Austin breweries: least common in the wild?

Just curious as to what everyone considers the rarer/more obscure/least-stumbled-upon breweries in Central Texas? This isn't meant to be specific to any single beer (ie. 512 Double Pecan Porter) but just in general which breweries seem to have the fewest tap handles in town.

For instance, I've still never tried anything by Twisted X. I know of a few places like Brew Exchange that carry them, but not having been to any of that small selection of bars that carry Twisted X I've never "accidentally" stumbled upon any of their stuff at various joints.

Other examples would be South Austin Brewing Co. (maybe due to my never getting much further south than downtown) and, to a lesser extent, Circle (who I've seen come and go at several bars up north but they seem to have problems sticking around).

 

I live and work up pretty close to where Circle is based, so I would think my area would, if anything, be OVER-represented, but no so much. Outside of Opal's Marina most of what I've seen has been non-beer bars with a limited craft selection give them a shot, and if you've only got 5-10 tap handles they're probably not moving as fast as you'd like so it doesn't last long.

 

Main concern for existing breweries that are already having supply/distribution issues: what are you going to do when more breweries open, and even local-oriented bars like Craft Pride have to start getting selective with what they put on tap?

 

I don't think it's necessary to have every available local beer represented. It can be a pain in the ass to track down some of the more elusive beers, but the hunt definitely adds a little sport to the hobby.

 

I haven't actually been in there yet. Do they have room for potential expansion, a la Whip In?

 

Right, well that actually speaks to my original point, that being any local breweries that are already having a hard time getting shelf space and tap handles only face an uphill battle from here on out. My own opinion is that there are already a few local breweries that would never be able to stay in business someplace like Portland or Colorado with the quality of product that they're offering, so I'm not sure this Darwinian bottleneck is necessarily a bad thing. Thinning the herd and shit...

 

I agree that local-centric is the wave of the future, but it can be a double-edged sword and that's why I don't mind seeing a few of the bottom feeding breweries fall through the cracks... I'm not terribly interested in trading in a Deschutes or Stone tap handle for a mediocre Austin brewery that I'm never going to drink anyway.

 

Ideally, sure, but how often does it pan out that way? I may be in a minority here, but I'd rather have the better beer every time, regardless of where it's from. I'm not going to drink an 8 just because it's local when there's an out-of-state 10 on the menu. If brand loyalty requires me to be a total sucker than I'm afraid you'll find me a most traitorous bastard indeed.

 

Yeah I didn't mean to imply you directly but there are plenty of BAs who will openly admit to going with an inferior local just to keep the money in the community. I can't hate on the motive, but I'm not willing to settle for lesser beer just to drink local. I do tend to default to local if the quality is in the same ball park, though.

 

JK is a high profile brewery in a town that was already predisposed toward craft beer long before they came along. I'm not sure their business model translates in any way to an average start up in West TX.