Lucky you. In the south east is just the typical big name brands and an unrelenting wall of pale ale, unless you go out of your way to a store that specializes in boutique beers

Yeah I feel like the “lol OMG all craft beers are IPA” meme is pretty outdated, and just not true anymore in my experience.

I don’t think it’s just a west coast thing. I live in the Midwest, and my local Kroger has two beer aisles: one for typical macrobrew/domestic stuff, another entirely dedicated to craft beers. IPAs make up like 40% of the craft aisle, which is a lot, but it’s by no means the only option anymore.

This is true for the NE as well, but greatly depends on population size. Rural beer stores don’t tend to have as much demand for newer, different things.