Here is a list of changes in distribution among craft breweries that have taken place over the last few months or so (or will be taking place soon). This is NOT a complete list by any stretch of the imagination. If you know of other official moves or talk of moves, leave a comment with a link to the source or get in touch with me at beersage -at- gmail -dot- com. I will do my best to get information from the breweries and/or distributors and follow up here.
Update I: Over 60 “changes” logged here now…keep them coming.
Update II: Please see retractions regarding Left Hand…
Update III: Now at over 80 changes logged. Added in changes for Avery Brewing, New Belgium (which I had forgotten about) and caved to adding Stone’s pullout from WI…also added +/- to help indicate which states are getting hit the hardest (partial changes equal .5).
Winning so far is Missouri with +5.5 and losing is Indiana and Rhode Island with -3.
Alaska / -2 / Out: Great Divide Brewing, Left Hand Brewing
Arizona / -1 / Out: Avery Brewing
Arkansas / -0.5 / Out: Avery Brewing (Eastern Arkansas only)
California / +2.5 / In: Hangar 24 (Southern CA: Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties), Nebraska Brewing (Southern CA), The Bruery (Northern CA), Uinta Brewing; Out: Avery Brewing (Northern CA: Bay Area and Sacramento)
Colorado / +1 / In: Firestone Walker Brewing
Connecticut / -2 / Out: Avery Brewing, Great Divide Brewing
Florida / -0.5 / Out: Avery Brewing (Central Florida only: Orlando area)
Idaho / +1 / In: Odell Brewing
Illinois / +1.5 / In: Boulevard Brewing (Chicago), Central Waters Brewing (Chicago only), Clown Shoes Beer (Chicago only?), Fifty Fifty Brewing (Chicago only? but not until December); Out: Great Divide Brewing (only partially)
Indiana / -3 / In: Sun King Brewing (Bloomington area); Out: Avery Brewing, Dogfish Head, Shelton Brothers portfolio
Iowa / -1 / Out: Left Hand Brewing
Kansas / +1 / In: Green Flash Brewing (July per Craft Business Daily)
Kentucky / -1 / – Out: Great Divide Brewing
Louisiana – / +1 / In: Ommegang
Maine / +3 / In: Clown Shoes, Stillwater Ales, White Birch Brewing
Maryland / +4 / In: Clown Shoes, Firestone Walker, New Belgium (September), Pretty Things
Michigan / -1 / Out: Great Divide Brewing
Minnesota / +2.5 / In: Alaskan Brewing, Brooklyn Brewery, Stone Brewing; Out: Great Divide Brewing (only partially)
Missouri / +5.5 / In: Deschutes Brewery, Firestone Walker, Green Flash Brewing, Nebraska Brewing (St. Louis only?), Stillwater Ales, Stone Brewing
Nebraska / -1 / – Out: Avery Brewing
Nevada / +0.5 / In: Trumer Berkeley (Reno)
New Jersey / +2 / In: Keegan Ales, Spoetzl Brewery
New Mexico / -1 / In: Green Flash Brewing (summer-ish per Craft Business Daily); Out: Avery Brewing, Great Divide Brewing
New York / +0.5 / In: Clown Shoes (upstate), Narragansett (NYC), Uncommon Brewers; Out: Avery Brewing (Upstate New York only), Great Divide Brewing (only partially)
Oklahoma / -1 / Out: Avery Brewing
Pennsylvania / +2 / In: Dock Street Beer (Lancaster, Reading counties), Firestone Walker, Nebraska Brewing (Western PA), Uncommon Brewers (Philly only?); Out: Great Divide Brewing (only partially)
Rhode Island / -3 / – Out: Avery Brewing, Dogfish Head, Great Divide Brewing
South Dakota / +1 / – In: Deschutes Brewery
Tennessee / -1.5 / – In: Christian Moerlein Brewing; Out: Avery Brewing, Dogfish Head, Left Hand Brewing (Knoxville-area distributor only)
Texas / -0.5 / – In: Brooklyn Brewery (Brewmasters’ Reserve Series), Maui Brewing; Out: Allagash Brewing
Virginia / +2.5 / – In: Clown Shoes, New Belgium (September), Uncommon Brewers; Out: Great Divide Brewing (Southern Virginia only)
Washington / -1 / – Out: Allagash Brewing
Washington D.C. / 1 / – In: Firestone Walker, New Belgium (September); Out: Great Divide Brewing
Wisconsin / -3.5 / – Out: Avery Brewing (leaving Beechwood Dist. only), Dogfish Head, Fort Collins Brewery, Stone Brewing
Delaware = out Great Divide
Shane, do you have a link to a source on that? Or can you contact me by email with what info you have? Cheers, Adam
Oh weird. I just noticed that it was in the original Full Pint report but not in the updated report. I guess the Great Divide rep made a mistake. Or do you have new information?
