Poll: Which is the best beer distribution state?

There are only 3 options, Illinois (Chicago), Pennsylvania (Philly), or California (SD & SF). People saying Vermont, NY, NJ, etc need to look at the sheer number of breweries that have distribution in these states. It's not even a contest.

 

Washington DC, and it just keeps on growing...

and not even a state

in my many years here, more and more breweries keep showing up. Also with self import you can sometimes get some obscure stuff, although it isn't cheap.

 

As a Canadian, can I stick my nose in here?

I have been to most of the northern states from Illinois east to Maine (IL,MI,OH,PA,NY,VT,CT,NH,MA,ME). As someone who gets almost no American craft beer in Canada, I would have to say that NY and VT are leading the way on distribution. Am I biased because they are the two easiest states for me to get to? Perhaps. But I am always amazed at what I can get in both states when I do my tours of the Northern U.S.

 

Only as a Canadian...

 

We get a few good ones. Here's what's on-tap (not including bottle/can) right now: http://www.phillytapfinder.com/on-tap/

Find me another selection like that....

 

Ha!! After I read this post I went back up a voted for California....because clearly as we all can see....results don't lie do they?

 

Don't know that it's "sheer number(s)"...OP simply said "best"....still going with California...

 

I wouldn't even put Florida in this discussion with what ABC Liquors, ABB and a couple other big boys are trying to do here with distribution.

 

My vote goes to "Eh, who cares?". Especially when one lives in a region with tons of great breweries. Plus,WA gets hosed on distro anyway.

 

It is pretty awesome here. What I will say is that we miss a lot of the midwest, as well as the culture here is so focused on (D)IPA's that a lot of the high gravity stuff gets overlooked... Which makes me sad.

 

i agree i grew up in northwest bergen county, so 10 minutes from ny state and 20 from the city. \ better availability up there then what ive got in monmouth county now

 

Depends heavily where in Maryland you are located. Yes the distribution is the same, but...

 

Did you ever consider our backwards case laws is why we have so much variety. If I was a brewery, I'd want to be in a state that requires larger purchases. I love our selection, but do agree that our rules are lame.

 

I think NY, PA and IL seem to have the best. It just comes down to personal preference. I would take Cigar City over Three Floyds, so I'd probably give NY the edge over IL, but others would probably prefer Three Floyds. PA has Russian River (I believe on tap only) and Cigar City but doesn't get Schlafly.

 

Absolutely.

A couple years ago someone who was into statistics and ticking (@nickd717 I think) compiled a list of which states had the best beer distribution. His results were Pennsylvania #1 with New Jersey a close #2. However, he noted many beers distributed to Pennsylvania were only available in the Philadelphia area, which he felt skewed the numbers in way that weren't reflective of the entire state. He concluded that if you consider beer distribution across an entire state NJ was effectively better than PA, despite the lower numbers. Furthermore, many areas of NJ are within an easy traveling distance of Philadelphia and New York City, so NJ residents still reap the benefit of those high distribution areas.

EDIT: @barflybastard PA has some beer wastelands, but distribution in the Philly area is second to none in the country and that can be proven empirically by comparing the raw number of breweries/beers between regions. It's been shown in other threads. Plan a road trip!

 

@nickd717 Started seekabrew, which is why he might know.

 

Not sure if RR makes it to IL, so I put PA. NC is getting closer though

 

As usual, polls like this might as well say "Where do you live?"
Also as usual, there are a lot of states that are laughable contenders. If the state doesn't get great distro outside of its home region, it isn't the best.

 

I went IL as the beer distribution is one of the few things the state has going for it.

 

I admitted Philly sees more than the rest of the state; outside of Philly you'd have to venture into the limited grey market to see many of them (at increased prices and decreased quality).

The same could be said of our Chairman's Selections in the liquor stores, which allows for discounted/bulk wines we might not otherwise see, but--and I'm not making an argument for/against privatization here, while this ostensibly is promoted to increase consumer selection, it's a misnomer because (like beer availability throughout the state), many of the options aren't available but to a few.