Worst Distribution Regions

You know for a backwards state like Alabama, the beer scene is almost as good as the football. We get Bells, Founders, Victory, Lagunitas, Terrapin, Cigar City, New Belgium, Jester King, Ballast Point, Stone, Oskar Blues, Yazoo, Highland, and the list goes on. Plus we have a lot of up and coming breweries like Good People, Straight to Ale, Beer Engineers, Cahaba, Avondale, Blue Pants, and Railyard. Could be a lot worse. Wish we got some of the NC labels I am fond of like Duck-Rabbitt, Foothills, and NoDa.

 

@mikey451 what I mean is....I read that in Utah you can't get draft beer unless it's under 4% abv. I don't understand what beer is being served from the tap. I don't know of any beer that is under 4% abv. Unless it's non-alcoholic beer like O'Douls, I guess. For example, when I go to the bar here in Kentucky there are over 20 beers on tap and they are all over 4%. What beer do the people in Utah drink at the bar? I'm just curious.

 

Well now that I know I can get Founders in VA I think a little road trip is in order once this snow stops! Thanks!

 

I think Tennesse is similar, but 6.5% or higher at liquor.

 

Heading down to Naples next month. Will I have to bring my own? (Kiddin' of course. Always up for ttrying something I can't get here in PA, where apart from New Belgium & New Glarus, we have it pretty good.

 

Ouch. Feel for you, man.

 

It's sad. very very sad. I suffer for it. Stupid career! lol

 

And...No mosquitos year round!!

 

Splitting hairs, but 6.3% and below can be sold in grocery stores, gas stations, etc. Anything above that has to be sold in a liquor store. No limits on draft in bars as far as I know. No growlers over 6.3% either as far as I know.

There are some quirky taproom TN laws regarding ABV, but I'm not too keen on them.

 

The draft beers in Utah are at 4%. If they get below that it's because they're beers that are low in alcohol "to style". Eg. Hefeweizens, Lambics, Belinerweisses etc. The brewers make due and make flavorful representations of many styles that normally fall in the range of 5% - 7% abv

 

To me the biggest issue is that we generally run 2-3 months behind the release and such a small quantity gets spread out over a very large area in DFW. Hopefully companies like FSW and Founders will start to send more down. Southern Tier invaded this area very hard and really hasn't stopped. Curious to what Odell does.

 

Agreed--most of our complaints are about pricing and delays in distribution

 

Tru dat. Outside of Manchester, Nashua and Concord, you have to settle for run-of-the-mill Smuttynose, Red Hook and Throwback Spicy Bohemian, if you can find it. There are quite a few local breweries, but most of them are not very good, especially compared to those in Vermont and MA.

 

Canada in general is pretty sparse when it comes to craft beer, unless you live in TO, Van, or Mtl. Otherwise, you're outta luck. Living on the east coast in a province that only allows beer to be sold at government owned liquor stores can be brutal. Basically, if it's made in New Brunswick (we have fewer than 10 breweries in the province, only 3 of which bottle) you can get it at the liquor store, otherwise you might as well go elsewhere.

 

Well, we don't get Southern Tier or FSW yet down here. We also rarely get special releases from any of the breweries available in TX (no BCBS, no KBS, no Abyss, no GI Sisters, no Enjoy By, etc). We do get very small amounts of Founders including their awesome IPA generally past their enjoy by date. Even worse, we don't even get some of the more local TX brew like Austin Beerworks, Rogness, 5 Stones, Deep Ellum, Jester King and others.

I would take sparse availability over no availability.

 

This is true.

 

Just a year ago, I would have considered Hawaii to be a poor distro state, and numbers probably still state that as true. However, over the last year the craft beer scene has exploded in popularity...not by mainland standards, but for Hawaii standards, definitely. We finally got BCBS for the first time. Last year, we got Buffalo Trace Eclipse, this year we got practically everything but Buffalo Trace. Nearly the entire Ballast Point portfolio, Coronado, Deschutes, SN, a huge Shelton Bros. portfolio of Belgians and other European brews, Just got Left Coast back, and here in the coming months, Stone is supposedly partnering up with Maui Brewing to distribute some of their beers finally.

Otherwise, you gotta go to the Maui or Kona Brew Fest for some others like Bear Republic, Ninkasi, and others. Or thank the stars for suitcases and airlines.

 

Wyoming.

 

South GA

 

In Ohio now as is Deschutes, woohoo!!