Texas Beer Distribution

Texas brewers are lobbying to be able to sell their brews in stores.

Texas needs a lot of new laws. And while this isn't the most important, it certainly needs addressing. The linked article from the Austin American-Statesman notes that you can find 1000 different beers (though I'm not sure this is true) in Whole Foods. But most of us don't shop at Whole Foods. When I lived in Texas, I went to the HEB in my town. There, as in most Texas stores, the beer selection was abysmal. Your top beer in a Texas grocery store might be Fat Tire, if you are lucky. Texas brewers were almost totally locked out, outside of Lone Star (awful), Shiner Bock (too sweet and massively overrated, even if a unique and old product from a small Texas town), and, for some reason, Real Ales (a pretty solid brewery out of Blanco, of which I recommend the Pale Rye).

To put this in perspective, when I moved to Ohio, I was overwhelmed and delighted at the beer selection in stores. And Ohio is hardly Oregon.

Of course, the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas are opposed because it might cut into their profits by like 0.5%. And this powerful lobby may kill the bill in corporate lapdog Texas.