SA Current "Best Locally Crafted Product"

Same logic by which Subway sometimes wins "Best Sandwich Shop" in polls like this - because a lot of people are friggin idiots.

Nothing personal against Ranger Creek, but nothing they do holds a candle to Freetail.

 

Don't be surprised if you run into craft beer people (as in, outside of this forum) in SA/Austin who aren't aware of Freetail. It happens quite often unfortunately and it's tough when info about the brewpub is mostly spread through word of mouth.

 

Exactly. I know a lot of people who I consider fairly knowledgable about beer who dont even know that Freetail exists. In these types of polls, people often just pick the name they are most familiar with (even if they havent had their product). So I dont put much credence in such poll results.

 

The fact that Freetail came in second say a lot about them. Freetail us the only place you can get freetail. Branchline is in tap at multiple places as is Ranger Creek. Plus RC bottles so its more accessible. Once Freetail starts distributing and opens up its 2nd location, it will be a different story.

 

Freetail has no distribution, so I'm not sure why you'd be surprised. You have to be exposed to something before you can appreciate it.

That should change after the beer bills pass the state Senate, and Freetail can start hitting bars and shelves.

 

What he said.

And while it may not make sense to the BA community, RC really is crazy popular down here (not sure about other cities). Their beers fly off the shelf (even Small Batch series) and they seem to do very well in draft accounts as well. We as hardcore beer geeks may favor Freetail, but the everyday beer drinkers of SA apparently have a different opinion.

 

It's just like how most of Houston likes St. Arnorlds due to the stronger distribution that they have.

Least St. Arnold doesn't have infection issues

 

It's ok, Freetail also placed in like 4-5 other categories, so it is doing just fine. Also RC also makes whiskey so perhaps that helped sway some of the non beer drinkers votes.

Also this: http://sacurrent.com/best-local-beer-1.1477419

 

Yeah, lack of distribution is the culprit here.