Poll: Which is the best beer distribution state?

FWIW, I have seen it posted in BA threads that the reason we have such good selection/distribution is that due to regulations the brewery is paid immediately upon the wholesale distributor receiving the shipment. Apparently this is not the case for other states?

Maybe some BA who is in the PA wholesale distribution business can confirm the details here?

Cheers!

 

Oh, I understood. My post more of a joke on the use of the phrase "Philly has some ones".

 

Gotcha. I describe Adele Exarchopoulos as kinda attractive, so I'm not very hyperbolic. Unless I'm talking about my kids, who are the cutest and often worst kids in the world.

 

I haven't been to too many states (especially in a beer seeking manor) so I'm voting MA. I love taking a trip to Boston for some trillium and stopping at kappy's and other bottle shops on the way home. On a side note... I think in any state poll CA will always win because (correct me if I'm wrong) the population is far greater than other states and therefore more votes.

 

Luckily I'm one of the few. My local selection(Chester County) has bars, restaurants, beer distributors and breweries with awesome selection, plus I've never seen a better consumer craft keg selection anywhere else and I've lived/traveled all over the US.

 

How's the selection in the city of Chester?

 

I live in Chester County, the city of Chester is in Delaware County, so unfortunately I can't speak to how the selection is there.

 

Lots of Olde English and Colt 45. But outside of that, I'd guess that you wouldn't be seeing a large selection of Firestone Walker.

As far as the regions in PA go, yes Philly is quite a bit better than Pittsburgh in sheer numbers. But for the larger breweries, outside of Firestone Walker and Sixpoint, I can live without the others that Philly gets but Pittsburgh does not. The fact that Firestone gets to Philly but not Pittsburgh is heartbreaking to me though. But on the flip side, Philly doesn't get Fat Heads which has some of my favorite IPAs. Unless I am overlooking someone huge, the rest I can live without, Russian River included.

 

Looks like Pittsburgh area is getting Alpine the second week of April--is that statewide as well?

 

Thanks for clarifying this. Where this is really a plus is when some bar (e.g. Church Key, Smoke & Barrel) wants to have an event. With some planning they can bring in all sorts of great beers (Hilll Farmstead, Alchemist and one that I would have never heard of, Brewery Vivant.)

 

Fat Heads is not prevalent in the Philly area but we do see it from time to time. I bought a case of Head Hunter IPA last year and I had a couple of draft pints of Head Hunter IPA about a month ago.

Cheers!

 

I would assume it's the same way with Chicago and I know it's that way with Philly, which BTW has the best distribution in the country.

 

I was going to add that about Pittsburgh, I hate we can't get Fat Head's beers. They make some great beers.

 

Same thing with FW here. I can go to 2 shops and get DJ or 805 or DBA and usually Union Jack but god knows how old they are and the price is very high.

 

FWIW, my purchases of Fat Heads have been super fresh. I believe that case I bought was less than 2 weeks old.

Cheers!

P.S. While we get a lot of FW in the Philly area my personal experience is that they are always old (e.g., > 4 months old generally). I have not purchased any FW in a long time. I am hoping that the canned FW that is allegedly arriving in April will be fresh(er).

 

Yep, which is why California isn't close to the best for distribution. In-state, I think we have the best overall selection of breweries, but the out of state distro is shit. In fact, there are even a ton of excellent SoCal breweries that we don't have access to in NorCal.

Edit: and agreed with the point above that it matters less if your local beer is great. Thankfully ours is.

 

I'm thinking House and Caliente carries FW (and the like) around me. Maaaybe Dee's.

 

House and Dees were what I had in mind. I've only been to Caliente's once.

 

California, no contest.

 

When you say Wisconsin, you've said it all.