Yes, Texas is indeed BIG. I have family that live in Hill Country and local beer choices is great there. In Fredericksburg they sell t-shirts that advertise: Texas is bigger than France. Cheers!
I consider local to be a one hour drive each way. Rhode Island can be driven through in less than an hour so parts of Mass. and Conn. are in range. There are numerous, quality breweries available and I should take advantage more often. I've been on a revisit kick lately featuring imports and old favorites. I picked 50/50 although 70/30 favoring revisits is more accurate for the year so far. Cheers.
Arkansas is at least 10x better now than when I moved here in 2016. Still not good enough, at least in Little Rock, for me to drink only (or mostly) local beers. @russpowell probably has it a little better than me being in NW Arkansas.
A few years ago my wife and I stayed at state park outside of Hot Springs. The closest supermarket was about 10-15 miles away and was more the size of a market I would have shopped at a very long time ago. The best beer at that market was Sam Adams Boston Lager. It drank nicely when sitting by the campfire and toasting marshmallows. The beer scene in downtown Hot Springs is better. We drank beers at a small brewery on the Bathouse row. The beers were not great but quite drinkable. Cheers!
Arkansas is still one of the few states I haven’t been able to check off (I’m at 46). Even living in Texas I just can’t find their beers.
That brewery was likely Superior Bathhouse Brewing. It's definitely not in the top tier, even for Arkansas, although I'll drink Space Force if I see it on tap. I go to Bubba Brews when I'm in Hot Springs. It has better beer, better food, and better views. If you ever make it back there are several decent breweries in the state I'm comfortably commending now.
I don't think there's a single brewery in the state that distros out of the state. If you get stuck, let me know.
I still have fond memories of that salsa you sent me in the BIF, so you've got that going for you, which is nice.
Likely to be in Hot Springs in a few weeks. Yes Superior beers are just OK (drinkable). Thanks for the tip about Bubba Brews. There is also a German restaurant in town that has a nice selection of German imports. Any other suggestions in Hot Springs would be appreciated. Cheers!
Should be great weather in a few weeks. Still a little hot this week. There's not much else for breweries in HS. If you make it to Little Rock there's a lot more options. But make sure to get some pizza at Deluca's, if you're a pizza fan. (SQZBX is decent pizza too and I think they brew some beers although I've not had any that I recall.)
I do have a lot of quality options, ever changing, and varied styles that are fairly local. Having said that I'm always looking for new ticks.
So you're telling me i should bring as much beer from Belgium for my time in France? I fucking hate wine and have been wondering if i should "tripel" my haul if i don't wanna drink French beer
Let's not forget that a lot of them also opened because they were greedy opportunists trying to turn a profit when they saw the craft beer movement trending upwards. A brewery in CA comes to mind that recently closed. "The Strand" Brewing was started by some Real Estate bros who switched to Beer Industry when the housing market began crashing . I feel bad for the workers they fuck over in the end, but i like to think they're better off in the end not working for pieces of shit.
Yeah 50/50 I believe. I try most of the new local stuff, I include Oklahoma in my definition. ( Tulsa is closer than Little Rock ). Hard to get away from the tried & true from Sierra Nevada, Founders & Bells for starters
