A Look at Out of State Brewery Distribution to Texas

Every week, it seems, more and more breweries are entering into the Texas market.

I decided to create a list of every American “craft” brewery that currently has rights to sell in Texas.

I should clarify a couple of TABC rules that regulate breweries coming into Texas.

In order for an out of state brewery, to sell beer in Texas, they must apply for a license (as a brewery) to sell here. This costs in the area of $5-10k for each location the brewery where the beer is brewed. If you take a place like New Belgium (who has a location in CO and NC), they have to apply for a license for both locations. It basically comes down to the address the beer is produced in. This must be approved before you can sell the beer in Texas.

That opens up a couple of loopholes for contract breweries(these are breweries that brew beer for other breweries). For example, Prairie currently distributes to Texas. However, that beer is not made at the same location as their taproom. It is made in Krebs, OK, at the Choc Brewing Company. There is nothing against that, I just figured I would specify why some things may not show up like you would expect.

I also took off major contract breweries that basically make beer for many breweries on the side – one being a location in Memphis that makes beer for Sixpoint. On those, I just listed their main production facility that had approval. 10 Barrel is another that listed many locations that it is brewed from, I just listed one on here.

Next, I took out any major macro breweries. Anything that is a major AB-InBev or MillerCoors production brewery is not listed. In general, major contract breweries that make 4Loko and other drinks like that (Not Your Father’s Root Beer) are not listed either. They do not have individual brewery approval and just fall under a blanket of corporate approvals.

I did leave in places that are owned by AB-InBev but that were bought out – basically 10 Barrel, Goose Island, Elysian, etc. Even though they are macro owned, they have their own individual brewery that just makes their own beer.

This list is up to date as of 1/28/16:

Brewery Name	State
10 Barrel Brewing	OR
Abita Brewing	LA
Alaskan	AK
Alesmith	CA
Alltech’s Lexington Brewing	KY
Anchor Brewing	CA
Anderson Valley Brewing	CA
Atwater Brewing	MI
Avery Brewing	CO
Backcountry Brewing	CO
Ballast Point Brewing	CA
Battered Boar Brewing	OK
Bayou Teche Brewing	LA
Bear Republic Brewing	CA
Big Sky Brewing	MT
Black Diamond Brewing	CA
Blue Point Brewing	NY
Boulevard Brewing	MO
Breckenridge Brewery	CO
Brewery Ommegang	NY
Bridgeport Brewing	OR
Buffalo Bill’s Brewery	CA
Cascade Brewing	OR
Champion Brewing	VA
Cold Spring Brewing	MN
Crazy Mountain Brewing	CO
Crown Valley	MO
Deschutes Brewery	OR
Destihl Brewery	IL
Dogfish Head	DE
Elevation Beer Company	CO
Elysian Brewing	WA
Epic Brewing	CO
Evil Twin Brewing	CT
FX Matt Brewing (Saranac)	NY
Fireman’s Brew	CA
Firestone Walker Brewing	CA
Fish Brewing	WA
Flying Dog Brewery	MD
Foolproof Brewing	RI
Founders Brewing	MI
Full Sail Brewing	OR
Funkwerks	CO
Golden Road Brewing	CA
Goose Island Beer Company	IL
Gordon Biersch Brewing	CA
Great Divide Brewing	CO
Green Flash/Alpine	CA
Harpoon Brewery	MA
Helm’s Brewing	CA
Hermitage Brewing	CA
Magic Hat	NY
Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing	WI
Jolly Pumpkin	MI
Joseph James Brewing	NV
Knee Deep Brewing	CA
Kona Brewing	HI
Krebs Brewing (Prairie)	OK
Lakefront Brewery	WI
Lagunitas Brewing	CA
Lagunitas Brewing	IL
Lazy Magnolia Brewing	MS
Left Coast Brewing	CA
Left Hand Brewing	CO
Maui Brewing	HI
Mendocino Brewing	CA
Mercury Brewing (Clown Shoes)	MA
Mission Brewing	CA
Nebraska Brewing	NE
New Belgium	CO
New Belgium	NC
New Holland Brewing	MI
Ninkasi Brewing	OR
No-Li Brewhouse	WA
North Coast Brewing	CA
Odell Brewing	CO
Oskar Blues Brewery	CO
Redhook Brewery	OR
Rhinelander Brewing	WI
Rogue Ales	OR
Santa Fe Brewing	NM
Santan Brewing	AZ
Shipyard Brewing	ME
Shmaltz Brewing	NY
Sierra Blanca Brewing	NM
Sierra Nevada	CA
Sierra Nevada	NC
Sixpoint Brewery	NY
Ska Brewing	CO
Smuttynose Brewing	NH
Southern Tier Brewing	NY
Sprecher Brewing	WI
Steven’s Point Brewery	WI
Stillwater Artisanal	CT
Stone Brewing	CA
Sweetwater Brewing	GA
The Boston Beer Company	MA
Brooklyn Beer Company	NY
The Bruery	CA
The Spencer Brewery	MA
Tommyknocker Brewery	CO
Twisted Pine Brewing	CO
Uinta Brewing	UT
Uncommon Brewers	CA
Upslope Brewing	CO
Urban Family Brewing	WA
Utah Brewers Coop (Squatters)	UT
Victory Brewing	PA

Now, a look at the numbers by state. Currently, a little over 100 out of state craft breweries have the rights to distribute to Texas. From that, 31 states distribute beer into Texas. Out of those, here are the top 5 states with the most breweries distributing to Texas:

California: 24
Colorado: 16
New York: 9
Oregon: 8
Wisconsin: 5

Nothing really is surprising about where the breweries are coming from into Texas. I was also expecting the number of breweries to be much higher than the 100 number solely based on how many I see getting TABC approvals.

While we have seen a big influx in out of state breweries come into Texas, the laws are still stacked against us on getting breweries here. It takes a lot of money, and commitment, to enter Texas. This is causing many breweries just to skip over Texas when planning their distribution. While the state will argue that the high entry costs protect our local businesses, it is also restricting competition which forces better beer. I do not know of a single local brewery that likes the high entry costs into Texas.

Places like Jester King are constantly battling the TABC to get these laws changed so that they can sell the beer they want to from their bottle shop. Being able to buy a collaboration that they made with Wicked Weed, or a list of other breweries, is not possible with the current regulations solely due to it being brewed at a brewery not approved in Texas. This is just another of the long list of issues with the current TABC laws that are in place.

Thanks to some newer distributors, like Flood Distribution, we are starting to see smaller breweries show up in the Texas market.

If you want to stay up to date with the breweries that do get approved into Texas, you can follow me on twitter @andrewlschwab.