On most weeks, TABC releases Label and Brewery approvals that 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. This is a way to see what beer will be coming into the Texas market before it shows up at your local bottle shop or craft beer bar. 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
bb = 16oz format bottle
b = Small format bottle
c = Small format (12oz) can
C = Larger format cans
Here are this week’s TABC Label releases:
Bayou Teche – Bayou Peche IPA (B, K)
Bayou Teche – Quantum Hop Ale (B, K)
Blue Star – Green Tractor IPA (K)
Brasserie de Silly – Stupid Silly Sour Belgian (B)
Central City – Red Betty IPA (c, B)
Community – Mosaic IPA (b, K)
Four Corners – Home Brew Steam Beer (K)
Goose Island – Bourbon Count Brand Stout (B – 25oz)
Hacker Pschorr – Ammator (bb, K)
New Belgium – Lafoeder NBB Love Apple Felix Sour Ale (K)
New Belgium – Lafoeder NBB Love Apple Oscar Sour Ale (K)
New Belgium – Lafoeder NBB Love Blackberry Felix Sour Ale (K)
New Belgium – Lafoeder NBB Love Blackberry Oscar Sour Ale (K)
New Belgium – Lafoeder NBB Love Peach Felix Sour Ale (K)
New Belgium – Lafoeder NBB Love Peach Oscar Sour Ale (K)
New Belgium – Hop Kitchen Hop Tart American Sour Pale Ale (K)
New Belgium – Long Table Farmhouse Ale (K)
Victory – Saison du Buff (b, K)
TABC Brewery Approvals:
Sleeping Giant Brewing Company – Denver (Contract brewer focused on craft beer).
A couple things to take from these releases:
Really, a small week for label approvals. With Memorial Day, and the approvals coming through so late last week, there just are not that many labels showing up.
Sleeping Giant – So, this place appears to solely be a contract brewing facility in Denver. It opened this year and focused solely on craft beer. The reason this can be interesting is that if this facility has TABC approval, it can sell any of the beer they make at that facility in TX. This allows a bunch of smaller breweries that use this facility to just use that brewery approval to sell here, which would save them a bunch of money from getting their own. However, that only works for the beer brewed at Sleeping Giant. We will see what happens with that, but it could open the door to a bunch of smaller breweries from that area that we do not get in TX.
