Coming Home to Local Beer

I am a mixed bag. I believe in the idea of supporting local, but as I have said many times in similar conversations I have been disappointed too many times to say I will strictly drink local beers. With the distribution in my home area, I would say I am mostly a regional drinker. That said, I will not shy away from buying/trying something from elsewhere just because it isn't made around the corner.

When I travel, I at least try and pick up some in-state and local beers to try. At home, I have pretty much decided who's good and who isn't.

 

For the most part the local stuff is fresh and therefore tasty so that's what I typically buy. I won't buy a beer just because it's local though. It has to be as good, or better than other beers on the shelf.

Unfortunately you can't always buy local when it comes to not-so-trendy (on BA) styles like Adjunct Lager or Malt Liquor. You'll usually have to support Big Beer if you are looking for one of those....

 

If I lived in Decorah, IA or Minneapolis or Chicago (which in my world includes Gary and Munster, IN), I'd probably drink nothing but local.

 

I'm squarely in the local camp. If I'm traveling, I'll always opt for a beer local to that city/state, otherwise, it's usually an Arizona beer for me. I do occasionally get excited about a beer from an out-of-state brewery that I make it a point to try (e.g., every release from MT that makes it to AZ, fresh hop beers, etc.), but that is usually limited to only a few purchases per season.

That means that if I ever move out of the area, I'll be buying all new beer. I believe that almost every part of the country has some great local beer, and I'd emphasize the superior freshness that local places tend to provide over name recognition.

Although, the majority of my consumption couldn't get more local - it's brewed right at home!

 

I travel a decent amount for work and these days rarely find a place where the local beer isn't good to great. At home I drink mostly local because there are so many options, I also consider local to be anywhere in New England. I'm not exclusive to local though either but I do prefer local, all things being equal.

@Squire123 brought up a good point with price and I'm not sure I'd limit it to local. Its pretty easy to find large distribution beers that are as good or nearly as good as some smaller breweries who charge 2-4 time more for a similar product. I've spent $12-16 on some bombers which aren't any better than a 4 pack of some of Founders releases at the same price or less. The bomber sells out quickly and you can pick up something equivalent pretty easily at your leisure. I think the industry overall is still trying to figure out what the pricing model is for small distribution beer. Wow beers are getting easier and easier to get, there's got to be some pricing pressure beginning to start.

 

Mixed bag. I have a couple of local brewers that I like to purchase from and I'm usually willing to give anything a try once, never know if one is going to surprise you. However I don't limit myself to the locals. Too much good beer out there.

 

Decorah only has 2 breweries, both incredible, but I would still mix it up a lot.
I'm in Des Moines and I make the effort to get to every local brewery at least once. We're becoming an incredible beer city for only having a half million people. We have madhouse cranking out very good sours and 2 awesome BA stouts, one maple breakfast stout and one Mexican, cinnamon and chilis. We've got 515 killing it with IPAs and pale ales, confluence just being good all around and exile with some very nice berliners with average core beers. There are a few breweries that aren't great and they don't really get much of my business. You still have to be good not just local.

 

I don't give bias to beers based on distance from my house. Quality and price are my only deciding factors. But I love stopping in nanos to sample. Embrace the social beer culture. It's fun.

 

When I first moved to WV at the tail end of 2004, local was not even an option, unless you brewed it yourself at home. Not a single in-state brewery. And you couldn't buy anything craft that was not SABL. It was a beer wasteland. Still probably would seem like one to most of you compared to the fantastic options many of you enjoy. But it has gotten steadily better, and has practically exploded in the past couple of years. Some of those are middling affairs though--I now have the option to be choosy. I drink local as much as I can, when the quality is there. Greenbriar Valley Brewing (my personal fave), and Big Timber are the best options with local distro that I have found and I support them as much as I can, and Dobra Zupas is an awesome local brew pub. Its finally become possible to enjoy great local beer, aside from the stuff I brew myself, but the offerings are still far too anemic for local to make up even close to half of my purchases.

 

100% true
I summer in VT and study in Brussels so I'm basically in beer paradise all year round!

