UPDATE: Confirmed with rep at Red Dirt Beverage that Bear Republic will be pulling out of Oklahoma as well.

(Healdsburg, CA) – Confirmed the news this morning with representatives from Missouri’s MoBev and Kansas’ Worldwide Wine and Spirits. As with all the hubbub that happened earlier this year with Great Divide, Avery, Dogfish Head, Allagash, etc., this is due to constraints of demand on brewing capacity.

Bear Republic Brewing grew 44% last year according to the Brewers Association and is among 80 or so regional breweries atop the craft segment.

I did not confirm timing of when shipments were to stop coming. MoBev re-iterated that they still retained distribution rights and that the brewery would hopefully be able to supply beer to the state down the road.

According to another source, Bear Republic is keying in on 15-16 markets that it will continue to fully support with product. A second tier of markets will continue to receive product though the brewery may not be able to fully meet orders. A third tier includes states to which the brewery will no longer ship product.

It is unknown at this time whether the third tier includes more markets than just Missouri and Kansas. Representatives with distributors in Texas and Wisconsin (a “midwest-wide” retraction had been rumored) were both aloof to the news.

UPDATE: Per Al’s of Hampden, Bear Republic is “leaving” the Central PA market. A message has been left with the distributor.

Bear Republic has not returned a request for comment.

Still developing…