Define Drink Local

I regularly buy Sierra Nevada Pale Ale from Mills River, N.C. and it's likely 180 miles from here. I consider it fresh and local. I buy Foothills from Winston-Salem (30) miles, some Natty Greene (here in town), Gibbs 100 and Preyer, also in town. More is coming, but I buy beers from everywhere and am just lucky to have some nice hometown choices. It is not what drives me, but it's nice.

 

I think drinking local means supporting the brewers in your state but that has it's limits as they need to be making beer I want to drink. I mean I live in NH but am only about 60 miles from Boston so is that local? If my local brewers make a beer I enjoy then I'll buy there beer before driving the 60 miles and fighting the traffic to get to Boston. But in the end it usually means at least a monthly trip to Bean Town.

 

A lot of my customers think that anything brewed in SC is local...so a brewery in Charleston, 3 1/2 hours away is local, but one in Asheville, NC, 90 miles away, isn't

 

For me it's anything brewed in state, but I live in central Iowa so that's about 3 hours give or take in all directions.
Honestly I don't care how anybody defines drink local, for some people it might be within a few miles for others it might be anything in their region. Honestly I don't think it matters just drink beer you enjoy and if it happens to be local great.

 

In Minneapolis we have so many breweries within 20 miles
Surly
Indeed
Bauhaus
Dangerous Man
Town Hall
Steel Toe
So those are local but we have so many on the North shore 3 hour drive
Bent Paddle
Fitgers
Castle Danger
Canal Park
So i think of brews in the state as being local but living in a medium/big city like Minneapolis that is actually more local

 

Anywhere in Ohio or Kentucky (since I live right on the border). If I have friends in town who want to try really local stuff, 10 mile radius of 45202

 

According to grocery stores around here, local also includes GA, NC and TN. Which is total bs.

 

I think about 100 mile radius is fair. I considered Troeg's local to Philly when I lived there. I believe ~100 miles was roughly the rule at Standard Tap there, too. I also consider RR, Lagunitas, and Sante "local" to the Bay Area. The bottom line is there is no agreed upon definition so we get to argue about it.

 

Local to me just means inside the state, so even though I'm in Columbus I consider breweries like Rhinegeist, Jackie O's, and Brew Kettle to be local. Although narrowing my definition down to just Columbus would still give me something around 30 breweries to choose from.

 

Typically same state, but even better if it's same town/city.

 

I don't understand the fetish for "drink local".

It's not like local produce, which was actually grown nearby. The ingredients in beer can come from far away even if the beer was brewed next door to you.

If it's more a thing to keep the money in the local economy, then it depends where you live. In Los Angeles, I can only "drink local" at a few spots within an hour's drive from me on draft. At home, since the few local breweries that package have spotty distribution, it's almost as much of a challenge.

I guess you could homebrew, which would make it the most local beer you could possibly drink.

 

If i can drive to the brewery in a reasonable amount of time, drink a beer or two, and drive home that's local.

 

Same here. I live close to Tennessee so anything from Nashville (60 miles) is local to me. Of course, I will also support Kentucky breweries. This is what local means to me.

 

Brew it yourself...that's as local as it gets!

 

Probably depends on population density. In metropolitan areas, there is quite a bit of traditional and cultural diversity in a small radius. And also tons of breweries. So "local" might have to be smaller in those areas because otherwise you are getting into a variety of markets. Where I live, "local" means the Florida panhandle, which is basically from Pensacola to Tallahassee, ish. That's how I would define it anyway, but we hardly have any breweries in that span. A lot of Floridians would claim the whole state of Florida.

 

id say your local town/city you live in or any brewery in the state you live in

 

This is a real head scratcher for me as a well rounded Washingtonian Ha ha !! but back on topic..

I have lived and work in the DC area... I still do... I reside in MAryland (which kicks... ASS!) and I have access to many things within a 50 mile radius, which would even put Baltimore (another place I have fun and enjoy) in the locus as well.

The most local brewery technically for me... is Denizens... not far away at all.. then there are things like Flying Dog... but I am closer to DC.. home to places like DC Brau.. Right Proper... Atlas... and the ilk...

Take a similar juant on the beltway in the same distance as some places in Maryland, and I got Port City in Alexandria VA.. what about the VA bedroom communities??? Lost Rhino? Ocelot? Mad Fox which is even closer??? what is local?

IT's hard to say.. but it seems like the world is my oyster!

 

In my city. Then SW virginia , W. NC , East TN. All within 1 hour. I consider within about 150 miles local.