Epic Brewing to Begin Distribution in Texas

Discussion in 'Southwest' started by Todd, Jun 13, 2014.

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  1. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    Salt Lake City, UT, June 12th – Epic Brewing is pleased to announce it will begin distributing its full range of beers in the state of Texas. Distribution will be handled by Andrews Distributing and Keg 1 LLC.

    Andrews Distributing will cover the Dallas and Fort Worth areas while Keg 1 LLC will distribute in the Austin metropolitan area. Both distributors are nationally recognized with an emphasis on innovation and quality. They have a long standing history, commitment to service and match Epic Brewing’s craft centric philosophy.

    As production from the Denver brewery continues to expand, additional counties will be opened with a priority on the Houston and San Antonio areas before the end of the year.

    “We have had many requests for our beers in Texas the past few years,” said National Sales Manager Michael Malachowski, “and the increased capacity from Denver we can finally answer their call.”

    Full product rollout will occur the beginning of August and the inaugural launch will be celebrated with a series of events. Announcements for the events will be made through Epic Brewing’s website, newsletter, and social media.

    “I love reading the social media posts coming from Texas about our beers.” said Co-Founder, David Cole, “They have been waiting a long time for the full release and we are excited be part of the scene.”

    Epic Brewing Company, LLC was opened in May of 2010. Epic Brewing Company was founded in Salt Lake City and is known for its passion for brewing award-winning, boutique, full strength, real Ales and Lagers. Epic is distributed in the following States: Utah, California, Colorado, Oregon, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia & DC, New Jersey, Minnesota, North Carolina, Michigan, Washington and Wisconsin.

    For more information on Epic Brewing Company visit: www.epicbrewing.com

    For more information on Andrews Distributing visit: www.andrewsdistributing.com

    For more information on Keg 1 visit: www.keg1llc.com

    ###
     
    #1 Todd, Jun 13, 2014
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  2. Texasfan549

    Texasfan549 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Feb 26, 2011 Texas
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    It continues to boggle my mind when any new brewery to the state skips Houston with its first run of releases. Avoid the biggest city in the state with the most diverse population? Great business plan... smh
     
    #2 Texasfan549, Jun 13, 2014
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  3. aschwab

    aschwab Initiate (0) Mar 3, 2009 Texas

    Simple:

    Austin > DFW > Houston

    Even Epic knows it.
     
    #3 aschwab, Jun 13, 2014
    Westyn, BeerSocrates12, shnsajax and 4 others like this.
  4. Ben7773

    Ben7773 Pundit (808) Mar 22, 2013 Texas
    Trader

    austin and dfw are smaller markets in case they don't get enough business its easier for them to pull out than if they were launching in houston.
     
    #4 Ben7773, Jun 13, 2014
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  5. Clarkson

    Clarkson Zealot (740) Feb 26, 2013 Texas

    It seems to happen nearly every time, so maybe its not the total population, diversity or biggest liquor store in the universe that is the metric for choosing their initial TX market. More craft drinkers per capita in DFW & Austin? Higher markups and margin? Better deal from BEK than Silver Eagle? Maybe that big population of BMC drinkers are keeping y'all down.
     
    #5 Clarkson, Jun 13, 2014
  6. Dajtai007

    Dajtai007 Initiate (0) Jan 15, 2009 Texas

    How about the idea of where this beer is coming from has a lot to do with it. Coming from Colorado...the north. That means the closest two major markets are Dallas/FW and Austin will get it first to test the waters. And the two farthest SA and H-Town will get it later. I believe it's been the same with other new brewery additions to the state: FW, Odell's, Ballast Point, Upslope, etc.
     
    #6 Dajtai007, Jun 13, 2014
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  7. cultclassic89

    cultclassic89 Initiate (0) Oct 19, 2013 Texas

    Well that's disappointing.
     
    #7 cultclassic89, Jun 13, 2014
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  8. nathanmiller

    nathanmiller Initiate (0) Oct 7, 2009 New York

    I think this is probably close to the truth - it's easier to launch to small markets while production isn't quite at the level needed to enter Houston. I remember when Elevation came to Texas they said they doubled their production in order to enter the state. I would guess capacity is the main driver in this decision.
     
