west coast distribution better than east coast

at my liquor store of choice it seems that there are noticeably more west coast beers then east coast. I live in minnesota so so i consider myself to be in the middle. anyone else think that west cost beers are more widely spread than east coast beers?

West coast beers taste better too

phatuna said:

West coast beers taste better too

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Bah, so you got a bunch of decently tasty, hoppy IPA's. Big deal!

As for the topic: I really think it depends on the individual state, more than a West/East coast thing. Here in NY we have a pretty damn good selection of beers to choose from, lots from the west coast, most from the east coast, and pretty much anything from Europe. Though, the last time I was in Cali I was actually surprised at the relatively small beer selection available in most stores. Though, that depends on location too... As for mid-western beers, we don't see much of those on either coast.

All your hops are belonging to us nao..... Today's forecast....Oregon Reign!

bierhaus15 said:

As for mid-western beers, we don't see much of those on either coast.

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bells and umm grain belt? sorry about that one.

I like my beer excitable and on the go. East Coast all the way.

(I REALLY hope this turns into a war like the old rap coast wars. I'm developing my gang sign as I type this)

I'm already planning on having a shoot out in Vegas!

WESTSIDE!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't get enough of this cascade ****!

NY is full of good beers!, they love beer and wine here (state makes so much money on booze)

I've noticed that here, but I am in California, so I just assumed it was a regional thing.

It's difficult to find the best East Coast beers out here on the West Coast.

Some European craft stuff is also very hard to find. Never seen Mikkeller and I'd very much like to try the single hop IPAs.

Midwest stuff can be tough. Three Floyds, Surly, Bell's for example.

Yeah there are downsides to being on the West Coast because the competition for the imported stuff is higher. In KC I can walk into a particular store and get tons of Cantillon and Mikeller and De Molen stuff that I know is competitive to get on the West Coast. I could probably get the entire Mikeller Yeast series and 3-5 of the hop series today. If I want RR or Ballast Point, big whoop, I order them from South Bay Drugs. Also the awesomeness that are Bell's and Founders can not be overstated.

So having lived in Portland for about 6 years as a beer geek and KC for about 4 I would say KC is better for buying beer at the store and Portland better for drinking draught beer. In both cases things have gotten a lot better all around in the last decade so we all have a lot to be happy about.

i would've never pegged you as a PDXer

I've lived in all three areas-- New York, mid-west (Minnesota), and Kooky Kalifornie, and I have family in the Chicago area. I can tell you this much-- the availability of beers is the worst on the west coast. Sure, there is a bunch of over-hopped IPAs and the like, but there is far less variety, in two ways-- lack of variety from the brewers, as well as a shortage of availability of brewers from other areas.

Heck, we can't get a bunch of stuff brewed in Colorado out here in California that is available in Minnesota-- like Breckenridge (my SWMBO loves the vanilla porter). That makes absolutely no sense to me...

West Cost beer is all over-hopped. If you like that stuff, great, but if you don't, you are screwed. At least on the East Coast there is variety.

And yes, I have experience on both, and a ton middle-of-the-country experience too. I think Colorado has the best of both worlds and probably wins this fight, so East/West is a moot point anyway...

Sierra Nevada Tumbler and Oak Creek Nut Brown (and others) would argue on behalf of the West Coast beers not all being about hops....

We get a nice selection of Midwest beers in NY.

Bud
Bud Light
Bud Lime
Bud Ice
Bud Dry
PBR
Miller
Miller Lite
.....

AZ, obviously not ALL, but MOST from what I've seen. The IPA's from out there are flat out un-drinkable to me. Two months ago at the beer pub I go to, they had a raffle going on for various things. The last one was for a massive bottle of Double Bastard. I gave my tickets to a guy we know and his daughter actually won it (her tickets). I wouldn't touch that crap every again.

Airborneguy said:

AZ, obviously not ALL, but MOST from what I've seen. The IPA's from out there are flat out un-drinkable to me.

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Yeah - sadly the West Coast motto is similar to the American motto - if xxx is good, then xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx must be better......

Its not?

I didn't know there were so many wussies on the East Coast who can't handle their hops!

All kidding aside though, the West Coast IPA is the popular style right now and thus is the style that gets widest distribution. There are plenty of other styles available in the state. I will concede that we don't have a ton of selection beyond California stuff here and that is unfortunate.

Let us not forget that American beer culture as we now know it, started and was cultivated in the great state of California. Without the contributions of such men as Ken Grossman and Fritz Maytag y'all would still be drinking PBR and Bud Dry. I know everybody on the East Coast thinks they have the best of everything, (sports teams especially) but when you combine California, the PNW and Colorado, there's no contest. Glad to see our beer culture is catching on, on the East Coast though!