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

I assume the OP is just asking if people buy certain beers they don't enjoy as much as others because they are brewed locally.

 

Why wouldn't you go just to spend time with family and friends? I know I have put up with a lot more than mediocre beer while enjoying quality time with people I care about.

 

How positive.

 

I will try just about anything local. If it's good, then I will keep buying it!

 

I will give every local beer a chance, but only one - never buy the same beer again if it is below par. Any given brewery may get 3 chances to prove itself before being cut off.

 

Well put, and many of the replies show that people misunderstood that, and look how many clearly responded by equating mediocre = bad. Yes, bad. Or they suck. Or whatever. I appreciate the OP's thread but unfortunately I think things are skewed because people think very differently with 'mediocre' and similar words.

 

What's wrong with drinking solid beer witch is what I am interpreting as mediocre meaning not the best but its not terrible that are made local. If I'm at the store and there is nothing really new or something that is really good. I get the "Meh" Same thing at a restaurant. Nothing wrong with drinking ok beer support your local brewery if they haven't done your wrong in some way. Not every beer has to knock your socks off. If I ever get to a point where every beer has to be the best beer I've ever had I will stop drinking. That last sentence is my version of a beer snob.

 

What you're saying is what many have in mind. Unfortunately many people are equating mediocre with outright bad.

A lot of people I talk to say almost exactly what you say above. They acknowledge that it is just ok beer, nothing that knocks their socks off. And in their case, they choose that ok beer because it is local, instead of the beer on the tap next to it that does knock their socks off (but is not local).

 

I occasionally like to drink Sam Adams which is local for me, and not bad but not great. Some might call them mediocre. I do like local New England breweries but I far prefer other breweries that I think make better beers that aren't local. I go for both, but usually what I'm in the mood for and what I think is better and more worth the price wins out for me. Sorry local Boston beers, but Founders, Stone and others are doing it better

 

I won't buy something I don't enjoy with the following exceptions A) I am at the brewery that said mediocre brew is brewed at B) My choices are between said mediocre local brew and something that needs to market how cold it is I go with the local guy.

I agree with you. Lots of people on some very high horses in this thread. Life is too short too be that snobby.

 

Local is only used as a tie-breaker. I will always go for the better beer.

 

why would you, are you hoping it will get better?

 

Your title and poll are two different questions.

Does anyone buy mediocre beer just because it's local? Hell yes, that is how most local beer is sold!
Do you buy mediocre beer just because it's local? Hell no!

I'm sure @yemenmocha has already explained why "localism" needs to die a quick death so I won't bother repeating him.

 

Nope. Craft beer prices demand craft beer quality. I think Tommyknocker beers sucks. They're local, yeah, but why pay for bad beer when I can spend the same on better, equally local beer? Derp.

I don't buy bad beer, period.

 

Some people are sympathetic to that, in person and on BA:

"I support small brewers, even if they have average beer, because they are the future of the industry and they need all the help they can get. If you support the average brewer enough its only a matter of time before they start taking chances and become less average..."
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/why-is-craft-beer-so-hard.275644/page-3#post-3490861

 

It blows my mind people think this. If you support average, they will say to themselves "this is what people want" and keep making that same average beer since that is what you are incentivizing.

 

It's nice when good beer is local but is not the reason for buying it. I've bought beer from the other side of the globe because I like it.

 

If one has two local breweries and one patronizes the better one, that will incentive quality improvement. If one has one local brewery, patronizing it might lead to a second one.

I do not know why someone with two local breweries would patronize the worse one (at least for off premises consumption ) But then I also do not know why mediocre regional and national beers survive, and they do. Perhaps there is mediocre national beer movement?

 

A local brewery where I live is mediocre at best, but it's a great place to get a beer. There are a million quality beers available to most of us at any given time, but sometimes a few board games, a friendly environment, and just hangin out with some loved ones far outweigh the libations available. But, to each their own. Cheers!