LOCAL BEER ONLY! (a beer experiment)

Being a drifter for a while should make only drinking local really easy.

 

I've also seen it at Wine Library in Springfield. I bought a 6 pack of pocket trick and funnel cake to bring back home to Miami.

 

Wait a minute . . . if I buy it locally ain't that local? Just hedging my bets.

 

Not sure about the rest of the country, but if I add up the 10 or so breweries within 20 miles of my house, most of them overall are pretty mediocre, the best beers that I can find in my local area, are mostly brewery limited release/tap only and you have to go out of your way to get them or sometimes they are served at farm-to-fork trendy restaurants. The largest beer stores in the area, may carry a few in bottles and cans from a few of these small local breweries, but most are overpriced and not even the best offerings from those breweries either. Flying Dog provides the best beers/best variety of cans/bottles in the stores in my area, but there are 2-3 local smaller breweries that I much prefer over them...just not convenient as best beers are on-site only. None do Crowlers yet, and Growlers are just impractical for me.

As sad as it sounds, I could much more easily drink for a month CA only beers distributed in bottles and cans in MD, than MD beers distributed in bottles and cans in MD. Better selection and quality overall, even 2,000 miles traveled.

 

Indeed. I'm going to be drinking local in a lot of places. Including Iowa. Plan is to pass through there on my way east. I was eyeing Toppling Goliath but have also seen you mention other places. When the date gets closer, I may ask you if there' somewhere else I should be stopping in instead.

 

Sure thing, I'm in the Des Moines area. Let me know if your coming to that part of the state.

 

I've nearly inadvertently done this with CO beer a few times. Our recent batches of Melvin (and some new imports like BFM and Weihenstephaner 1516) have thrown me off this month, but I've had months where I drank nothing but CO beer and didn't even know.

 

Sad to hear about your area. Makes me feel even better about Albuquerque. I take it your not near DC or Baltimore.

 

Some of us could even pare it down to "beer brewed within walking distance" and be pretty much set. According to beermapping.com, there are 37 breweries within a 3 mile radius of my house including Upright, Cascade, Deschutes, Hair of the Dog, Great Notion, Ex Novo, Culmination,and Fat Heads, just to name some of the better ones.

 

hmm for me Hoof Hearted, Fat Heads, Great Lakes, Wolfs Ridge, Platform, MadTree, Rhinegeist, Land-Grant, Zaftig, Seventh Son, Moerlein, Warped Wing, Columbus Brewing, Fifty West, Ill Mannered, Elevator, Homestead, Jackie O's, Maumee Bay, North High, Rockmill, Brew Kettle, Thirsty Dog, Triple Digit/Listermann, Restoration Brew Worx, Buckeye Lake, Sideswipe, Barley's. That is not enough options for me.

 

I was speaking of just what's within 40 minutes of me but yeah in the whole state there are so many options

 

I live in VT so its cool I basically only drink beer from around here anyway

 

For sure. I've not been, but Portland always sounds like a dream spot for a beer vacation ... a *walking* beer vacation.

 

If you live in CA or Ore, you don't get to use the whole state, ha. Hell I live in San Diego and for it to be a challenge I'd have to limit it to a couple of zip codes.

Not my thing though, I love SN, Lagunitas, and Firestone too much to abstain.... hey I could just about make it with those 3 come to think of it.

For those who are doing it, I'd suggest the hashtag #localsonly

 

It doesn't' suck, that's for sure. On top of the breweries, that same 3 miles radius includes a bunch of world class bars and bottle shops like Apex, Beermongers, Horse Brass Pub, Bailey's Taproom, and Belmont Station, so if you get sick of the local beer there's plenty of stuff from other parts of the world.

 

@Urk1127 Have you tried Conclave Brewing? Saw someone post their IPA (Gravitational Waves) as their favorite NJ IPA over Head High.

 

This stuff is actually pretty damn good when it's fresh. This brewery is down the block from my house (It's North Bergen by the way ). They only brew a handful of styles but I really like their ipa and wee heavy.

 

I pretty much do this with La Cumbre's Elevated Ipa (4 pack a week on average), LC's other canned offerings, and Marble's canned offerings alone. I count 8 beers I pick up regularly. There isn't a bad canned offerings. One of the best core lineups I can think of. Beyond that, I do like a variety, and going to get a pint or growler to ease that "new beer" itch could get costly. Although for Albuquerque, I think this experiment would be 100% doable with no budget in mind.

I usually drink one or two mainstay type beers a night on average, with about 2 brewery visits on average on the weekends. The variety gap I like most right now involves six or four pack seasonal purchases from the beer store (non local Lagunitas/Founders types). I think I could feasibly travel to local breweries to get specific 32 oz. growlers. Convenience factor would be an issue too. Quality would NOT be.

I guess the good thing is, for Albuquerque, unless you had a budget or were a bit lazy, this could be done.

 

Not all doom and gloom but just not many quality local breweries bottling or canning and they aren't the greatest beers. Brewer's Alley makes quite a few nice bottled beers sold in local shops (Oatmeal Stout, English IPA, seasonal Gose, very solid Pale Ale just to name a few). Several of their special releases at the brewery have been world class. Wish they would either bottle or can those special releases (New Moon Old Ale, BA Oatmeal, Dopplebock, Wee Heavy Scotch Ale etc.) or get a crowler machine because their prices are great as well.

DC and Baltimore are an hour drive from where I live.

 

Not a Minnesotan, but you've got a great beer state and I've loved the Minnesota beers that I've had. I would throw Steel Toe and Olvalde into that mix.