One unintended consequence of the Craft Beer Movement™ is the demolition of the India Pale Ale. What was once a proud beer in history is now the litmus test of a particular brewery’s worth. If their IPA isn’t good, the rest of their beer must suck too. The dearth of nearly indistinguishable IPAs on the shelf of your local bottle shop is not unlike shopping for a bottle of Chardonnay. The average wine drinker can’t tell the difference between a jug of Carlo Rossi ($8.99) and the 2010 Domaine Laflaive ($560). The same goes for the average beer drinker. So, to some extent, craft beer haters have a theoretical point.

Of course, in practice, they are full of shit. A good IPA is still a good IPA, and a bad IPA is still called Weyerbacher’s Last Chance IPA. I just wish the Craft Beer Movement™ was not so nose-in-the-air about the whole situation and was more inclusive.

On the flip side, one unintended positive result of the Craft Beer Movement™ has been the regionalized style of the IPA. West Coast IPAs are well documented for their intense flavor and hoppy profile. Deschutes, Rogue, Ballast Point, Stone, Russian River, Sierra Nevada, Ninkasi (did I miss any) are renown for this style of full-bodied, full-flavored resinous beer. There are the East Coast IPAs from Dogfish Head, Victory and Tröegs that balance their hops with complex malt profiles delivering a more rounded flavor.

Somewhere along the line, a third geographic style was born in America’s mitten. Michigan has become a major player in craft beer with exceptional IPAs from Founders, New Holland, Bell’s and Dark Horse. The latter is a recent import to Upstate New York with its oddly-named Smells Like a Safety Meeting. SLSM’s flavor profile is emblematic of the Michigan IPA: orange and resinous with a strong, dank aroma and taste. It pours copper to amber and hazy with very little head. It’s more intense in flavor than Bell’s Two-Hearted, which is not a bad thing. After all, sometimes you feel like a beer jumps up and pokes you in the eye and Sometimes you want an easy drinking, hop-forward ale.

And that’s the thing with Dark Horse’s Smells Like A Safety Meeting. This beer is big and bold, and full of flavor. And, not unlike every Michigander I’ve ever met, it dominates the room and reminds you that it is from the mitten and deserves to be respected because it’s not like all the other beers on the shelf. And, it earns it’s spot.

Brewer: Dark Horse Brewery

Beer: Smells Like A Safety Meeting

Style: IPA

ABV: 8.5% IBU: n/a

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Price: $2.33 (purchased as a single) Point of Purchase: Sam The Beer Man, Binghamton, N.Y.

To The Eye: Copper-to-amber/dark orange in hue and opaque.

To The Nose: Strong dank, pine aromas that dominate the area around the glass. Rather than just emit a scent around the glass, it jumps up and teases people around you.

To The Palate: Moderate carbonation and full body. Orange and resinous flavors that are bitter and hoppy. Everything is well-balanced but intense.

Aftertaste: Bitter with some bulk on the back end. It’s tough to explain, but this is a dense beer that doesn’t go away.

Boozy Factor: It’s strong, but the alcohol is certainly commensurate with the beer.

On a Scale of 1 to 10, with 10 as highest: 8.5