Six months ago, I had my first N/E style. Now, cans of hazy are showing up in the stores. I love the stuff. I had burned out on American IPAs nearly 20 years ago and went exploring sours, stouts, farm ales, barleywines, etc. Now, because of hazy, I'm back into IPAs.

Best, by far, is from the tap. The further the cans were shipped, the less I liked the beer. The products from a distance may not have been as good to begin with OR, the shipping and storing time may have been too long. I just finished reading that New England Style does not store as well as regular IPA so I suspect the latter.

Is N/E style big in the Midwest? Is Mr. Barley brewing any N/E?

We are not. We are primarily a lager brewery and do not even make an IPA. That said, we're coming out with a very nice hoppy lager in the next few weeks that will make most IPA drinkers take note.

The NE IPA craze started up in earnest in Minnesota in 2017. I'm not sure people actually knew what it was, because some of the early efforts were no different in taste or appearance than regular IPAs.

Barrel Theory opened last year in St. Paul & they've been a huge hit. Personally I find their NE IPAs good but not great, & having them side-by-side it's tough to tell them apart. Caveat is that I'm in the minority; most of my friends love them.

There are several on the market in cans now, too. Blackstack makes a very good one called 755 & just put out a new one this week called Loud Pack that is easily the best local representation of the style I've had. They called it a one-off, but I'd be surprised if it doesn't come back, as it flew off store shelves.

tl;dr. There's a growing number of NE IPAs in Minnesota of varying quality. I suspect the trend will continue & quality will increase this year.