At Dyess AFB for a week...8-12 April. Stopped by H&H Beverages, fair national selection, asked the one person there for the best "local" IPA's, the shows me Dogfish...ahhh is Delaware considered local in Tejas? LoL, nonetheless, picked up some Deep Ellum and Real Ale...is that it besides Shiner?
The problem is that you are in Abilene. 3 hours from DFW, 3.5 hours from Austin, 4.5 hours from San Antonio, and likely 6 hours from Houston. There isn't much reason for local breweries to distribute much out there and there isn't much of a craft beer culture. There are over 300 breweries in Texas, so "is that it"....clearly not. You can probably find some better DFW brands around, but I wouldn't trust many people in Abilene liquor stores to know good beer. There are 2 active (actual) breweries in Abilene - Sockdolager and Pappy Slokums. I believe Sockdolager is probably the more "crafty" of the two, but it has been some time since I have had Pappy's. There are some other brewpubs around town, but I wouldn't even bother.
I've been to Abilene a number of times but I've never drank beer there. Looking them up I am more interested in Pappy Slokum than Sockdolager. Sockdolager has the more generic lineup. A Blonde ale, pale wheat ale, low ABV dark ale, and an old school IPA. Pappy Slokum has a cream ale that actually sounds legit and not a "cream soda" beer. And an 80 schilling and an imperial red ale among others. I couldn't really find Beeradvocate ratings for them but on Untappd Pappy Slokum seems to have a rough average of 3.7 while Sockdolager averages roughly 3.5. Even Pappy Slokum's hefeweizen Garner's a 3.66 which I'd think is respectable given Live Oak Hefe only has a 3.87.
