Where do you get your kegs,

[Jerray]

Me im really into craft beer and Bmc will never flow out my tap. That being said im allways looking for a good keg of beer for my kegerator. I live in Houston and the only decent outlet I can find is specs and they are limited to just the selection they have. I have many beers I would like to buy a keg of and cant get a hold of it. Local brewerys cant sell kegs. Does anyone else have this problem?

[psychodad]

I had that problem, but solved it by brewing my own. It does take a bit of time and it is easy to get behind and run out of beer, but IMHO the beer I make is as good as any I could buy.

[THE ICEMAN]

Not sure how things go in Houston but I believe things are the same as in Az. Brewers pretty much are required to go by the Three-tier system... brewer, distributor & retailer. I get my kegs from a liquor store that is able to get whatever brew is available in this area. I would think that Houston must have a liquor store somewhere that could do the same. Call around & good luck.


THE ICEMAN

[Jerray]

I used to brew myself but with a 60 hr job and one baby and another on the way I took up kegging because I cant spend half a day brewing beer anymore. specs and goody goody is probably my only outlets in Houston the little Fiesta or the little Indian liquor stores are lucky if they can sell budlight. ill continue my searching and calling around but for now at least I can sip on (512) IPA it is one of my favorites next to stone IPA

[KillianBoy]

Jerray,
I really hate to seem like a jacka$$, but have you asked if you could special order, pre-order or reserve a keg from any of these places?
From the Specs website, they probably have over 200 kegs that they are available to them (I myself can get about 20, if I'm lucky). Most places won't keep beers in stock (big breweries, yes, microbreweries, no), it might take 1-2 weeks (most likely longer) for them to get it but they probably can still get it.
KB

[djc]

I special order all of mine, and depending on what the distro has, it can be as quick as a day. Never more than 5 days. I too am confused about the big dilemma here. Normally anything they have in cans/bottles they can get in a keg.

[Willian]

My friend told me "Regarding the plastic kegs... They break way easier than stainless steel. Cheaper investment to begin with, but you'd be replacing them MUCH sooner, and more often than SS." is it right ?

[BigKutta]

I use multiple retailers! I live on the line between MD, VA, and DC, so fortunately for me, I can access all three states and see what they have to offer for keg selection. As good as that sounds, however, the kegs are still really limited and its really hit or miss.

[djc]

Do you just drop in and hope? I just call and order, and have never been shut out. Depending on where they are in the delivery cycle, I usually wait 2 or 3 days and can get whatever is distributed in CT. Sometimes not all formats, but definitely something from any brand you'd see on the shelf.

[BigKutta]

Do you just drop in and hope? I just call and order, and have never been shut out. Depending on where they are in the delivery cycle, I usually wait 2 or 3 days and can get whatever is distributed in CT. Sometimes not all formats, but definitely something from any brand you'd see on the shelf.

No, I call around for the beers I like and see who carries it, then its usually a weeks wait. I usually tap German Pilsners, Lagers and Kolsch so they are not usually in stock but can be ordered (unfortunately only a few of the more common brands)

[PremiumVADraftTech]

No, I call around for the beers I like and see who carries it, then its usually a weeks wait. I usually tap German Pilsners, Lagers and Kolsch so they are not usually in stock but can be ordered (unfortunately only a few of the more common brands)

Thats because (well at least in va) the distributors that carry those beers are small, select, specialty, hop n wine etc etc
MD has so many distributors it will make your head spin, when I worked for AC Beverage, I had to keep track of 8 different distributors beer, and that wasnt even all of them! (each county is different, like legends could distribute one beer to PG county, but not to charles county or any others surrounding it. Now all I have to worry about is one, the one I work for

[memding]

I had that problem, but solved it by brewing my own. It does take a bit of time and it is easy to get behind and run out of beer, but IMHO the beer I make is as good as any I could buy.