WA Beers Headed South. Way South

by Kendall Jones - Washington Beer Blog

Over the past few years a seemingly endless stream of out-of-state beers has flooded into the flourishing Washington craft beer market. Whether you welcome out-of-state beers into the local market or feel threatened by the incursion, there’s no escaping the fact that Washington, and especially the Seattle metro area, is a target-rich environment for out-of-state breweries.

But how often do you hear about one of our local, award-winning breweries making noise beyond our borders? For any number of reasons Washington beer rarely makes it out of state.

Roll Tide

Wait a minute! We have word of a couple local breweries bucking the trend. Flyers Brewery and Big Al Brewing both have plans to send beer south. In Big Al's case, we're talking about the deep south.

Flyers Restaurant and Brewery announced recently that their Afterburner IPA will soon be distributed in Portland. The Whidbey Island brewery will be working with Point Blank Distributing, a Portland-based boutique distributor. This is a bold move. Rarely does an out-of-state beer punch its way into the insanely provincial Portland beer market.

Also, we recently learned that Big Al Brewing will soon be shipping beer to the home of the other Big Al. If you’ve read the book Rammer, Jammer, Yellow Hammer you know what I’m talking about. The costumed mascot of the Alabama Crimson Tide is an elephant named Big Al. If you know anything about Alabama football, you can imagine that a beer named Big Al is going to go over very, very well. According to Alejandro Brown (our Big Al), they were contacted by a distributor in Alabama and the deal is done. Now the beer just needs to make its way south.