The Flat 12 to Nashville distribution announcement makes me think: Why does Kentucky suffer from so little regional distribution? We get Three Floyds and New Albanian from Indiana - though New Albanian, to me, is more greater Louisville. We get a few things from Ohio like Hoppin Frog and Rivertown. But we get nothing from our southern neighbors. Are we a southern state? No Georgia, no North Carolina, No South Carolina, no Tennessee, no Alabama, no Florida, nothing. When southern breweries expand, they do not come Kentucky. And now we see Sun King is going to Chicago. Chicago is the big market now, obviously. But we are only a few hours south of Indy. Tell breweries in these states to come here. We are close enough. We are part of the region!
Its the same everywhere though... Bells and Founders has to come through TN to get to GA... you guys still have a really nice selection that is envied by some of your southern neighbors...
Every brewery that I have talked to about Kentucky always point to the fact that 80% of the state is dry, and that to get to the good markets in Kentucky, you generally have to deal with multiple distributors (ie one for Louisville, one for Northern Kentucky, 1 for Bowling Green, etc), whereas most breweries like to deal with 1-2, especially for the market size that they are getting into.
It's not bad at all, and many of us have opportunities to visit good stores in Clarksville, IN or Cincinnati.
Things aren't bad here. My question is more about regions. Bells and Founders - who I love - are not regional in the way Indiana, southern states, and Ohio are. Also, most states have multiple distributors. That is not uncommon. I lived in Columbia, Missouri and the distributors were not the same as elsewhere in state. It seems, like some other states, we have four solid markets: Northern, Lexington, Louisville, Bowling Green. That is not so odd, actually, to have four good markets and the rest of the state ok or not much to send to.
I feel KY receives good distribution even though 80% of the state is dry. Plus surronding markets (IN, OH) have great distribution that are within driving distance.
Complaining about TN not sending anything to KY isn't a bad thing. We only have one brewer to my knowledge that distributes anything out of state and that's Yazoo. Heck we only have a couple that bottle and none that do any canning.
It's not really a complaint - or maybe it is. Are we not a southern state? Yet which southern states send beer here? It's an interesting question (to me, at least).
