Worst Distribution Regions

Are you in Montgomery County? Please tell me someone else in this conversation lives in Montgomery County? We get absolutely nothing. And if somehow a "rare" beer does make it into our vicinity, we have to pay double what everyone else pays for it. I hate my location!

Don't forget about all the stellar breweries we have in the state of MD. Oh, wait.

 

That is steep, but if you're talking about Hopslam, Expo, Cherry, Java and a couple more, that's typical!

 

They did away w/that about 2 years ago!

 

Living In Kentucky I complain sometimes about the selection and go to Ohio or Indiana for some variety, however I spent a month in Arkansas one week (land of the adjunct beers) and I will NEVER complain again

 

Deschutes opens in Ky on the 28th

 

And yet Seek-a-Brew shows that PA is among the very top states as far the number of breweries' beers available in the state. While some consumers don't care for the PA laws, brewers and wholesalers often benefit from them.

No they didn't - the retail distributor/case law still exists as does the quantity limit (no more than 192 oz. at a time) for the so-called "deli licenses". There are just many more deli license/bottle shops now than in previous years.

 

Alabama has been doing a great job of getting good craft beers sense they have raised the limit from 6% to
13.2%, but I went to Fort Worth Total Wine and stayed in there for over 2 hours. I can see where Alabama needs to grow, but it it a long way from where we have been. I busted my budget on beer, and cannot wait to try them all.

 

You know what it probably is with me, the new girl in school syndrome. Whenever a new girl would come to our high school I would think her hot, even if she weren't that attractive. Truth was, she wasn't hot, just different, which was exciting. Walking into a Whole Foods in CT and seeing stuff I don't get in RI makes me excited, probably not because it's particularly good, but because it's different. Though, you guys do have Gandhi-Bot and I haven't seen that on RI soil in well over 18 months.

 

If PA doesn't get your beer, you generally have very limited distro. It's shocking to me that they'd be in small markets like Tennessee, Arkansas, Iowa, etc but not PA. It's not like PA is that much farther from CO than Georgia.

 

That might be an "if" their NC brewery is built. They are dealing with several issues, like the arson incident, as well as toxic land that needs to be cleaned up. With a scheduled 2016(2017?) opening, I'm wondering if it will happen. Personally I hope they make it.

 

OTOH, a brewery that is running near capacity (like New Belgium) might not have the beer to "spare" to ship to a more populous state with a larger and/or more mature market for craft beer, compared to smaller markets. You can't really successfully enter a market if you don't have the beer to sell them.

 

In other news, North Carolina will be catching up to Virginia distro this year (mostly.) We are supposed to get Sixpoint, Firestone Walker, Troegs, and Cigar City. Hopefully Schlafly too? And if DC Brau came down here life would be great. Cant wait!

 

4% ABW I believe

 

Oh for sure. My point is that it's surprising to see them venture into weak markets like the ones I listed in lieu of PA which is a very strong beer state (Philly is anyway).

 

I'd always heard it was related to baseball (spring training). Cheers!

 

Not entirely. There are still some lingering laws that are a pain in the ass. I can't get beer at a Sheetz or any other gas station but I can go to Giant Eagle super market and grab a 6 pack. I think it has to do with food.

 

Anheuser Busch and MillerCoors (as well as a number of other larger breweries, US and foreign) brew so-called "3.2 beer" to sell in the few states that still limit certain retail licenses to beer under 3.2 ABW (which equals about 4.0 ABV). Those beers are clearly marked on the labels or can lids, such as this Budweiser 'snip':



Besides Utah, the other 3.2 states (as of 2011, anyway) were CO, MN, MO, OK, KS. Oklahoma has the largest percentage of 3.2 beer - over 90% of all beer sold in the state (2012 Brewers Almanac statistics). Utah's is 87.4%.

 

Not a MN thing, NE and IA (other markets too I am sure) each got less than 50% of what they got last year. They sent BCBS to 48 states this year.

Backyard only recently hit NE and was bottled 11/20, so maybe you'll still luck out. Cheers.

 

The worst distribution region would have to be a state that had an ABV restriction that was something like 7-8% if that still exists. It would knock out most IPA's and all the BA Stouts.

 

We aren't the worst place in the world for distro, I couldn't make that argument with a straight face. It's definitely the worst place I've lived for it though. Since you're somewhere in east TN, if you're near the NC border, try to go to the Peabody's Cellar Sale in Boone in the summer. I'll probably make the trip. It helps take the sting out a bit.