of things you don't normally see like a high end beer and wine section and an olive bar. The liquor aisle has a 42" TV that helps you pick out drink recipes or something.

Not sure if it's a test store or something, the area (minutes from Pontiac) doesn't really strike me as the place for high end groceries.
 
It's just down the road from Clarkston and Rochester (different directions) and practically next door to the Palace of Auburn Hills. With Great Lakes Crossing, it is a super high traffic area. Makes perfect sense to me for it to have the selection it has.
 

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