Drink Local! No thanks.

Local is as close as you want it to be. If you are fortunate to have a great local brewery 3 steps outside your door, that's awesome, or it may be 3 hours away if you live in Alaska. One of the important parts to remember when discussing local is that a true local establishment of any kind, be it farmer, shop, or brewery, is that they tend to keep the money (and jobs) local within the community. I believe it is something like 75-80 cents on the dollar spent at local establishments is kept within the community. In a time when many things are owned by large soulless corporations that have no ties to a local community, patronizing local is often a good way to show faith in your community. Yeah, AB may have the ability and funds to donate 44 semis of canned water (or whatever it was) to people affected by Sandy, but they also can decide at a drop of a hat to close a brewery (See AB closing Rolling Rock in Latrobe) affecting goodness knows how many jobs to save a few bucks and increase an executives bonus. Or worse yet, ship those same jobs overseas. This isn't as likely to happen with beer as it is with other things such as cars and clothing, but without those local jobs, there is nothing to keep a community together. Nothing to keep people employed in a given area.

Yes, many mid sized breweries do great things for both their employees and the environment, (Sierra Nevada et al) what good is it if you cannot afford to drink that beer. So what you say? I'm an accountant, or an IT guy, or whatever. Well, your local brewery needs someone to do their books and taxes, someone to fix their computers, so on and so forth. So even if you don't directly work for them, one of your co-workers may, and they could be out of a job.

Does this mean we should blindly support a local establishment even if they suck? Heck no. But give them a chance. Realize that their product may cost a little more because they don't have the same economies of scale a big guy does. But if their product completely sucks? Let em know. Odds are, there is another one nearby that would jump at the chance to fill the gap. But if you don't buy local, then it gives your nearby bottle store no motivation to stock local, and you end up with a piss poor selection.

End point - give em a chance. Maybe even 2 just in case the first was bad luck. Then either tell all your friends if it was good, or try the next guy.

 

Living in Austin, I support many of the locals, but not exclusively and not all the time. Real Ale, Live Oak, Uncle Billy's, Austin Beerworks, Jester King and a few others make a quality product that I'll happily purchase from time to time. There's a few like Independence, whose products (mostly) do nothing for me, so I don't buy their stuff. Simple as that. But I do agree with the idea of supporting the locals (as long as it's a good product) because I want to see the craft beer scene continue to grow and thrive around here. And I like the idea of my money staying in my local economy. That being said, I regularly pick up beers from all over the country because I like them. So, for me it mostly boils down to what I'm in the mood for at the moment. And at this moment, I'm in the mood for another beer. Hops & Grain Pale Dog should do the trick...

 

Some stores around here have taps, some don't.

 

hanzo aren't you from virginia? what do you think about hardywood?

 

I guess they don't really distribute outside of Richmond so perhaps you haven't tried anything by them yet.

 

I just drink good beer. Well crafted beers should be our pursuit as beer advocates. Whether brewed in our backyard or halfway around the globe.

 

I don't care enough to read through 6 pages of snark.

So... yes? I mean no.

 

Different liquor laws for different states. (Including in store growler fills.)

 

All of my "local" breweries make terrible beer. Old Forge Brewing, Susquehanna Brewing, 3 Guys and a Beer'd, Barley Creek just to name a few.

However Breaker Brewing is making some tasty beer.

 

Austin has some great local breweries, the majority of which don't make it out of the state or even the city!... Jester King, Austin Beerworks, 512, Live Oak, Rogness, Independence, Adelbert's... etc... we've got some fantastic stuff.

You will not see my fridge without a Jester King bomber in it. I'd say I buy 50/50 local and imported-to-Texas craft.

 

Agreed. Non of the new ones stand out very much and I've tried a lot from relic and all of back east. Won't be buying any more of those because they are simply mediocre.
Nebco is great, burnside is good, cavalry is pretty good. Nothing else is worth a look so I'll continue buying other crafts

 

Depending on where I'm at I drink what I want, local or not. I stopped for a few beers after work yesterday and had a DFH90 and two Two Hearted Ales. There was some Highland on tap, Red Oak, Big Oak, Foothills. Local or not if it doesn't internist me I won't buy it. Some of the better brews are world class, Death By Hops for example has a 97 rating, and it's well earned. I like Foothills Jade, but I've never seen Olde Hickory on tap anywhere I've ever been, and Jade is only at Foothills in WS. The other local efforts for IPA's IMO are average at best, so I don't bother. So no I don't drink local just to drink local, it has to be great stuff.

 

Where I find local breweries to be at a huge advantage is in the distribution of their beer to market. There is no way that the Stone IPA, Torpedo or the Modus are as fresh as the Marble IPA or the Elevated on the shelf in ABQ or the rest of NM. Marble IPA and Elevated are (to most of us anyway) every bit as good as those beers, cost about the same, and their a whole lot fresher. Yeah for local. Yeah for the consumer. If the breweries in question don't know what they're doing, of course your not going to buy the product and you shouldn't. Torpedo, even 6 months old, is better than a ho-hum locally brewed IPA. But if the beers are of comparable quality, buy local, it's fresher and your supporting the local economy. Those that are living in communities with good beer, support them. If your in a community with poor local beer, do whatever you need to do to change that. Let a brewer know when they knock it out, and when they don't.

 

I live in Kansas. "Local" to me is Colorado brews, and I buy the hell out of them, because they are good and plentiful. I do support more close to home breweries, on a limited basis.

 

I would say I always TRY local. All of it. If you make beer, and you are near me, I am going to make a point of trying your beer. All of it. Every time you come out with something new, I will make a point to try it. I want you to be great. If you aren't, I will keep trying until you get there.

 

We live in the same city and I agree with you. Nothing brewed in our area is honestly worth noting. The most "local" brewery I support, financially and verbally, is Alewerks. I do appreciate a few of Hardywood's offerings as well.

I find it interesting when one particular brewery around here is charging pretty steep prices for their beer, and they're barely established. Do I want want a bomber of mediocre barleywine from the local company for $10 or a solid performer such as Old Guardian for $7 ? Like the poster above me said, I will at least try it. But if there is a much better product for significantly less money, I will only be trying that beer once.

 

I would prefer to see more cooler space given to local or craft beer. I will admit I usually buy what I can afford which isn't much. When this is not a concern I will more often than not buy local over out of state craft. There are a number of bars around me that tout their local taps so the first question I ask is "do you have any Michigan beers"?

 

Hanzo, I agree with you and do not think the "Drink/Support Local" movement means you need to sacrifice on quality. Boston for the longest time (in my opinion) was a great craft beer city with mediocre LOCAL beers. Sam Adams/Harpoon are in a different category. But lately with the emergence of Pretty Things, CBC Bottling their beer, Wormtown (Be Hoppy in particular) and Jack's Abbey it's a lot easier to support the locals. And I certainly do regularly. Support local comes with a responsibility on the supplier's part to provide a quality product.

I'll admit it, I'd never pass 4 quality items made in another part of America to pick up a sub par item made in Massachusetts or New England.

 

I drank local last night.. Karbach Yule Shoot Your Eye Out... a very well done spiced winter warmer....loved it.