Does anyone buy mediocre beer just because it's local?

Tons of mediocre beer around me. Like "really" local,that is just not good. I will always give a try (because they usually give me samples) but they just don't get it. Tree house is a 45 minute drive from me. I'd rather just scoot over there.

 

i will try thing because they are local but if my experience of it was less then good i would not buy it again over something i know i enjoy more, no.

 

I'm more willing to give the locals a chance and a pass than I am the bigger boys. We have a couple of locals here in Pgh who I feel are rapidly improving, but they still let out a stinker once in a while. The stinkers would discourage me more if I got them in distro but since they're local, I find myself more willing to look past it and return for more of something different.

 

yep

 

I drink mediocre beers (craft only, never AALs) at some local brewpubs when out with friends or family when that's the only option, but purchases for home consumption are never mediocre.

 

I've unintentionally tried quite a few bad local beers but I don't go out of my way to buy local unless the beer speaks for itself. Thankfully there are a lot of great microbreweries around that make consistently good beer.

 

Pretty much as a tick, one draft or to fill out a mixed six-pack. I'm gradually concluding that, aside for biases in favor of and against certain styles, the consensus is fairly close as to what is exceptional, what is good and what is bad.

 

Same here. Happy to support a local business and hope they will get better

 

There's a place near my parents house that makes some good brews. There is probably better stuff out there, somewhere. But I like the beers, and I like supporting the local brewery. 2 of my 3 favorites from them have all won medals at different beer events though, so I guess it's not a huge sacrifice.

 

There is no such thing as mediocre beer. There is good beer and great beer.

 

Yes sometimes I do. But I agree with @bluehende above . We stopped at a bar out in the middle of nowhere last week on our way to a party and stopped to have a beer/wine and I got the Shiner Bock IPA on tap. Sometimes I don't feel like trying anything new, I just want something I know. That was the mood I was in and what I wanted to drink

 

Almost everyone in Wisconsin.

 

If I don't like it, I will not buy it again. Let's see; Mediocre Brewing Company..We try to please, mostly.

 

I buy whatever beer I enjoy. Some of that is local, and some isn't. I don't have time for beer that I find mediocre, even if it is from a local brewer. Why waste money to support a local place when the product isn't up to my standards?

 

As @TongoRad mentioned and others, with the way the questioning is worded it will depend on how someone will define 'mediocre'. For some, it means bad. For others, they consider most craft beers "good" but not great, and would be unhappy with the label 'mediocre' as a substitute for average or "just good, not great".

I think you would get different poll results with different wording. In my discussions I do receive a high degree of people acknowledging they will decline an excellent or "best" beer that they like from a taplist to have something local which is nowhere near as good. That local beer need not be bad, or below average, average, or "mediocre". One of the main points in this whole discussion is that people are willingly buying something local that isn't as good as something non-local, by their own standards.

 

Yep and the reasons vary. @kellyst mentioned very good reasons above. For some they fully know what they're doing and are proud of it. For others they've told me they don't even bother to try the non-local stuff (some younger drinkers I know say this).

also, as @BMitch said "Yet despite mediocre offerings these new breweries still stay successful due to the "drink local!" mantra... and really most of all, those new to beer outside of BMC just not knowing any better yet. Let's face it- newer drinkers don't completely have the frame of reference yet to really know the difference between a really well done beer versus a poor one, so they end up thinking all the local beers are great just because they are "new and exciting" compared to what they've been drinking for so long."


The thing is, the continued existence of mediocre breweries is all the proof you need that people out there do support them even though the beer is mediocre. The explanations for why they do it may be all over the place.

 

There's a smallish brewery/brewpub in Galesburg, Illinois where I live that isn't great by a longshot, but that I still frequent once or twice a month for a few pints and grub because they're local folks. Their standard IPA - a pretty close ZD clone - is tasty and they usually have a decent lineup of guest taps - the real reason I keep stopping in on occasion - but with a very mediocre standard list of offerings, I don't know why I keep stopping by.

I guess, at the end of the day, there is something about pulling for the beer that's brewed less than a mile from your house, even if it could be much better. And I guess part of me always has to root for the underdog, you know? Like, maybe the next time I swing by they'll have it all figured out...

 

Not a second time

 

I never buy mediocre beer, except when I do. Besides then, never.