LOCAL BEER ONLY! (a beer experiment)

Forgot about Evolution and Flying Dog as well. I don't think I had a Flying Dog beer for about three years when I moved away from Maryland but since moving back, have realized just how solid some of their stuff really is. I've really enjoyed the past few Brew House Rarities releases and have been rather impressed with some of their IPAs that have been released while I was away (The Truth, Bloodline). I also forgot about Heavy Seas (who have some solid beers) as well as Stillwater. Maryland isn't too bad.

 

Nobody from Florida yet! I live in Gainesville, so I've got a measly 2 production breweries, plus one pouring at their bar only (no growlers), so pickin's are slim. I definitely wouldn't want to go a month drinking only those beers, unfortunately. However, if you expand the local radius to a two hour drive, my beer world blossoms. Tampa, Jacksonville, and Orlando. I would happily do this challenge for a whole year drinking ONLY Cigar City beers!

 

Local brewery here serves only beers brewed in FL, so this would be an easy experiment for me to try. If I get bored with any of them I can always drink Cigar City day and night.

 

I will drink very local for the first week of May. I will go only as far as my fridge or cellar for beer that week. How's that for local!

 

I'm thinking about partaking in this event, because it's a great idea. My only problem is I live in Kansas, and really, it's no problem for me to drink Free State, Tallgrass, Wichita Brewing, and Defiance all month. But we're getting a lot of new beers now. We just got Firestone Walker so I'm not sure I can sit idle for a month and not try a bunch of new breweries and beers

 

zy
I stand corrected. It's crazy the breweries that are popping up !!!!

 

I'm happy to see someone taking an interesting approach to discovering new beers and showing love to those close to home. However, and don't get me wrong the hype train can be frustrating, I think you should consider what breweries like Carton and Kane represent before just calling them out for getting all the love. Local brewers be they long time veterans or new up and comers should be held to a high standard for quality and rewarded for pushing the limits a little bit.

Haven't had a lot of Kane but what I've gotten from Carton has been top notch and should be an anchor for what NJ beer is known for. If someone comes to Maryland and asks what they should be drinking, there are probably more breweries that I would advise that person skip than those I would really tout as must-try. It's not that those breweries don't "get enough love" it's that they got into the game for the wrong reason or they put out sub-par offerings and often times it's both.

 

As original ideas go this is a pretty good one.

 

I'll join in the fun and drink only MA brewed beers. To be honest, I'm pretty darn close to doing this already. Between Trillium, Night Shift, Tree House, Jack's Abby, Wormtown, Ipswich, Wachusett, Harpoon, CBC, Slumbrew, Aeronaut, Clown Shoes, Mystic, Newburyport, Castle Island, Bog Iron, Medusa, and now the new Winter Hill Brewing Co, my options are far from limited. And if I wind up traveling, then I know I can always find a Boston Lager!

 

I think most responses are ignoring what makes @Urk1127 's idea interesting. He's trying to bring attention to NJ brewers beyond Carton and Kane. He's completely right in that they get 95% of the attention here. I've seen plenty of posts that ask about NJ breweries to visit on a road trip, and the dialogue is entirely about the distance between Carton and Kane... as if the map only had two points on it.

Here's an article from Esquire titled:
Why Does New Jersey Beer Suck?
Written in 2013, the author claims that the tide is finally turning thanks to Carton and Kane. Even though the author mentions Ballantine, he doesn't really acknowledge it.

I remember back when NJ "craft beer" made one think of Climax. I really wanted to try their beer after Michael Jackson mentioned them. I had two of their bottles and then gave up. The QC of those bottles seemed to be terrible. There was probably something to admire in their beer if had under the perfect conditions, but I couldn't access their beer in that manner.

Many posts are claiming that they'd have no problem doing this because of all of the renowned breweries in their state. Others are claiming that their options wouldn't be good enough... that their locals are "mediocre" or that the best local beers are brewery limited releases. I think in Urk1127's case, he'll end up drinking beers that some would put on their "mediocre list." That's what I like about this. He mentioned "run of the mill" with the first beer he drank in this thread, but it was a beer that helped his community. There aren't illusions that the greatest beer in the world is being brewed by your doorstep. Does every beer that we drink need to be "the best?" Do we need to line up for a local bottle release rather than drink one of their core beers? I'm going to guess that Urk1127 will not be drinking his favorite beers every day, but he probably won't be suffering either. I'm not trying to make a case that one should drink local over quality. I'm saying that we can drink one beer for one reason, and a different beer for another reason, and enjoy each on their own merits. If we expand our vision once in a while, maybe we'll find something worthwhile. Based on past circumstances, I won't be drinking a Climax beer anytime soon, but if a BeerAdvocate ignored brewer in NJ can make an English beer that's good enough for Michael Jackson to pay attention to, then we could all look around with an open mind.

 

I could probably do this in Missouri. I've had 800+ different Missouri beers. The next closest states are 200 behind (CO and CA).

 

Great idea, love that 'local' might be an entire state (hilarious - except in Rhode Island, maybe?). My "local" beer radius would be less than a 3 mile walk. Easy in Chicago (right now), not so easy when I'm in Colorado Springs (home).

 

I could easily drink nothing but North Carolina beers.
Wicked Weed, Foothills, Duck Rabbit, Catawba, Olde Hickory, NODA, Double Barley, Oskar Blues, Sierra Nevada, and Mother Earth brew the styles I enjoy and they do it very well. If I had to choose one locality it would be Asheville for obvious reasons.

 

I feel the same way as you, lets do it!

 

Same here, we have it pretty easy in Eastern MA. Even if you can't get to some of these breweries, distort is pretty good too. My consumption is mostly local anyway (sometimes NE rather than just MA) In my fridge currently is Trillium, Night Shift, Notch and Wormtown.

 

Yes, it would be easy to live on MA beers alone, but the Heady Topper, Sip of Sunshine, Foley Bros Prospect and Second Fiddle in my fridge isn't going to be poured into the drain. I'm drinking it. By the time I'm done, I'll probably be back at our place in Vermont and will reload.

Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin' is the only non New England beer that is regularly in my fridge however.