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.
Do you know where the Lakefront Brewery goes in Texas? And what beers are there? Just moved to Dallas from Milwaukee and missing my Riverwest…
They have approval to sell in TX currently and have been getting label approvals. With that said, I have not seen any on shelves or know who is distributing them. If they have put that much money/time to get all of this approved, I would expect to see them show up sooner, but nothing so far.
Basically, the way the list was made was by looking through who legally was able to sell beer in TX and they were on there. 99% of them do sell in TX if they have that approval, so hopefully we see them.