Define Drink Local

It's a good point that the some of the ingredients (grain, hops, fruit etc) used to make your local beer are not local. Though brewers are using those ingredients to make a product that is potenially more perishable than its parts. In that sense the "drink local" argument works.

I consider local to be within my city, but that's just me.

 

For me, it's easy. I live on an island. If it wasn't brewed on the island, it's not local.

 

It's not really a geographical question, it's more about a feeling, and what feels local. 50 miles gets me to Harpoon and Sam Adams, and neither feel local whatsoever. Distribution killed regional qualifications, it's gotta be someone only getting their beer 50 miles AWAY from the brewery.
The guys delivering to their 30 - 40 accounts in their old truck. The brewers that go to their in store tastings personally. The ones whose wives run their website. You'll know one when you meet him, the dude that actually appreciates your support personally.
Mine is Berkley Beer Company, and and they make some great beer.

 

It depends upon how " beer rich" your region is. Here in Alabama I'd say statewide is local except that our 3 tiered distribution system makes it hard for me in the Birmingham area to get much from the few other beer producing areas of the state.

 

I have a question for several posters in this thread: Is a beer brewed 300 miles away from me local, just because it's brewed in the same state?

Personally, for me, "local" is beer brewed in my city (and county, to a certain degree. Want to include North Fork ). Once I get to the next county south (which has several fine breweries) I start to call that regional, which extends along I-5 to the Oregon border. If there is a major mountain range between you and the brewery, that beer isn't local. Which means I can't count Bale Breaker as local. Which makes me sad . But, Yakima is only 4 hours away, so it's semi-regionalish. Or something.

 

To me, drink local is craft beer I don't have to get through the mail. Simple as that.

 

Good question...

I sometimes refer to Sierra Nevada as local even though its far as fuck, but like I said in my earlier post, some breweries are 'localer' than others.

 

My cynical side says it's a marketing term embraced by shitty local start-ups to capitalize on the craft boom. My sentimental side says its a charming, idealistic call to support the local brewery struggling to make a mark for themselves within a competitive landscape. In either case, instead of Drink Local, I've always preferred Drink What You Like. Whether you're a local yokel content with drinking the staple American Pale Ale from the brewery 10 miles away or a true Captain Ahab, drink what you like. It makes sense and life's too short not to.

 

Would have said state, but CA is like 3 states. NorCal is local for me.

 

Marketing aside, local usually signifies fresher (usually) and cheaper (theoretically) because it traveled less.

 

This is my line of thinking; to me it's really about employing people locally, and to the extent the producer is adding value and being taxed on that value, I like to think I am investing in a business for which the taxes will be reinvested, to the greatest extent possible, into things from which I will derive some benefit.

That said - I will not sacrifice quality; just give the nod to a local beer when I'm comparing two relatively equal (though perhaps different) beers of the same style. Although there are dozens of breweries quite close to me, most of my money goes to brewers in other parts of the state that make, IMHO, better beer. Ironically, I have a hard time finding good craft lagers, but there is a BMC plant here - which makes one really good lager, would be local, does employ lots of people, and certainly gets taxed. But I still tend to buy less well-polished and more expensive (reasonably local) craft lagers over the BMC. Go figure.

 

That's a nice thought and relatively true. But I live 2,000 miles from Escondido, CA and can get an Enjoy By wayy before the date. But then again your local brewery isn't going to have the distribution footprint that a brewery like Stone does.

 

Brewed on this planet.

 

I'd say "local" to me is within ~1hr of where I live, as there are many good places in that range. Failing that, from at least in the same state I think still qualifies.

 

Earth (I like to think big picture ). I'm dying for the day we discover intelligent life somewhere in the universe (sure isn't here!), then trading will REALLY become fun! Interstellar trading FAQ? You do you pack for deep space? 100 million light year lambic. Sign me up!

 

Local and delivers to my bottles shops. 18th Street is in Indiana but their stuff doesn't make it to my shelf so not local.

 

"Local" for me probably isn't as generous for many. Ohio has 110 + breweries, but none of them are in the boondocks by me for some reason. Therefore, my locals tend to include Columbus which is 60 miles. I really consider local breweries to be in adjacent counties (30 miles give or take). That leaves me with 4

 

I live in Northern California. To me, local includes all of it.

 

I think in your state qualifies as "local". Closest brewery to me is around 30 miles away and I do enjoy their product quite often, they are as local as I can get unless we get a brewery on this side of the bay (never even thought of that but highly unlikely).

 

After reading a bunch of entries... I thought about how I really think about this , and...

Local is NoVa breweries, DC breweries, and it starts getting iffy on the MD side (i.e. Flying Dog is local, but fairly widely distributed). Not sure why there's a MD/VA issue with only a smattering of breweries seen here, but VA ABC laws are a pain. I do consider those other breweries from my hometown not "local" but they do have a place in my heart, and the state-brewed thing is that next layer - whatever it may be called (not really regional). Obviously the state/city situation is different for all.