Purchase as many Belgians as you can. They’re beyond cheap to US standards here. Not that it’s of any importance but I dislike wine as well.
I drink over 99% Finnish beer, most of which would be considered "craft" and brewed within my region (Uusimaa) or the next one over.
Hi I live in Europe. So i buy 1, Swedish beer 2, Nordic beer 3, European beer 4, rest of world 5, Usa The drawbacks is that the further away you are from Sweden, the risk is that the beer will be old when you buying it.
While I have not been diligent about writing reviews this year (still tracking notes in various apps), my spreadsheet currently shows: Missouri beers: 56 Kansas beers: 9 Total beers: 76 That works out to something like just shy of 3/4 of my beer consumption (by review) is from my home state, and 85% comes from the state most close to me (a state in which I spend a considerable amount of time in or very close to, as in ~2 min run distance). Depending on when I get around to reviewing my notes, stats may end up skewed a little because I have a Nebraska trip's worth of notes not reviewed yet, with the rest of the notebook being focused nearly completely on MO beer. While I still enjoy supporting breweries in my home state, I'd probably say local is something made within the same metropolitan area or ~50 miles, though that's not a hard fast rule for me. If I'm traveling, I try to find beer made in that same immediate area, and if it's void of good options, I'll seek items in their distro that I cannot get at home. All that to say, my stats are a bit skewed, but I do not have a quick and efficient way of pulling more true local beer quantities from my spreadsheet.
Distance is also somewhat determined by your local geography / population centers too. For areas of high density (I think of NE when I say that), local may be defined differently than a widespread Midwest city or a sprawling desert metropolis or isolated mountain town. My metropolitan area has the second longest beltline of Interstate (~83 miles around). Depending on your definition of metropolitan area, and whether that includes only what is in the loop or the areas around it, it would be pretty easy to drive 30+ miles and remain in the same metropolitan locale here.
Lost Forty? I have a can from them in my collection but I don't know how or where I got it (although I know I drank the beer because I drink everything that goes into my collection). Maybe I bought it when passing thru Arkansas on my southern trip a few years ago.
Local to where I am, yes. Local to where I live would be hard as I spend well over 100 days a year on the road. I am heavily biased toward local craft in most places I go that aren’t Texas or Texas.
Much more local beer in recent years. I bounce between home, my daughter's and my m-i-l, in east central pa. A lot of decent breweries in all those areas.
What about Riley Lyon? I was getting their beer in NJ in the mid1980s. Altho', come to think of it, haven't seen it for awhile...
I drink mostly beer brewed in WI with MN being a close second. Cost is a factor especially for certain styles like IPA. I usually don't spend big dollars chasing IPA's like I did 20 to 25 years ago. Local Summit Imperial Saga IPA does just fine for the money. New Glarus 12 packs of Pils is a good value and a good beer. I waste my (to much)money on BA stouts and barley wines now. But I still like to go to small breweries that don't or have limited distro often in small towns in WI and sometimes MN. I went to Surly last night and had 3 tap room only beers.
I look for freshly brewed beers so that means mostly local brews but if I can get a great beer that is not local and it is reasonably fresh, then I go for it!
My definition of “local” is relative to wherever I may be living, or staying while traveling. Using 50mi as a definition of local, then no. This is how I voted. Using 250mi, then it’s closer to 50:50.
Question: If I live in Chico CA and drink a majority of Sierra Nevada beers, am I mostly drinking local for this survey? Or is part of the definition of local beers restricted to small scale production and small distribution footprint? What if I live in backwoods of WV, and once a week I drive to “the big city” and stock up craft beers that are primarily from small brewers but the location of the brewery itself is too far for me to consider make a special trip to actually visit the brewery from my home, but perhaps they are still in state of WV and nearby states of TN, KY, OH etc. Am I still drinking local, because of the small size of the breweries I choose to buy from?
No, I believe “local” to be based upon where the beer is brewed, regardless of brewery size, recognition, distribution, etc. For example, Molson-Coors built a brand new brewery in Chilliwack, B.C. several years ago. Anyone who lives along the lower Fraser can now consider Coors Light to be a “local” brew. When I work in Alaska during the summers I’m offered very few chances to go to town, which is about 120 miles away from where I work. I kind of consider all Alaska breweries to be “local” when I’m up there because it seems like the in-state distribution there is much better than it is in Nevada. It’s easy to find Juneau, Anchorage, and Wasilla brews in Fairbanks, but good luck finding Vegas/Henderson brews in Reno. I’m glad that I’m so far away from Vegas though, because I can access much better fresh Bay Area brews with ease. It’s 160 miles closer to visit Russian River than it is for me to visit Beer Zombies. Besides, the RR distribution here is great anyway! Now I define “local” for me as being Northern Nevada and Eastern California. I wouldn’t consider Sierra Nevada to be a “local” brewery for me even though it’s less than 200 miles away. I’m sure a lot of BAdvocates out there disagree with my views. Blasted city slickers
Nope. If a brand is national or regional, by definition it is not a local beer, even if it is brewed locally. Over 45 years ago I had this same conversation with a gasoline attendant* when he saw my bumperstickers. "But Budweiser is brewed in Newark, 20 miles away - isn't that a local brewery?" *Yeah, a guy who pumped your gas for you. We still got 'em and I'm glad.
I drink beers that are stocked within about 20 miles from home, regardless of where they are brewed. It's one of my small contributions to conservation of energy. At the present time, most are not brewed inside that radius. But I'm pretty sure my regular canned sort-of-English pale ale is brewed close by.
By whose definition? Yours? The Brewers Associations? Also, what exactly are the benefits of boycotting a company that employs hundreds of your neighbors? By the way, I for one am glad that I can pump my own gas in peaceful solitude. Oregon and New Jersey are behind the rest of the Union by about 60 years.
