Beer Availability

Living in Philadelphia certainly has its perks as most of the big craft brewers are either here in distribution or show up for a PBW event. The other great thing about living eight miles from I-95, is that I can be in New England in a few hours and get access to all the great beers up there. I've been known to hop in the car on a beautiful Saturday just for a trip up 95 for a Julio's run in Westborough, MA.

 

From north of Boston I have reasonable access to HF, Alchemist, Tree House and Trillium -- and ME brewers like MBCO etc. Planning and timing and mule/wife cooperation are keys to access and volume scored and reducing /minimizing frustration when on a mission to get the incredible beers of these brewers. Cannot underestimate the mule/wife situation -- especially when trying to score trade bait. Some ridiculous wine/barrel/sour that I have no desire to drink but is gold when looking to score some Nelson or PSue or Pliny. Trillium is the new kid on the e block I've been heavy in their beers for weeks cause it's so easy to go get. -- wtg for that place to explode. Cannot believe I can drive 15 minutes and score as much Fort PointPale as I can fit in my car -- and not wait in line or be limited to 3 growlers per trip through.

Score of my location - 8/10. Compared to SD or Portland Benchmarks

Score of my amazing wife -- 10 (or maybe priceless....).

 

Imports are really good here but the general availability in NYC of good ales is a little weak... You really have to journey to find good bottles. But agreed that there are lots of awesome beer bars. Still don't quite understand why the local breweries are so weak... I hope that single cut starts to bottle or can soon.

 

I'm in northern Virginia...

I don't particularly enjoy the traffic and the high cost of living, but I have a good supply of decent beer. I've never traded for anything (too much of a pain to deal with).

And yes, while I'd love to try Heady and Pliny, there are plenty of good IPAs/DIPAs to choose from.

 

Gotta love the Funky Budda. Hopefully they will start bottling or canning soon to share the love.

 

Meh, vegas kinda sucks. Because of all of the tourists here we've kinda been overlooked. There are a few here but meh. I just stick to the small variety my local liquor store and choose from what little is there.

 

Bad.........real bad. Have to put some miles on the rigs for better selections.

 

Arizona has a good distribution range and we can drink many, many great regional breweries. Local is not so good compared to other metros our size, but is improving somewhat.

Helps that we're a short drive to San Diego, or reasonably short flight to Denver.

 

Chicago beats out Philly as well. Wish it weren't the case but they have it really good.

 

Cleveland is great. Ohio brews a lot of what people want, and get most brought into a wide variety of venues.

We don't get it all, but we get most.

 

They do bottle every couple of months. On July 22nd they're releasing Lairds Apple Brandy BA Muy Bonita. So far they've done MBCP, Nib Smuggler and More Moro. I'm hoping for a berliner soon. Also their growlers are counter pressure filled so they have a pretty decent shelf life. This coming tuesday they're doing No Crusts growlers.

 

Right now I'm in San Diego. Just no good beer here. Sucks!

 

a few hours

 

I KNOW your tongue is deeply embedded in your cheek..

 

NJ has an excellent selection of both craft and imports and the local beers are getting better. However many BA's here seem to be overly concerned about beers they can't get.

 

Somewhat better in Madison than MKE, but the good news is distribution to WI's increasing/improving everyday. Deschutes next week, Surly by (hopefully) 2015.

 

I have no real complaints about Chicago, and I'm at the point where beer availability is a manufactured worry because I have enough locals that make quality goods and that can keep me and my wallet plenty busy. I l have lamented that we are behind the curve in the past, but these days with how much we have going on and starting up. We've pretty determined that our future has no place to go but up and that we are WELL on our way to becoming a destination, and a beervana in our own right. Not too mention with the number of different cultures that have their own identity and own neighborhoods and their own importers, we have the world at our doorstep and we do things with our immigrants that are unimaginable in their homelands; (force them to get along) which only means even more interesting things are bound to happen as these cultures and their immigrants step into the good beer game and realize there's an inbuilt support network for them and they can offer their own take on good beer that enhances their native cuisine, and embiggens our American mutt cuisine which fuses them together.

 

Savannah, GA gets all of the leftovers from Atlanta. So any big releases go to Atlanta, and if they don't hog everything, then we get those beers a couple months later. I think we JUST got Stone's Saison.

 

Feel pretty spoiled with what I have access to. Gonna be moving in a week and already bumming with some of the beer I will no longer have available to me....fortunately, it looks like I will be gaining access to some great stuff that I can't get here in Colorado, so there is definitely a bright side. Guess it is going to come down to how fresh stuff is.

 

Maryland - namely, southern Maryland (St. Mary's County) - pretty much sucks. We get the readily available stuff with no trouble (Stone, DFH, Lagunitas, Brooklyn, Troegs), but we stand no chance of getting anything even semi-limited. Pretty much the only good beer stores south of DC/Annapolis I know of are the two Nick's locations.

Sure, it's a short-ish drive to NOVA, but I don't want to spend $30 on gas just to get my hands on 'rare' beer. I'm REALLY hoping Calvert Brewing Company takes off spectacularly later this year, because - if nothing else - I want another truly great local option to go alongside Evolution.

Then again, I managed to pick up some fresh Saison Dupont, fresh Perpetual IPA, and a bottle of Allagash Odyssey locally this weekend, so it can't all bad here, can it?