I have a good friend that will be in Fresno in a few weeks, and he'll be driving back to the midwest (where we both live). He's willing to pick up a bunch of Russian River bottles for me, but I'm not able to find any locations in Fresno on the website distribution list. If anyone knows of somewhere in the area he could buy some, it would be much appreciated. Thanks!
They apparently don't distribute there. Just NorCal, Sac, and SoCal. Fresno is central valley. I was wondering because I've never seen any RR in several trips to the central coast (have yet to have a reason to go to the valley) and this explains why. The closest place where they would be able to get it is San Jose and finding a "bunch" of RR bottles is sadly a thing of the past without several store visits.
You won't have much luck getting anything but Pliny in San Jose area. They literally don't distro anything else here anymore. Best bet is to head to SF
There's no RR distribution to Fresno, unfortunately. I'm all out at the moment, or I'd help with an IP trade, but maybe someone else can hook you up. There is good stuff here though: for bottles, have your friend try The Fort, Spokeasy, Das Bierhaus, and Beer to the People. They all post to Facebook or Instagram, so you might want to watch those to see if something you want is being released. BevMo and, especially, Whole Foods are other options. As far as Fresno locals, definitely pick up some Tioga-Sequoia Rush Hour and DDH Gen. Sherman bottles. They also do growlers at the brewery (Thu-Sun). If at all possible, have your friend get a growler of Lancelot from House of Pendragon in Clovis. They only fill on Wednesdays, only Lancelot, and only stainless or glass flip-tops. Both places will take growlers from other breweries, as long as the logos are taped over, so you can send some growlers along with your friend. I wrote a post in this thread, that is more in depth. It's mostly up to date, except Beer to the People is new, and HoP does growlers now. Let me know if there's anything else (specific or styles) you're looking for. I may be able to point you in the right direction, or at least make some suggestions.
Do they get FW in Minn? I would have them load up on that, maybe. Not sure what makes it out do Fresno, but guessing their distro sucks compared to the big cities.
Distro is definitely not as good as the larger cities, but you might be surprised. It's definitely improved over the last 2 years or so, and continues to do so. Now you can find things like Cantillon, Abraxas, ADWTD, etc. Of course, they sell out almost as soon as they go up. It looks like MN, doesn't get FW, so I second chcfan, in that you should stock up. It's plentiful, and usually fresh here. Sucaba already seems to be gone, but might pop up again. If he's here in March, you might be able to get Parabola. If you were wanting the RR sours, Almanac and Cascade would be good bets.
Apparently, there was limited distribution at one time. I didn't live here at the time, but I've heard rumors that their distributor didn't meet RR's demands for refrigeration of the product. I don't know if that's true, or if they just pulled out to meet increasing demand elsewhere. Either way no RR for Fresno today.
