Will buying LOCAL reign supreme?

Yep. The Sierra Nevada from Mills River is even better than the damned good Sierra Nevada from Chico.

 

If I came from Western NC, I might have a similar response, but since I come from Central Indiana, I still buy a lot of Stone, Laguinitas, Dogfish, and Sierra Nevada. If I could get Wicked Weed or similar beer locally, or beers like VT's Hill Farmstead, I doubt I'd drink much else. But while I do drink Sun King and other local brewers, they are not nearly consistent enough to supplant the national brewers on my regulars list.

 

I am blessed with a wide variety of breweries here in NE Ohio - Great Lakes, Fatheads, Brewkettle, Hoppin' Frog, Thirsty Dog, Willoughby, Platform, etc to name but a few within like 30 miles of me....Ohio is booming in the craft beer world, with great stuff being done in Columbus, Dayton, Cincy, and other places....I could drink happily within this state and have no complaints.....but I like to try new things, as I think most beer drinkers do...shorter answer, drink what you like!!

 

The general public adores the "local" movement, from overpriced farmer's markets to mediocre breweries.

BA members typically adhere to whatever is best and fresh, myself included.

 

Matt, do you have any "best and fresh" breweries in your neck of the woods?

Cheers!

 

For me local means frequenting local breweries for flights and growler fills. The beer doesn't need to be earth shattering. I enjoy giving these places my business and trying different beers. At the store, I buy whatever I like.

 

I do, Jack. New England Brewing in Woodbridge (25 minutes from me but distributed throughout CT) is well known for their IPAs but also brew a delicious German Pilsner. I always grab that beer over other American versions.

 

I buy local to send across the country for trades... this is an easy topic for someone in New England

 

Right, I mean two of the breweries mentioned in the OP have east coast operations now, and one is going to be there next year.

 

I like my locals because its fresher and i can try almost all of it. I can get 99% of what victory makes being couple hours away. I wont get everything say from ballast point being CA

 

Same, except swap out Oregon with California. Of course, SoCal beers aren't really "local" to SF. When I lived in PA, I would say ~70% of my beer purchases were from out of state. The out-of-state distribution here is not very good where as the Philly area has the best in the county. I'm buying whatever sounds best regardless of where it came from.

 

You buy local, so you can drink someone else's local.

 

exactly

 

Hopefully.

Best thing about great beer is the regional/national diversity that it offers. The day that all beer becomes one homogenised mass is the day beer dies, which is why the likes of, for example, Brewdog and their international brand of interchangeable bars and beer selections needs to fade into nothing

 

My frustration with WF is their insane prices, even on beer. Because it's really easy to calculate what retailer cost is in Ohio, holy crap. 40% margins? Eff off, I can get the same beer at almost half that margin.

 

When the Local option is really good most likely it will be fresh, so if its great and fresh i will buy it in place of regional's

 

I love to drink local, especially at the brewery taproom where they usually have taproom only stuff. It always reminds me that my local stuff is great and its what got me into craft in the first place.

 

Sam Adams is a great example of that with their brewery in downtown Cincinnati. Then again, Budweiser around here is brewed in Columbus Ohio.

 

Being in Seattle area my local options to spoil me but with that said I take them for granted and don't drink them specifically or buy a 12 pack just because it is local. I joined a bottle mailing group to get beers from areas that my bottle shops don't usually get.

I definitely give a local place a try if they are new or new to me of course, and if it is good, see about visiting the place, but where a beer comes from doesn't really have much weight if I will buy it or drink it, only taste.

 

I'm with you in terms of "try local" - because there are plenty of breweries with taprooms popping up all over Minnesota. If we (my wife and I) like them, we'll go back and order them in bars. If we don't, we won't. I do consider all of Minnesota "local", though I agree that Duluth (or Hendricks for Bank) is stretching the bounds of really being local (on the other hand, Brainerd Lakes Area is on the way to the our family cabin, so those are local in a different way). But I buy whatever appeals to me in the store. It just so happens that Lift Bridge Farm Girl and Schell's Hefeweizen are two of my favorite beers.