How close is local?

My opinion would be somewhere within the bounds of your regular activity.

IE: I live in Elk Grove, CA. Local for me would be Sacramento, Lincoln, Roseville, Auburn, Rancho Cordova, Folsom, Placerville. etc Just within a fair means of reach and where you consider local. All these places are within 50 miles of my house

 

At that point, I'd just choose the best beer among them (probably Long Trail or Allagash) and call it the "local" for the week. They're both good products. Can't say about MH, never had it.

 

I agree with everyone. I look at Local in two ways (I'm from Somerville/Boston/Brighton):

General Local is all of new england, though not really maine, seems to far away for me. (Smuttynose, Harpoon, Sam Adams, wollavers, Berkshire).

Then More of the hyper local: Slumbrew, Pretty Things, Jacks Abby, Ipswich, Cape Anne.

I'd keep the small Mass microbrews in one section that is adjacent to the larger breweries hailing from the rest of NE. Anything from Ny or farther is Domestic.

 

Depends on how many in the county and adjacent country there are. If not enough, expand to state. But I defer to local counties.

 

Can/will you drive there on the regular? If so it's local

 

I agree with 5thOhio, within your state. But, I want to add, it's a huge pet peeve of mine to see a beer listed as a "premium" or an "import" when it is brewed in the same state as the establishment that I'm in, and BMC is listed as "domestic"!

 

If you can readily get there to grab the Winchester over the bar during the Zombie Apocalypse, it's local.

 

If I don't have to trade for it, it's local to me.

 

I consider local here the Greater Metro Area, which extends to St. Cloud and parts of Western Wisconsin.

 

I live in North Central NJ. For me Local is NJ, Downstate NY (including LI) Eastern Penn. and Delaware.

 

I consider 'local' to be anything in the state of TN. (although it's quicker to get to GA and AL than it is to the other side of the state.) Downtown we have Yazoo as our main brewery, with Boscos, Big River, Jackelope, and Turtle Anarchy as smaller ones. All are within 30 minutes of each other.

 

Really? So, a decade ago, Anheuser-Busch (pre-InBev), Miller (pre-SAB), Coors (pre-Molson) and Pabst (still brewing and owned by S&P) - all national in distribution, together controlling about 85% of the US market - were "local breweries"?

 

I live on the east side of Cleveland (30 miles East) and consider GLBC, Fat Head's, Brew Kettle, Willoughby, Hoppin' Frog, & Thirsty Dog local. Breweries from farther away in the state are "state local" to me seeing as there are breweries in Pa closer to me than Columbus.

 

Well distribution being what it is I get stuff here in NJ from.all over very fresh. And by supporting a USA Brewer I feel I'm supporting "local " even if its lagunitas or anchorage. And I'm an old NJ guy (I'm 50) and when I was young before craft all my beer was Budweiser and.Pabst cause of the Newark breweries. Back then drinking a bud was like driving a Chevrolet but I get your point Jess. Cheers

 

I say 'local' would be the 25% of the state that surrounds you for most states; however, some states such as Rhode Island because of its size, and North Dakota and maybe Mississippi would have to annex entire sections of bordering states to define 'local'

 

I'd say that your "region" as defined in the Top Beers lists, that makes my "local" from Alaska to San Diego out across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii in effect about a quarter of the Globe. I will say that it seems quite evident the people in tiny states have a much smaller idea of local than folks say in Texas or the PNW. For me it's the entire PNW N.Cal, Or, Wa.

 

Anything within 50 miles is local to me. There are quite a few breweries within that 50 mile radius living in l.a. County.

 

Here in Miami, I consider CCB local because I can grab their beers off the shelves just a couple weeks after they were bottled/canned, and I could make a relatively short road trip there when I want to. Also there aren't really any breweries in this city, other than a couple very small brewpubs.

 

As for some others, there are several levels of local for me.
Level 1 is Seattle and neighboring cities.
Level 2 is the Puget Sound region.
Level 3 stretches north to Vancouver, B.C., south to Portland, east to the Columbia River, and west to the Pacific.
Level 4 roughly includes Alaska, B.C., Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and northern California.

The brewery's proximity has no bearing on how I feel about the beer. Good is good, no matter where it comes from.

 

I'd say 20 miles or so for me. That takes care of my whole city, conurbation and outlying villages and towns. After that you are closer to the next city over.

just depends on population density, geography and so on


I'd probably be more likely to try a local brew than a far flung one, but I can't think of anywhere in the world where I wouldn't want to try a beer from