Welp, update time.
Finally went down to the Hyde Park location. Kind of a sad facsimilie franchise feel to the place, but they had 12 JP taps and 9 from North Peak including a good wet hop IPA. The bartender was kind of cautious of us for some reason, and didn't really get that I just wanted to try beers that were new to me. He seemed fairly knowledgeable about the beers. I'd mentioned that i'd been to the original brewery in Dexter and their first brewpub in Ann Arbor. Later he asks me "well how big of a JP fan are you?"
while trying to pitch me a "vintage cellared" 2017 bottle of Clementina for double the price.
Mixed feelings as the beer and fries were mostly good, it just felt like a sellout at this point. Most of their
9 locations 10 locations (Detroit airport just opened) are like this, run by a restaurant group with no brewing on-site, but still a pretty respectable and extensive selection. They had several JP drafts & to-go beers I hadn't had before, so that was a plus. Not sure why they don't open until 4pm on weekends either, maybe staffing issues but I counted 8+ staff there. Maybe not enough staff for 2 shifts, idk. All the other locations open at noon.
I've strayed away from their canned flagship beers as they all taste scaled up and watered down with less barrel time. Bottles have mostly been good. Tried Single Hop Simcoe that I liked pretty well.
Question for Adam, Ed, or maybe Deco> Do they still brew at the Traverse City location? Can't find any mention of it, and there's a distillery on site there now too.
