Drink Local! No thanks.

There is also this.. Only about 40min from us.
http://northcountrybrewing.com/welcome.htm

 

I don't drink from my small local breweries as all the beers pretty much taste the same around here. Bland, sweet, yeasty and just down right yucky.

Then again, the definition of "local" is very different in Belgium as most US states are much bigger than we are

 

It's a food movement first and foremost. Local should mean fresher dairy, fruit, veg, meat...

 

This is a very interesting question..Im lucky that I live in a state that has many darn good breweries. I probably drink 95% "local" which im saying local is my state.If you dont consider a whole state, local, breweries near me that are "world class" are Kuhnhenns,Jolly Pumpkin, Dragonmead. There are others near me that are good to very good depending on styles of beers. Liberty street brewing,Witches hat,Woodward Ave Brewing, Motor City Brewing Works, Detroit Beer Co.. Im sure im forgetting some, but im lucky that I have many choices..

Now dont get me wrong. I wont turn down a good beer from any place..Weather its American, BMC/Foreign..But I try to keep my money going somewhere in my state if I can..

 

Of course. You are right. But that is the beauty here. The terms "equal" and "local" are subjective. Thus....we are the ones who get to decide for ourselves. But; putting it in that context, I would prefer to buy local for several reasons: freshness, regional economy, "homerism", etc..

For example....I view local as my "region".....Lake Michigan-centric. Within a 4 hours drive, I've got New Glarus, FFF, Bells, Founders, Capital, Half Acre, Dark Horse, etc...

Case in point: I love Founders Porter....my favorite. If there is another that tastes pretty much the same to me....all things equal in my view, to another porter brewed in Georgia....I pick the local brew. That said....I'll still take a St Bernardus as I have yet to find a local, or American Quad that I prefer over it.

Easy-peasy!

 

Haha!

Yes...and I could have said Johnnie's, Portillo's etc. Just used Al's to make a point.

Now for Hotdogs.....SuperDawg!

Pizza....Giordano's!

Italian Ice....Marios!

Football.....Da Bears!


Cheers!!

 

Within 90 miles I can get to: Russian River, Lagunitas, 21st Amendment, Sudwerk, Sierra Nevada, Track 7 and Rubicon. I drink local.

 

This is pretty much what I do, I also take value(a.k.a. cost) into the equation, which often has me leaning towards New England area brews.

With this strategy in mind a lot of my regular beer purchases (porters, stouts, brown ale, mix packs, seasonals) tend to be locals. But for Big Ipas/DIPAs, Imperial Stouts, Belgian Styles, ect, I often end up buying from a greater variety of brewery locations.

 

Sadly, yes. I've sent emails to several breweries to express my interest, but companies need to see the numbers. They need to see how much people are spending on beer before they invest in risky new territory. You can buy Founders, Stone, Green Flash, and Goose Island in the states that border us, but little to nothing here. I believe people would buy better beer if it was here. I know people with fine wine and liquor reserves that reach into the thousands... but still have adjunct lagers in the fridge.

Of course, this wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the ridiculous State and Federal beer laws. You should be able to order beer straight from the brewery to your doorstep.

 

After reading this thread I guess I will make the sacrifice and drink more local beers like Gandhi-Bot, 668, Stout Trooper and Fancy Pants!!!

 

"Local Beer" has two inherent advantages to it:

1) Price. It should, in theory, be cheaper to ship/distribute your wares a couple of miles down the road than it should be to ship a similar beer, made with similar raw ingredients and similar labor/equipment, across the country or over the ocean.

2) Freshness. Destinations "right down the road" should be receiving beer with more recent brewed-on dates than beers from far-and-wide.


If/when your local brewers aren't able to leverage those two advantages to outperform world-class beers from far away, I see nothing wrong with opting for offerings that aren't local.

 

Honestly, I've never really been blown away by much of anything from East End. I like most of it. But I don't think it holds up when compared head-to-head with the Stone, Founder's, and Bell's offerings that are readily available on the shelves around here.

By-and-large, I agree with Preluderl. I don't dislike Penn/East End/Church/etc, but there are just soooooo many good beers out there in 2012, it's rare that I choose to spend $$$ and refrigerator space on something from them.


I do, however, have high hopes for Helltown and Draii Laag. Small breweries that are on the rise, IMO.

And I'm constantly trying to figure out how we can claim Fathead's as "Pittsburgh Beer"... because it's world-class, IMO.

 

Understood. Classic example, IMO, of local beer not worth supporting.

It SHOULD be cheaper. If it isn't, then the BREWER is opting not to fully-leverage his "localness" to give him that advantage over out-of-town beer. When that happens, IMO, he doesn't get to complain when people like myself opt for said out-of-town beer.

 

In terms of truly local beers out here (I'm thinking Onion, Tighthead, even Revolution and the like), the prices are never made that much cheaper than other beers. In fact, when bottles/cans come into the picture, they're on the cheaper side of average ($8.99 for a Revolution sixer? Nice...), but they're never much lower and often just as high, if not higher. Something tells me they price to match the rest of the market so that they don't appear to be sacrificing on quality and passing that along in the price. For whatever reason, people don't assume the cheaper item is cheaper 'cause it traveled a smaller distance, but rather because it's a crappier product. Once locals start to actually pass along any savings (if there truly are significant savings to be had) in transportation to the consumer, more would be apt to drink locally, but it would take some time before the quality skeptics overcome their hesitance.

 

Everyone starts off small. Apparently Founders started off sucking ass, but obviously everything turned out alright with them. I live down the street from Mother's Brewery, and they started off with just a blonde, IPA, and a brown ale, all of which were mediocre. Now they are really getting a lot better, and have started making some barrel aged brews which are pretty good. I think it just comes down to funding IMO.

 

If its the one I'm thinking of (also don't know the name) I've heard really good things.

 

TOTALLY agree.

Since the poster I was quoting earlier mentioned Penn, I'll continue with the example. I genuinely enjoy Penn Dark. But, for me, when I want Bell's Double Cream Stout, if that isn't available, Penn Dark isn't an acceptable substitute. Founder's Porter, Sierra Nevada Stout, Sam Adams Cream Stout, ect. might be. But Penn Dark isn't.

I would, however, go for a Penn Dark 9/10 when I'm having a Yuengling Black & Tan. That's it's *suitable replacement*, IMO. But Penn Dark isn't priced like Yuengling. It's priced like Sam Adams Cream Stout. So I rarely opt for Penn Dark in anything other than small quantities for "something different".