Does it matter where a beer is brewed geographically to you?

As long as the beer tastes good it doesn’t matter to me where it’s made. Has there ever been a time in beer making history where people swear the beer tastes better at a new location vs the original brewery location? And not talking about freshness, just the actual beer tastes different and for the better.

 

It doesn't matter to me in the least where they brew Stella Artois. I'm not buying it, ever. As for non-AB-InBev beers, I really don't pay that much attention unless I'm trying to get a country tick.

I see that I'm firmly in the majority on this, at least until somebody else weighs in.
Edit: Oops!

 

No, if I like the beer, I'll buy it.

 

One way of looking at this is to consider how macro brewers move some production from a beer's original brewing location to a country where it was being imported.
(Note that it's not just the big guys - brands like Mahrs also contract brew in the US.)

Another way of looking at this is how US craft brewers brew a ton of beers marketed as Mexican-style, Czech-style, German-style, etc. Does it matter to people here if US craft brewers release a beer and call it a Saison... or a Kolsch, or Polotmavý? Do you care where your Polotmavý comes from? Is that US-origin Polotmavý more "authentic" than the US-origin Stella? Do you care if a US "Mexican-style" beer is nothing like a typical Mexican beer?

It seems like people mainly get offended by the first situation, and only get offended by the second if they feel very misled. Some people might view the first situation as consumer deception and the second as artistic freedom. What role does brewer size play in this? What would the reaction be if AB-InBev released a Belgian beer marketed as Stella Artois Saison? Would people here automatically view it as less authentic than a nectarine "saison" released by a small brewery in Florida?

 

Travel to Germany and see just how many Löwenbräu breweries there are beside Munich!

 

Gary Gillman (BeerEtSeq) described the introduction of Molson's Canadian-brewed Madri in Ontario. He generally approves of the product, which he found to be more assertive than most macro-brewed lagers. Whether the beer is "the same" as the Spanish original or the British product, I have no idea. My general observation about foreign brands brewed domestically is that the breweries could very likely produce almost identical products if there was a strong motivation to do so. Market research, taste panels, and test markets apparently tend to argue for watering down the taste.

 

Quality trumps location as long as it reaches me when it's fresh. Last I checked Kirin was contract brewed by AB in LA and it does not match up in terms of taste with the Kirin you can pick up at any convenience store in Japan. The Kirin I am referring to is Kirin Ichiban Shibori which is all malt.

 

Yes because the closer it is brewed the fresher it is (in general)

 

I don’t care if the style suggests a geographic location but is actually brewed elsewhere, as long as it is good. Example: a “German” pilsner brewed in CA is ok with me. However, I won’t knowingly drink beer from mainland China or other communist countries…regardless of quality.F’ em.

 

If it is related to beer, I could care less where it is brewed. If it tastes good and is suitably priced, I'm drinking up. One caveat is like from BillAfromSoCal above.. if its from some shit country, forget it.

 

It’s probably a sign of my age but I tend to favor local beers because they should be fresher. Right? That and I like supporting local breweries. I’m also old enough to remember when there really weren’t local breweries

 

Belgian beers should be brewed in Belgium. A Spanish lager should be brewed in Spain. However Belgian "style" beers should and can be brewed anywhere and be as good or even better than a "Belgian" beer brewed in Belgium. Same with Spanish lagers or any other style we can name. I had a festbier and a marzen tonight at a local brewery in Iowa. Both were good beers and neither made any claims to being brewed anywhere but in Iowa. In the world of beer I believe most consumers want transparency. Tell us what it is and where it's brewed and we'll appreciate it on its own merits. When you try and portray a beer as something it's not it cheapens the experience.

 

Inspired by several of the fine posts above I hereby swear off Canadian beer. Canada has a single payer national health care system which is the first step towards communist hell. That's good enough reason for me!

 

I recently had Sapporo from the Virginia Stone Brewery. It tasted so good that I checked the can and saw that it was no longer from Vietnam. It seemed like a big difference to me. I'm interested to taste some in Japan when I go back at the end of the year. I agree with you about the Ichiban Shibori.

 

I think the good part about the US breweries specializing in German and Czech style lagers is that they are much fresher than the imports, in styles that freshness matters. So no issue with the American breweries doing European styles.

I mainly don't care about most of the "macro" import brands because of the taste.