Coming Home to Local Beer

Oh, yeah - the brewers themselves thought of the NYC-NJ metro area as one "brewing center" - "...the largest in the world" according to the ad below put out jointly by the area's brewers - six of the US Top 10 - in 1958 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Repeal.
https://sites.google.com/site/jesskiddenparttwo/1958-ny-nj-brewers.

 

Here, here! I love IPA's and APA's, but I also love stouts, and most of the beers I brew at home are stouts/porters. I feel like a quality stout should be one of the first beers a start up produces. In stead of producing two IPA's, brew a stout and an IPA and you are much more likely to get my business!

 

I don't really understand [and don't need it explained to me] why some brewers in my state don't get into distro. Probably like some people here,I buy my beer sometimes when I'm grocery shopping. I don't want to have to go to the source to get a beer...[Westbrook are you listening?] You don't have to bottle it;just share it with some local bars. I love local beer and we now have something like 25 breweries here in my area;Coast.Two Blokes and Westbrook being my faves.
I support local brewers that make good beer that's easy to find.

 

According to the Brewers Association Self-Distribution page, because it's illegal:

Sorry.

 

I can agree with you on buying local but there is a ton of outstanding beer that is not local and I hate to limit myself just because. So my routine is I support local a ton but I don't hesitate to enjoy the choices from everyone else that is available in my area.
I also feel its important to buy from other craft guys to support them because that is what keeps the breweries we love in business, so spread that cash around.
Cheers

 

Nothing in Keene? Amherst/ Greenfield has some good options. Tried Berkshire or Building 8?

 

Brick & Feather in Turners Falls is closest at 45 minutes and, in fact, I just got back from there!

 

Better yet, a black IPA! Best of both worlds. My favourite underrepresented style.

 

I am a homer and do seek out the local stuff first and foremost.

That said, that comes with the caveat that I live (and have lived) in a city with some great local options.

 

LOL good thing we aren't sitting in a bar arguing beer. I'd dump one on your head for that comment

A dark pale ale? Isn't that like a jumbo shrimp?

I think a lot of less-sophisticated beer drinkers drink IPA's because it's the "cool thing" to do - not because it is their favorite flavor. I'd love to see some blind taste tests to confirm my theory Because of this mass-market bubble around IPA's, every craft brewer with a drum in their garage is coming up with IPA-this and IPA-that. They take a dark hoppy ale and call it a "black IPA" because it will sell better, not because that's what kind of beer it is

 

By the way, if you don't believe me about the IPA market bubble, check this out:

Glenfiddich IPA

If it says "IPA" on the label, you MUST buy it, right? I am a professional corporate marketer by trade - one person's market "trend" is another person's market "fad". I am waiting for someone to start printing "IPA's suck!" t-shirts, and the IPA craft beer boom to implode and go the way of disco vinyl.

I'll bet half the people drinking IPA's today don't even know what the initials "IPA" stand for

 

Might as well also wait for the Light Lager bubble to burst.

 

Someone needs to get in touch with Glenfiddich and ask them what kind of IPA's are fermented in oak casks, LOL!

 

You mean like this?

 

Ha! I'd have my head tipped back and my jaw unhinged like a python before you'd gotten it off the bar!

Let's call them hoppy stouts, then.

 

I love drinking local beers from my hometown. Over the past five years or so the beer scene in Buffalo and Western New York has grown by leaps and bounds. It is exciting to see local brewers grow and evolve and I am more than happy to support them as they are starting to create some truly great beers.

 

Having another great brew from local fave Greenbriar Valley--tonight its the Devil Anse IPA. Its super fresh, too, picked up just after they restocked the cooler.

 

Personally, I drink IPA's because I love them. I also love stouts/porters, oatmeal stouts, Vienna lagers, Belgians, saisons, borbon barrel aged stouts, barleywines, pale ales, etc. I've matured beyond snubbing a good pilsner as well after realizing that the AAL's I had in my macro days that were labeled pilsners are just bad representations of the style. And I am starting to get into sours (especially gose) as wèll. I will admit that there are a lot of middle of the road IPA's out there. I don't get excited about average IPA's and purposefully seek the ones that stand out. Its definitely one of my favorite styles, but I don't enjoy a mediocre beer just because its an IPA. I do wish that breweries who do not do them well would just stop and concentrate on the styles they excel at though.

As for black IPA's, a well made one is great despite the misnomer in the style name. A good black IPA features the IPA flavor I crave with notes of roasted dark malt that the traditional ones do not typically have. That's a good thing, although I will concede that some of them lack this character and really only differ from traditional IPA's in the color swap. The Mothman Black IPA has that note. Its subtle, but definitely there to my palette, and I appreciate it very much.

 

variety is the spice of life