Pivotal point going on right now as Southwestern Distributing has sold out to the Budweiser distributor. Southwestern was never aggressive IMO in promoting craft beer, but now I worry that Hand may make things worse. My hope is that they see this as a way to pick up the growing segment in a market that has probably seen a dowturn for them. Regardless, being in a rural area that is controlled by Central Distributing (Budweiser), they may not come to my area because of non compete clauses, which will destroy my sales. Pray that good things come to our area.
A little off topic, bit since your talking about Memphis beer scene- have there been any new breweries opening up recently? Nashville has seen a crazy influx of breweries opening the last year and coming up soon... Curious is Knoxville, Chattanooga, anywhere else in TN has seen any new breweries as well?
Memphis beer scene has seen very little improvement over the years. I got Lagunitas IPA to sell on draft yesterday, but it was from DET distributing from Jackson Tn. Sadly, Southwestern has done a terrible job acquiring beers from breweries that well in TN and I'm afraid it may get worse.