    #8 nathanmiller, Jun 13, 2014
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  9. Clarkson

    Clarkson Zealot (740) Feb 26, 2013 Texas

    Who says DFW is a small market? Population wise for the metro areas, DFW is bigger than Houston metro.
     
    #9 Clarkson, Jun 13, 2014
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  10. E-DUBB

    E-DUBB Initiate (0) Nov 21, 2012 Texas

    thats ok. Houston has @mattchow distribution.
     
    #10 E-DUBB, Jun 13, 2014
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  11. Techichi

    Techichi Pooh-Bah (2,061) Sep 25, 2012 Texas
    Pooh-Bah

    Breweries are afraid the further south their beer travels....the cloudier it will become making it less desirable. Bad news Houstonians. :grimacing:
     
    #11 Techichi, Jun 13, 2014
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  12. Dajtai007

    Dajtai007 Initiate (0) Jan 15, 2009 Texas

    Maybe larger in population, but smaller in Craft beer population.
     
    #12 Dajtai007, Jun 13, 2014
    kjkinsey, TexasStout, Jvrdz24 and 4 others like this.
  13. Heretic42

    Heretic42 Savant (1,118) Aug 31, 2011 Texas

    I've always been kinda curious about this. Do you have any numbers to back it up? The only (possibly poor) indicators I've been able to see are basically the time it takes for special releases to disappear and which cities breweries decide to land in first (which may be due to market research, proximity, or other reasons).

    Outside of St Arnold releases, which Houston seems to hoard in excess of everywhere else in Texas, DFW clears stuff out incredibly quickly.
     
    #13 Heretic42, Jun 13, 2014
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  14. Clarkson

    Clarkson Zealot (740) Feb 26, 2013 Texas

    I'm with you, I've never seen anything that says Houston is a bigger market. Maybe DFW is the bigger market and that is why brewers who want to enter the state start here. Or maybe DFW has more of an "Emerging" scene that Houston.

    Lets not discount the reach of BEK and Andrews as well in terms of volume and geographic area. That doesn't discount Silver Eagle though, because they are the second largest distributor in the country. (BEK #3 Andrews #7).

    Or maybe it's simply the ever present feud between Dallas and Houston is now spilling into craft beer :stuck_out_tongue:
     
    #14 Clarkson, Jun 13, 2014
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  15. UHCougar12

    UHCougar12 Initiate (0) Feb 21, 2011 Texas

    First run in smaller cities to gage demand for the 4th largest city in the country. ie goose island did not use this technique
     
    #15 UHCougar12, Jun 14, 2014
  16. blatherbeard

    blatherbeard Initiate (0) Sep 30, 2007 Texas

    and how many brewpubs does houston support?

    Oh yeah, that closed too.
     
    #16 blatherbeard, Jun 14, 2014
  17. HookemHops13

    HookemHops13 Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2013 Texas

    Something something dead horse something something stick. Who cares....
     
    #17 HookemHops13, Jun 14, 2014
  18. mattisloco

    mattisloco Maven (1,306) Feb 13, 2007 Texas
    Trader

    Yep.

    Why doesn't someone reach out to the individual breweries for the actual answer? The DFW vs Houston vs Austin vs SA shit is old... yes this coming from me. Maybe I'm still drunk.

    My guess is it's all distributor/$ related.
     
    #18 mattisloco, Jun 14, 2014
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  19. rjtx000

    rjtx000 Initiate (0) Nov 22, 2013 Texas

    Saw some bottles sitting on the counter at total wine last night but was informed they were just samples and total wine wouldn't be carrying their products...
     
    #19 rjtx000, Jun 18, 2014
  20. pushstartnow13

    pushstartnow13 Initiate (0) Nov 28, 2011 Texas

    Picking a distribution partner is not an easy decision and it is based on many factors, many of which have been mentioned. Some breweries like to ease into it, to not stress production, some come down to relationships from other breweries at a particular distributor, some is based on other distributors they may have in other states (they may enjoy the bud network or the miller/coors or independents or a nice mix of all). The rest of the state will come soon, this gives Epic an idea of what to expect. Fyi, there is no denying Houston is the biggest, by dollars and volume, than all the other metros...the debate is does it make it the best?!?
     
    #20 pushstartnow13, Jun 19, 2014
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