Does proximity to a brewery affect your beer ratings?

No, but I'll give a sub-par brewery more chances if within close proximity.

 

that might have something to do with it... people tending to take their own stuff for granted while salivating over the exotic beers from hyped out of state breweries. Still though, around here we get pretty jazzed when local breweries open up and start putting out legit stuff. sam adams and harpoon dominated the scene for the longest time, so it was understandable that we'd be meh about our local output. but these days we have pretty things and jack's abby; more recently trillium, tree house, and a few others... Add in the freshness aspect, the trading homers hoping to inflate their locals, and the simple factor of people inherently wanting to root for the home team... I would definitely expect local beers to be rated higher. But, evidently not, so what do I know?

 

No...if anything, I may be harder on them, because their beer should be fresher and everyone has hyped how good they are.

I live in Wisconsin, and, by and large, don't like many of the beers from here--Spotted Cow, Hopalicious, Supper Club, and all Leinie's are all overrated in my opinion. My favorite beer comes from Ohio, but my favorite lager comes from Milwaukee--not my hometown of Madison. I wish I could find more local favorites.

 

Maybe. I love CCB. Coincidence?

 

The ratings are lower from 0-10 miles because many people live closer to a mediocre brew pub than a world class brewery.

10-500 miles is clearly homerism.

501-2000 miles is anti-homerism.

Greater than 2000 miles is ZOMG this beer is made in Belgium, therefore it's awesome!

 

It does. I am a little harder on my local brewery (Ithaca Beer) because I expect greatness; and because we have so many great breweries to choose from here in NY.

 

Comparing two different breweries will not offer up the same insights as asking the question: "Will someone who drove 3 hrs to get to Bootlegger's feel the same way I do about what's in their glass?"

 

Yazoo is one of my favorite beer lines and I lived very close to them for 4 years (went there 2 times, but drank it very frequently). I lived for a year (and will live again) very close to Terrapin (been there 20+ times) and I think it has some good and bad beers. I currently live ridiculously close to Cantillon (been there 7 times) and they are my favorite Lambics, but not my favorite beers.

I think there is a little bias towards Yazoo, but I truly do love it. I don't think it effects the others. I would almost say it's more that Yazoo was some of my first good beer and there is a lot of sentimentality attached to that. The others, not so much. So, for me, it seems nostalgia/sentimentality has the effect, not proximity.

 

I am way harder on local breweries because I want them to produce beer that stands up to the greats around the nation, and outside of a few that are they are miles away on most.

Now if I drove a couple hours to a brewery I've never been to before or never had beer from before would I want to like their beers thus justifying the trip? I think any person subconsciously would.

 

To get 2000+ you practically have to be on one coast and buying from the other. From KY, the west coast is barely over 2k miles away, so those are the only beers that would fall into that for me (plus European beers) so I can see it. Im only buying the good stuff (mostly) from the west coast and Europe.

I agree with the article that the problem with the lowest distance category (on-site, basically) is the existence of mediocre brewpubs. And for the 2nd category, a lot of beer tourism affects that. If Im in some city, I try stuff I cant find at home, and some of it sucks.

I dont rate on untappd, but if I did, I could see how those numbers happen.

 

Meh, I don't think I grade on much of a curve for local beers. I can think of plenty of local beers that I rated low (below 3.0). Stuff from Harpoon, Blue Hills, Slumbrew, even Cambridge Brewing...

 

It has a lot of bearing on hoppy beers. In New England most of the ipa's that don't hold up well(sculpin etc) just don't taste right. I haven't had it in CA, but am convinced that it tastes far better than it does after being shipped out here. Even the Maine Beer "lunch" drops like a rock within a few weeks, regardless of some 90day window to drink.

 

There isn't a local beer in my top 20. I guess I just want more of what I can't have.

 

Objectively I try not to favor locals, but I probably cut them some slack subconsciously. As much as I like supporting the home team, if their beer sucks, it sucks. Will I give a local more chances than a brewery with a big reputation? Absolutely.

If you live next door to say, Firestone Walker, that makes it local to you and their brews are pretty much accepted as good/great regardless. My nearest commercial brewery is a nano (Berkley Beer Co.) and while I like their products and drink them, I couldn't honestly rate them higher than FW. If I lived next door to Hill Farmstead, then there'd be a contest, most likely. The data is interesting as an observation, but I think there are probably more factors involved.

 

They aren't far enough to classify in that category for me (and probably most Central/North Easterners). Surly, maybe, but not the Michigan brews.

 

I am not comparing them in the least. I am speaking of them both based on proximity (as per the OP.) Both are 15 minutes from me; I don't care for Bootlegger's and I think The Bruery is good. So based on simple proximity, I don't lean either way.

 

Homerism is real... especially when talking about limited releases.

 

I tend to "root for the home team," so, I think maybe I am just a little harder on the breweries around me because I don't want to seem biased. I probably overcompensate a little. Next time I do a review, I am going to try my hardest to clear my mind and absolutely forget where the beer I am tasting came from, and judge it purely on it's own merits. Good luck with that, though; I've spent my entire life trying to tame, control and bend my subconscious to my own will with very little success.

 

Maybe not, but the distance to both breweries from me fall in that 750-1250 mile grouping. For NYC & Boston that distance covers Michigan & Indiana. Middle of the country falls into the next grouping where the ratings climb up.

For the west coast, 750-1,250 miles would include the Colorado breweries.

 

Probably.

Only because it seems a lot of breweries don't have a bottling or best buy date, so beers I try probably taste better because they're fresher.

Just a thought.