Oskar Blues setting up brewery in Austin?!

I might be wrong on this. It sounds like a lot of people are upset that a big out of state brewery is coming in and not immediately taking up arms. Frankly it's not their place to do that, first of all. Second, do we as a state need someone from Colorado to come in and change our legislation? As far as them not making sense, I'm pretty sure OB is sound in their business practices. I'm almost certain they are not planning to open up shop without a solid business plan. Why don't we extend some good ol' Texan courtesy to them before we start calling them asinine or shitting all over them.

 

If they do decide to take up arms, it will be only after they are up and running and beer is rolling off the assembly line. For them to start challenging the TABC without permits in hand and all production is a go could be suicide.

 

Speaking generally, I wouldn't even ask out of state breweries coming to Texas to "take up arms". I'd just ask them to consider the wholesaler they are choosing to do business with, and ask if that wholesaler supports the interests of craft brewers. Far too often we see out of state breweries signing with wholesalers who actively lobby against craft brewers. -- Jeff

 

That is how all breweries should act, IMO. But, what are the odds of OB splitting with Ben E. Keith, nil to none.

 

1) Oskar Blues is with Ben E Keith (Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas member, who have opposed everything craft brewers have tried to accomplish legislatively and came up with SB 639 in 2013)
2) Silver Eagle (Beer Alliance member) was one of the few distributors who both supported the positive bills and opposed the negative ones in 2013.

This might be a clarification that no one really cares about, but far too often I see all distributors lumped together into the same boat and confused with one another. There are good ones and bad ones... and the good ones deserve credit for it. You may have issues with Silver Eagle otherwise, but the legislative arena isn't a place where you should.

[Full disclosure, Silver Eagle is one of our distributors]

 

It was my mistake, I edited my post to mean BEK not SE.

 

My $0.01 (discounted since no one asked for it) - now is not the time for Oskar Blues to jump into the Legislative game like some white knight. Quite frankly, someone from CO coming and telling the TX Legislature how it should be done would go over as well as an OU Jumpsuit in Austin.

As I'm sure most other Texas Craft Brewers Guild members would say, I welcome Oskar Blues to Texas and hope they get involved in our Guild to the level they feel comfortable.

 

I get that side of it. But, when did Oskar Blues start coming to TX and sign on with this distributor? I am guessing it is some time ago before any of these issues were out in the open like they are now. Were there any other options?

 

Oskar Blues has been distributed in TX since about 2008, IIRC. There were far fewer serious players in craft beer distribution than there are now. BEK practically had a monopoly on out-of-state craft breweries. The only other one I can think of that had a decent portfolio was Duff, and brand management wasn't exactly their specialty. It's unfortunate that Oskar Blues tied themselves to a distributor that has found itself on the wrong side of the legislative battle (a battle that didn't really exist in 2008, mind you, because there were less than a dozen distributing TX breweries at the time), but I can't really fault them for it. I just hope you're right about them waiting until their licensing goes through before they "rock the boat". I want my crowlers back!

 

That is sorta how I felt on that. I do agree that they aligned with the wrong one, but you can't fault them for something they did not know back in the day. These days, there are good other options.

 

Out of curiosity, what would it take for a brewery to switch distributors?

 

Better question for the breweries people on here. But, Oskar Blues is stuck with Ben E Keith's as long as BeK wants them from my understanding. You can't leave them if they don't want you to.

 

Ouch, so it's one and done.

 

I dont know what BA recognition is, but I will say that I live by JK and they have great beer. My brewery of choice is Solid Rock. The Cho'Sen and Dauntless are just amazing. Double Horn is a pretty good place to get some suds.

 

read: national recognition within the beer advocate community

 

It would be typical for a distributor to compensate a brewery for distribution rights. This is actually the underlying issue with SB 639, which made it illegal for breweries to sell such rights. Based on BEK's job -- distribution and service -- I would suspect that OB is satisfied with BEK, as evidenced by their very high visibility in stores and on tap and OB's decision to significantly expand their presence in this market. They wouldn't be coming to Texas if BEK had done a bad job, IMO.

 

Even if that is true, it does not change the fact that even if OB wanted to leave BEK, they can't. Nor were there choices in 2008 when they came into Texas. Nor were there all these legal battles going on either.

To say that OB supports the wrong people because they are with BEK is a bit of a stretch to me.

 

Well put.

 

Any updates on this? I remember the original post saying the brewery would be up and running by 4/20/2016, but I haven't heard anything confirming this lately.

 

Per the ATX/SA rep, the grand opening is being pushed back to May due to the fact that they haven't started brewing yet (though the first batches should be started soon).