Does anyone buy mediocre beer just because it's local?

I couldn't agree with this more. It would be very pretentious to reject an invitation from your friends because the local brewery they chose serves mediocre beer. I find it hard to believe that 174 people would go out of their way to exclude such options.

 

I'll consider my regionals my locals for this case and I cannot answer the poll. I will drink my locals. I will seek out singles from locals even if that brewer has been mediocre. So I tried your lineup lets say and I thought the "x" style was weak. I will be haunting the singles for that style until you get it right. I want what I want.

Conversely I will stop buying a local in favor of another brewer if they stop giving me what I want. Case in point, I have no more saison. My first choice is no longer on the shelf and a non regional is the only choice at that store. Now I am buying that beer instead of a local. I want what I want.

 

I only buy beer if I like it.

If other people think a particular beer I enjoy is "mediocre", then that is their problem.

 

Everyone in Winter Garden, Florida does. Crooked Can is the brewery there and craft really hasn't exploded in that side of Central Florida yet, so people are just happy to buy local, fresh beer without the critique. Flies off the shelf.

 

I sometimes check something out from a local brewery if im into the style just to support them a bit. If that brewery strikes out with me, im less likely to do so.

 

No, no, no...I live in a area that is rife with mediocre microbreweries, and the people around here lap these products up like dogs, just because the beer is brewed in their area code.

 

No.

 

I buy the best beer I can find in the store but I make sure to try all the local offerings to determine if they meet the requirements of said good beer.

 

Nope. I do tend to buy local if it's good, but I won't buy bad beer intentionally. I don't care if it's brewed next door.
I'm pretty fortunate to have great beer close by, so I don't have to.

 

I'm fortunate to have great local breweries.

 

Same here. I'll always give any local brewery a few chances even if the beers don't rate high, but won't buy them regularly unless I enjoy them.

 

I'm lucky enough to live somewhere that local beer is also very good beer. 4 hands, Schlafly, Perennial, Side Project, Urban Chestnut, Civil Life etc... all make great beer, but if they didn't I wouldn't buy them. So I chose buy only good beer.

 

With Rhinegeist, MadTree, Blank Slate, and 50 West all located in Cincinnati, there is no shortage of great beer.

 

I see tons of people in my area settle for mediocre beer because it is local.
All things equal, I go local.....but things are never equal, so I go for quality.

 

I will always try a new brewery however if the beer sucks I will not return or buy again. I am lucky in Chicago as 9/10 breweries are excellet IMO, or at least the ones I have tried. Even the tiny guys are making great beer. It has been a pleasure to watch pipeworks grow and wish nothing but success for guys like Temperance, Buckle Down, Tighthead, Pollyanna, and Penrose.

 

If I'm out at a place and the only choice is mediocre local and macro, I'll go with the local

 

So if I'm faced with two beers of the same style that I've never heard of or tried before -- and let's say one is from California and one is local (either MT or CO) -- I would always choose the local.

BUT if that local turns out to be mediocre, then no way in hell would I buy that beer again.

 

Local options receive the following advantages over non-local options concerning my beer spend:

- I will absolutely try a new brewery that's within 30 minutes of my house even if I don't hear anything through word-of-mouth. A brewery in Texas which I haven't heard anything about is certainly not going to get any of my spend.
- I may end up at a brewery that serves beer not to my liking due to: a get together, live music, "just happen to be in the area," etc.
- I will try a local brewery that's only disappointed me in the past a couple of times intermittently to make sure things haven't changed. I'm absolutely not going to do that with a brewery not in driving distance.

So in a way, yes, I will in fact drink local beer that I know, or at least greatly expect, to be mediocre and I rarely (if ever) do that with a non-local option.

 

Nope. Never. I certainly try all the local beer I can to help support them, but if it's just mediocre, I don't buy it again.
Small example - Buzzard's Bay Brewing is a small place about an hour away. Many friends/family go there often because their kids can play games outside, there's music, they sample beer from the tap room while playing bag toss or whatever.... it works for them because they usually have a large crowd, and there's something to keep everyone entertained for a while. I've just never enjoyed their beer, so I never tag along. I even tried their 'Boo' and 'Octoberfest' in bombers recently, and they were 'meh' - not bad, but too bland and nothing stood out. This certainly isn't a knock on them - I'm probably in the minority because obviously they're doing things right when it's busy over there all the time. It's just not for me, so I don't buy their products.

 

Define local.