Whenever I'm traveling I always pick up local stuff, I love the never ending quest for interesting beers. I stop by 3F, Cantillon and the other lambic breweries atleast once a month and always keep track on new local breweries. So much good stuff from Brasserie De la Senne, Brussels beer project and so many more not to mention Hill, Longtrail and the Alchemist. There is just to much to keep up with!

 

Fresher beer is generally better, so sticking with a 50 mile radius is a smart choice. But it can be said that certain production reaches a bigger volume and that beer sits on the shelves longer.

Big box stores will have larger stocks and if it doesn't move, usually give preference to mainstream products that move. What is good, is to support small beer specialty shops. They have lesser inventory and rotate more frequently small production runs.

I don't think it's reasonable to suggest bigger or smaller are necessarily better. For me, I want to support small production breweries that make something special and complex to drink.

Sadly the standard procedure for little breweries is be arrogant and make comparable styles to what is already on the shelves and expect us to bend over backwards to support them.

Just because you are small and your margins are tight doesn't mean I want to support you. I want exceptionally complex beer, if the price is higher it should reflect the actually process of bottle conditioning, lagering or barrel storage...yeast management what ever.

But when I see a whack and serve style ale....something that fermented quick and went to the keg quick, I just don't feel compelled to pay more for a less than a remarkable style. I am bored of craft beer because it is all too redundant.

The little guy wants to guilt trip us into thinking they make a better product because it's more local. But that has little to do with the fact that the same grains and hops are used...from the same massive ingredient supply houses.

But yes, it is generally nice to have a supply of smaller volume producers in a tight radius making fresher beer. Then you know at least it won't be too old.

 

Honestly, 90% of the beer in my fridge is currently local. When you have Finback, Singlecut, Grimm, Other Half, Sand City, Interboro, LIC Beer project access, there is almost no reason not to go local! It's all super fresh too, instead of the "shelf turds" you find at most beer shops.

 

As long as local brewers focus solely on IPA's I will happily drink imported lagers

Hey I know ales are cheaper to brew, and overhopping your beer hides cheap ingredients and nasty off-flavors (hence why the Brits used it for shipping their product to India half the world away) but the IPA bum-rush in the market has gotten ridiculous.

 

But Craft Beer is all about increasing your choices .

 

I don't know as I prefer local over other equally as good beers. I do my best to try beers from a newly opened place or even visiting the taproom. Each beer, no matter where it is from, has to grab my attention and be a good beer.

Luckily Seattle has an abundance of breweries that produce good/great/amazing beers year round and gets some great distro options in too.

 

I guess I am more in the fresh camp. I buy local because I can get it fresh, if they are good/great. Even with Bells and Founders I usually stick to seasonal releases as these are likely to be fresh. Two Hearted is only year 'round that I buy regularly from those two. I think the only two beers that I have bought in the last year or so that have a national distribution or from outside of my region are Enjoy By and Born Yesterday. I support local breweries when traveling as well.

Also, I prefer to support local. I'd rather buy from a local hardware store than Lowes or Home Depot. I don't. remember the last time I went to Walmart. I support local restaurants as well, especially when traveling. They have so much more to offer IMO. And usually you get the best of both worlds, great local food and great local beer.

For me a lot of it has to do with being an educated and conscious consumer. If my local source can provide good value (not necessarily the lowest cost) they will get my business ahead of the national or regional source.

 

Don't get me wrong - I like local and I like fresh. When I lived in Germany 85% of the time I was drinking one of a number of lagers brewed within 20 miles. But taken as a whole, I think the US craft beer scene is way too IPA-centric for me. And nothing saddens me more when I go to a local micro-brew and half of their offerings are variations on IPA's.

 

I love to support local business, but as others have said, I try to go for something new (to me), or a brew I know I'll like.

It just so happens that most of those beers, new and ones I like, are being made within a couple hours of me.

 

I live in the Tacoma/Seattle/Everett megalopolis. Drink Local and Drink The Freshest IPA Possible is a near religious obsession around here. For myself, I don't drink much IPA and where my beer is brewed isn't that big a deal.

 

Yes!