Minnesota – In: Alaskan Brewing
http://www.alaskanbeer.com/press-room-2/253-alaskan-heads-to-minnesota.html
From a job posting on their site in Dec. it looks like they’re looking at Wisconsin and maybe elsewhere in the Midwest too?:
Sales Representative – Join an award winning craft brewer as an integral member of our sales team responsible for a 4 state territory based out of Minneapolis, Mn. or Milwaukee, Wi.
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For Minnesota you can also add Brooklyn Brewery.
Updating it, Gus. Thanks for pointing that one out.
Thanks, Chaz. Following up w/ the brewery. Cheers.
Maine: In: Clown Shoes (http://www.clownshoesbeer.com/blog/ Under the 3/29 entry), Stillwater (Can’t find a link, but it’s in multiple stores in Southern Maine), and White Birch (http://www.marinerbeverages.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=25&Itemid=55)
Brooklyn in Minnesota –
http://mnbeer.com/2011/03/27/brooklyn-roll-out-events-week-1/
Stone, out in Wisconsin
http://www.madisonbeerreview.com/2010/11/not-so-long-downhill-run-of-stone.html
New Jersey: Out – Captain Lawrence 🙁 Happened a few months ago, kind of under the radar
Not sure if this is ‘enough’ of a source for you, but Firestone Walker is coming to PA this week
http://www.teresas-cafe.com/TNDEvents.htm
Teresa’s doing a release event on Tuesday
Capone’s is doing a ‘release event’ on Wednesday
There are threads on BA about FW as well, possibly with source links, but the site is down for maintenance
Just added, Jeff. Thanks.
Narragansett is available in NYC, 7 counties north of the city (Westchester, putnam, dutchess, ulster, sullivan, orange, and rockland), and also Long Island.
Wisconsin also lost Stone in late 2010
Re: Stone in WI, yeah I left that one out purposely as I’m not sure what the circumstances are (when did distributors stop ordering?) but the brewery confirmed that 5+ months ago so I think it’s a bit out of the range that I’m displaying here.
Louisiana- IN Ommegang
Thanks, Jeremy.
Avery has recently pulled out of Connecticut. I’m having trouble finding an official source but you can clearly see that Connecticut is no longer listed here: http://www.averybrewing.com/index.php?option=com_easytable&view=easytable&id=1&Itemid=147
Not 100% official but it appears as if Avery will pull out of Florida based on the Schenck Distribution Company selling to Reyes. Bell’s and Belekus portfolio resigned this week. Lot of shake up down here.
Thanks, Dan. I talked to the distributor who said it happened in the fall. Their bottles probably hung around for a while though. Avery, under the radar, also pulled out of Alaska, District of Columbia, Mississippi and Wyoming a while back.
FYI – Northern Virginia is KEEPING Great Divide, while they’ve pulled out of the rest of the state. IIRC they are staying in Hop and Wine’s distribution area.
With that many notes, I knew I was bound to make a mistake there somewhere. Thanks!
As a CT retailer, I can confirm Avery pulling out of this market. Distributor informed me last week.
Counting Sun King’s expansion to Bloomington, or any other in-state expansion by a relatively new brewery that is just expanding organically within their home state, really shouldn’t count. Even if it does, it shouldn’t be worth half a point. Maybe a tenth at the most.
Good point. Half point being removed now.
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Thanks for keeping this ongoing list. Nice job!
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