What Areas Have the Best Distribution?

Living in one of the least densely populated states, population equates to total beer sales, which equates to the ability to attract breweries to distribute here so we get fewer brewers on sale here. As far as when they show up and quantity, we do get BCBS on Black Friday but we tend to get Founders BA releases weeks after other markets. Some high-demand beers never turn up here, such as Lagunitas High West-ified Imperial Coffee Stout which never reached here in bottles but did on tap.

This year we got lots more KBS distribution than in the past, but the distributor which covers much of the state population only got 10 cases of BCBS. BA Fidy seemed pretty available here compared to other markets - I could have gotten over 100 if I was inclined to spend that much. Other markets sounded more scarce. Rum BA Fidy would have been great, though was brewery only.

 

Our distro is getting better, a lot better. I think it's hard to beat perhaps NY distro, perhaps Philly, seems like breweries are targeting major population centers that have lots of Reach. Most of the good stuff is held back and directed towards retailers who hawk their other beers, a reward system. This works in high population ares not so much if your really rural.

 

I always thought Chicago seemed to get the best distro.

I live on the pa/oh border and ohio blows pa away imo.

 

I think Michigan falls in the middle for the number of breweries that send stuff here. Generally the east side of the state gets a few breweries that we don't get on the west side too, so it's a little bit of a mixed bag.

Maybe the best source to determine which states get the most would be to count up every state in the database of the seekabrew.com site. Someone once did and posted the totals here, but it likely would be way out of date to want to search for that past thread. The seekabrew site is maintained by a BA member(s) but is only as up to date as the info that they receive from members here.

 

My general thought is that the keys are, in this order, what helps your distribution after proximity (not earth shattering thoughts):

1. Population
2. Affluence
3. Culture (Beer)

As such, Chicago, NY, LA might be expected to have decent distribution. In the D.C. area, I've always thought we got a decently fair shake on breadth of breweries and mediocre in depth from said breweries.

For the "rare stuff," I think the demand still outweighs the supply, so to the regular customer it seems hit or miss.

 

I've sent updates to seekabrew through their update mechanism and they've been totally ignored.

 

Wisconsin seems to have very good distribution. Most of what I hear about on here is available in at least one or two of the bigger stores in Madison. I'm guessing it's a combination of vicinity to Chicago and friendly alcohol laws. I don't really know, but I'm not complaining.

 

Denver has some solid distro. The only thing I can bitch about is Founders is scared of our market. I don't blame them though. Clown Shoes, pipewerks, and jester king all flounder here. I'm not sure founders would fare much better. Bells has an interesting strategy, they send a shipment out every quarter. It keeps things from turding on shelves when people can't count on it coming in every week.

 

To add to NYC's pretty kickin' local and regional scenes lately, it's always been really rock solid with the imports.

 

I'm very happy with central Iowa. We were terrible for a while, but things have really picked up in the last few years. We have great locals and get lots of regional breweries, The Midwest is great in general for beer. The only brewery with wide distro I really want that we don't get is dogfish.

 

WV is probably the worst state for distro

Ohio is probably one of the best

Honestly I can't get Stone IPA in WV but I can drive 1 mile over the border and I have access to 3 Floyds, Deschuttes, Bear Republic, Jackie O's, Victory, Troegs, Crooked Stave, Prairie Artisan Ales, etc...

crazy how beer distribution works

breweries I would like to see come to Ohio distro in the near future:

Surly, Toppling Goliath, Firestone Walker, Allagash

 

My local area in usually gets the new Stone bombers, Odell sours, Founders kbs (limited), Deschutes bombers, Toppling Goliath bombers, etc. The grocery stores tend to get limited access to special releases although the big bottle shops like Johns got Westvleteren a couple of years ago for example.

 

AZ seems to get a decent distribution, we get a lot of beers in and the dates are pretty darn fresh. I would think your major cities are going to do well and the people out in the distant areas may suffer longer wait times. Seems like things are getting better and better overall.
Good post

 

I recommend my area for the worst beer distribution in the USA. The nearest craft beer store is 30 minutes away, in Corinth Mississippi. They just got founders a few month ago, and they only really keep summer beers in stock. I'm more of a stout drinker, so often have to travel to other states or trade, to find anything tasty.

 

Distribution is always better on the other side of the fence

 

Lol we all do.

 

I used to live in Wisconsin and now I live in California. Based on that limited experience I can say that Wisconsin has better distribution.

 

Is it true that in Ohio you can only buy beer by the case at a distributor, or is that just PA?

 

I'd be pissed having to buy an entire case. Unless it's ageable.