Drink Local! No thanks.

I like to always support local business, but quality will always win.
I love visiting tasting rooms and purchasing direct from the brewery, I do that whenever possible. However, when at the bar I purchase the best/most desirable beer available.

 

I buy local now and again. I live right near Old Saratoga/Mendocino/Shmaltz Brewery... Adirondack Brewery, Brown's, Druther's, and Davidson's brewery's are all very close as well. Adirondack has some great stuff for a small independent, and Brown's does a few brews really well! Brown's Whiskey Porter is a really great brew!

 

I am currently enjoying a Sweetwater Exodus Porter, which should take care of another thread here, but in response to this thread, although I am not very far from that brewery and other good ones, I still think that one would need to have access to other beers. I enjoy local product and some of it is world class, but how would I know without something to compare it to? I think our local brewers know this and strive to make a product that stands up to other beers and that also fits this area, many having lighter selections for warmer weather, which is perfect for here. I would only hope that for those in areas not blessed with craft breweries nearby, that the the people responsible for stocking the stores would try to bring some of the world to them. Here they do and I appreciate it and indeed I appreciate our local beers all the more.

 

I love the idea of local beers but you've got to dig a little deeper under the surface to find the good stuff. In philly you see a lot of Yards (there ESB is pretty good) and Victory (don't get me wrong Hope Devil is a delight) but my personal favorites come from The Dock Street Brewery, so I say if you can drink good beer and support your local brewer's than go for it.

 

I really enjoy my local brewery(s). I think they all make good quality beers and I frequent a number of them through the week in long island ny. Long Ireland, Greenport Harbor, Pot Jeff, or Blue point I find they all do at least one style of brew really well.

Let's not forget that many of the big guys can be over-hyped and they at some point started out just like the little guys are. Clearly there is room in the world for both so I'm not really sure what the fuss is about. The more beer the better.

 

I was happy as can be to move out of Orlando. I used to support Orlando Brewing Co, for nearly three months. I put three of their brews on tap; despite personally not caring for their stuff at all. It sold fairly well, but after having some issues getting it on time and with regularity, I happily cut it from my bar's draft list. I miss being so close to Cigar City though

 

I love to drink local. I love to buy local. But most of my beer comes from out of state. We don't have many awesome local breweries. There are a couple. One new one (just opened in April) makes what I consider a world class IPA. It the best beer in Arizona. They also make an awesome stout. One other brewery in Phoenix makes (and cans) one or two awesome beers. The local I go to most often I really only go to because my girlfriend loves their food. They make a good oatmeal stout, a couple good to great IPAs and an amazing seasonal imperial stout. So I like to support them. Tucson's "biggest" brewery (Nimbus) makes garbage though and I refuse to have anything to do with that crap.

 

Terrapin is local for me. I seem to buy their products fairly often, but buy from out of state breweries more often.

 

I guess the OP and I will just have to agree to disagree. I feel both he and I are fortunate to have 6 breweries in our local area, with 2 more planned for the near future. All but 1 of those are 6 years old or younger. And based on the reviews here, there are quite a few that are highly regarded, some seasonal, some year round. But my point is this: no matter how "world class" you may think you are, much of what you produce is likely to be just average in most people's eyes. someone said it above, regarding too many breweries and too many beers. Unless you're Trappist Rochefort, which makes a grand total of 4 beers, you're likely to have quite a bit of mediocre stuff. The fact that 99% of the people on here say that most of what's produced "locally" in their area is just run-of-the-mill kind of suggests that anything different from some good local breweries with some good beers and some average or not so good beers seems to be the norm. All you can do is try them out and hope for the best. I never have and never will limit myself in any way. But I feel pretty damn happy that we've come a long way and most likely will go a lot farther. So there.

 

Quality trumps all; however, I'll drink beers I normally wouldn't buy at the supermarket on a regular basis to support the super-local small guys. However, it can't be seriously flawed beer (again, quality trumps). That being said, I'm hella lucky to live smack between St. Louis and Kansas City (Boulevard and Schlafly). Both make some great limited or specialty beers, while having several solids in their everyday lineups.

 

I live in a place where we have amazing beer. So yes, I believe in "Drink Local". But I am one of those fortunate people who live within walking/cycling distance of some amazing breweries. Everything in Grand Rapids is within my reach. Even if it wasn't considered world class, I would still post to others to hit the breweries in my town.

 

i'm going to be the naive idealist and let go of reality for a minute here but bear with me for a sec:

everyone suggesting we let the mediocre locals go out of business is missing the point that these tend not to be breweries that are in it for the money: they're mostly if not all beer people like us who just might not be as good at brewing as some of the other breweries out there. i can't believe that anyone would go through the expense and pain-in-the-ass-ery of opening a craft brewery cuz it's cool, let alone to make money. instead of letting them die, i think we should encourage collaboration between local breweries so that instead of five mediocre local breweries, we ultimately get five great local breweries. since we have a capitalist economy that's not going to happen any time soon, but we can dream, can't we?

 

I live in Colorado so I...oh yeah, exempt from thread.

But, on a serious notes I was really looking forward to trying Narwhal and it was taking forever to get here (still don't know if it has.) Went to beer store, no Narwhal, then I thought to myself "Dude, you live in Colorado, Get some Ten Fidy, AND a couple Yeti's...and hit up Avery's tap room on the way home for some Out of Sight stout and cry into those about not having Narwhal."

 

I'm from Mississippi... the worst state to live in for beer variety. We have ONE brewery: Lazy Magnolia, and I can't say I like anything they produce other than their Timber Beast, which is just okay. I do think it is important to support them though, just so we can prove there is a market for something different here. I probably wouldn't encourage that in any other state because most other states have made it clear that there is a demand for something other than American adjunct lagers. It's really hard to show that Mississippians want something different mainly because the "something different" that is available isn't much better. I drive up to two hours away to buy beer I can actually enjoy, but the breweries will never know that.

 

Being nostalgic for the days of pre- and post-prohibition when every town of substance had at least one brewery, I would drink local even if it was just average (with non-local to supplement for quality and variety.) I think freshness adds a level of quality to any beer.

 

You learn something every day...

 

Please do! The only one I can think of in PA that's somewhat close is Voodoo up in Meadville, PA.

 

http://www.beaverbrewingcompany.com/

 

I is intrigued.