Drink Local! No thanks.

I have world class breweries within walking distance so I wont comment on them. But I also have the more standard locals not brewing world class beers, and I'll always pick them over non-Colorado great breweries. I'm lucky enough to live in Colorado and have the opportunity to support our amazing beer community first hand, so that's what I'll do.

 

I mostly agree with OP. To me I think "drink local" was created to encourage supporting your local economy, but I'd be fine with changing it to just "Drink American" (even though I personally still want to buy beers from around the world), or just "Drink good beer".

 

I understand where you're coming from, and as an example in Syracuse, NY we do have several local breweries (if we're going by, say, a 50-mile radius, which I think is reasonable to call "local" in places that are predominantly rural, like upstate NY) of varying quality. Also, not all of them are terribly accessible—I might see two or three of them regularly represented in some bars in the area, but to get some others you either have to stumble upon them or seek them out. And, they're not all amazing. Solid, probably, but very little really, really sticks out.

I do support the principle of buying local whenever possible, but to be reasonable about things I still feel good about buying regionally-produced goods, in the case of things like beer. Are Smuttynose or Tröegs "local" to me? No, but they're both Northeast. Same with Brooklyn, Sixpoint, and a whole mess of other good brewers, and I do feel good about supporting regional craft beer.

Same goes for when I travel: if I'm passing through North Carolina, I want to know what the best or most notable NC brews might be so I can keep an eye out. Anywhere I'm staying for a couple of days, I always try to see if I can get my hands on something good and local, or at least within the state. I think that has value. It's not the same as "buying local," but it's good for the craft beer industry in similar ways.

 

I live in Pittsburgh but unfortunately I'm not much of a fan of the immediate area breweries. I support Troegs out of Hershey as much as possible, but I'm not going to buy Penn or Iron City just because they're local.

 

I'm sort of on the fence with this. I can agree that I would rather drink a higher quality beer if local brews are lacking, but how pretentious and non-advocate it sounds to tell the people that wanted the local stuff that they have shitty taste in beer. I'm not sure how it is at your Whole Foods, but the ones here, if there's something on tap I could care less about, I can grab one of the shelf and sip it there.

 

I agree with the OP about not buying an inferior product just because it's produced locally and also with a post that says you should at least try local products and see for yourself. I do have a question, though. When did we go from "buy U.S.A." [as opposed to imported] to "buy local". I still buy U.S.A.

 

I want to agree. But, many of the newer startups have really expensive bottles, which make it hard to buy them for someone on a budget. Further, I'm never going to try every single beer, and if I tried every local -- because I don't drink too much -- I would never get to so many of the acclaimed out-of-towners, and I don't want that to be the case.

 

I live just outside of Philly and consider Weyerbacher "local".
Even though at least 90% of the beers I buy are not local, the amount of Insanity I buy and will continue to buy should make up for this.

 

Please don't complain about that!

 

What's wrong with East End?

I'd kill for some bottle of Gratitude.

 

You would imagine "guest" beers if there's the likes of that available. Just don't go to Whole Foods

 

I had the Cowabunga Porter at the Chestnut Hill location recently and liked it enough to order a second.

 

They just opened up a craft beer bar (Bloomington, IN) and there were a lot of people wanting Sun King. You can pretty much get that anywhere in a 100 mile radius of Indy and it's not that great.

 

QFT

 

Ill hyper-support locals if they earn it, if not, there are plenty of options on the shelves. I am always game to try something new, even more so if its "local," which can vary from walking distance from my house or within state lines. Harpoon would technically be my local if we are talking closest to home, but I also consider most eastern Mass beers as local too. With Harpoon, I like to try their seasonals and 100 Barrel series of they interest me, but not strictly because they are "my local." Places like Wormtown and Jacks Abbey to the west of the city are producing some great stuff (and in Jacks case great prices too), so I usually end up with a few bottles in the fridge.

 

Local for the sake of local doesn't work for me. Sure, if all else is equal (taste, overall quality, ingredients, even ethics of the business), then, yeah, I'll probably take the local choice. But to make a choice based only on a product's proximity, without any overarching quality framework, can easily end up negatively. Until there's a truly compelling reason to only consume locally-sourced goods, I'm gonna go with what's better/best, local or otherwise.

That said, I will always give the local guys a fair shake, try out whatever new offering they may have (sometimes being a ticker helps). But if it's bad, I ain't coming back for seconds.

 

Local is a food buzzword right now. Has been for about... 5 years or so. It's right up there with "foraged" or whatever the term is for picking your own nuts, berries, and fungi. (Seriously, this is a big "thing" right now.) These terms have more or less replaced "organic" in the trendy food lexicon.

So, that's probably where a lot of where the "drink local!" comes from on Whole Foods's end.

That said, it sometimes takes mediocre breweries some time to refine and perfect recipes. So, buy from them, but give them feedback on what you want to see and what you think would make a beer better. If something is middling or poor, let them know. Worst that happens is that they don't take the feedback.

 

I am more likely to try local breweries stuff - or at least seek out samples at fests - than I would beers from out of the area. Has to be top notch for its style to garner repeat purchases though.

 

Agreed. If a local startup wants to be competitive, they need to be doing so on quality or price, or both. Asking consumers to pay a fee solely for the privilege of drinking local doesn't make sense to me, unless the quality of the beer demands that the fee be paid.