On most weeks, TABC releases what labels have been approved for sale in Texas. Every beer that is sold in Texas has to go through this process before you can see it on store shelves. It is a way to see what will be coming into the Texas market before it shows up at your local bottle shop. The time frame between showing up on the label approval list and hitting the shelves could be anywhere from a day to a couple of months out.
The same can be said for breweries. The brewery approvals tend to be even further out. Every brewery sold in Texas has to go through the same process to get approved by the TABC. Once they do this, they can then get labels approved.
I only include craft beer labels that have been approved.
After each label, I have indicated what they have been approved to sell in. They are as follows:
K = Keg
B = Large format bottle
b = Small format bottle
c = Small format (12oz) can
C = Larger format cans
Here are this week’s releases:
5 Stones – Heavens to Murgatriod (B)
5 Stones – Reserva Pina Ale (B)
5 Stones – Back From Bridge City (B)
Anchor – IPA (c)
Ballast Point – Grapefruit Sculpin (K)
Ballast Point – Rum Barrel Aged Victory at Sea (K)
Chimay – Doree Ale brewed with Spices (b, K)
Big Bend – Winter Warmer (K)
Branchline – Pioneer Spirit – Prabu Pumpkin Ale (K)
Cedar Creek – Fisticuffs Ale (K)
Cedar Creek – Spinning Mule Ale (K)
Cedar Creek – Oat ‘N Aboat Ale (K)
Cedar Creek – Marzen Ale (K)
Ensenda Brewing – Smoked Piloncillo Stout (b)
Deschutes – Cinder Cone Red Ale (B)
Deschutes – Hop Henge IPA (B)
Deschutes – Dissident 2014 (B)
Firestone – Velvet Mocha Merlin (K)
New Belgium – NBB Love Cherry Felix (K)
New Belgium – Whiskey Barrel Aged Salted Belgian Chocolate (K)
New Belgium – Slow Ride Session IPA (c, b, K)
New Belgium – Portage Porter (b, K)
New Belgium – Oscar Worthy Coffee (K)
New Belgium – NBB Love Cherry Oscar (K)
New Braunfels – Cosmic Dancer Saur Weizenbock (B, K)
New Braunfels – Black Fury Oak-aged Dunkel (B)
Oasis – Pub Series: Rainy Day Woman Belgian Stout (K)
Saint Arnold – Icon Blue Rye IPA (b, K)
Saint Arnold – Red Sorachi Ace Dubbel (b, K)
SanTan – The Mad Czar Russian Imperial Stout (C, K)
SanTan – Limeleaf Cream Ale Brewed with Kaffir Lime Leaves (K)
SanTan – Hefeweizen Wheat Beer (K)
Sierra Nevada – Golden IPA (b)
Squatters – Takeout Rye IPA (b, K)
Victory – Anniversary 19 Session IPA (b, K)
Victory – Moving Parts 03 IPA (B, K)
TABC Brewery Approvals:
Matt Brewing Company (better known as Saranac Brewing) – New York
Ivanhoe Brewing Company – Denison, TX
A couple things to take from these releases:
1) 5 Stones – Reserva Pina – This is 5 Stones releasing their Aloha Pina aged in tequila barrels. They were supposed to have a release party this week, so it should not take long for this bottle to hit shelves after that.
2) Ballast Point – Rum Barrel Aged Victory at Sea – First we got Whiskey Barrel Aged Victory at Sea and now we are getting the Rum Barrel version of it. Both were only approved for keg releases, but I think most people will be equally excited to try them. Hopefully we will see some of these showing up around town in the near future.
3) SanTan – The Mad Czar – So this beer is from SanTan’s new line of 16oz cans from their “The Vault” series. All of the beers from this series will be having ABVs of 9%+. This is actually the second release from this series with the first being a Winter Warmer (which it sounds like we will not be seeing here in TX since it has not been approved yet). Either way, who does not love a good 9% beer in a 16oz can?
4) New Belgium – NBB Love Cherry Oscar/Felix – These beers are keg only sours aged in Whiskey barrels from Leopold Brothers Distillery. It sounds like the Felix is a light base beer while they Oscar is a dark base beer. I have no info on the release date, but they both sound delicious.
One last thing – I skipped over a bunch of Lagunitas approvals this week. They were all beers that are in the TX market already that likely were just getting slight modifications done to the labels. Nothing too crazy in them, I just did not feel like listing out the 10 beers on here for nothing that will be new.
