How close is local?

Within ones state definitely does not work for CA. I think I could only call something local if it's within 1-2 counties.

 

Local for the LA area is within 30 minutes in my opinion. Locals for me are Wolf Creek, Golden Road, Eagle Rock, Strand, Monkish, El Segundo, etc.

 

To me, this is local. But I also have a fondness for other breweries in the great lakes region. (And seeing their reputations here on beeradvocate, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has a fondness for Three Floyds, Founders, New Glarus, Great Lakes, Bell's etc. lol.)

 

I think no one will be upset whatever you put in the cooler. Different level of locals is fine and all but local is in there somewhere, so they are all in some part local and won't hurt your coolers feelings

 

What if you can't get to any brewery in 30 minutes because of traffic!!

 

local is wherever the nearest brewery is

 

Oh, you mean "a young guy" . In NJ, I was drinking beer from the local - and regional - breweries like Rheingold (McSorley's Ale), Schaefer (Schaefer Cream Ale), Ortlieb's (more McSorley's), Schmidt's (Tiger Head Ale, 20th Century Ale, Prior Double Dark and McSorley's [yet again]), Metropolis (Black Horse Ale), Genesee (12 Horse Ale), West End (U. C. Cream Ale, Matts Premium), Yuengling (Lord Chesterfield Ale, Porter), and, of course, Ballantine (their ales, even once they migrated to Rhode Island and Ft. Wayne under Falstaff ownership), etc.

Traditionally, within the industry, breweries were broken into 3 segments - National, Regional, Local - based obviously on their distribution but it more or less also broke along yearly barrelage. So, Pabst, AB, Miller, Schlitz, Falstaff, Carling (eventually Coors, Stroh and Heileman) were "National breweries" - with, by the 60's-70's, production in the 5 million barrel and up range.

Regionals (like Schaefer, Genesee, etc) tended to be in the 5m - 500k bbl. range and Locals were much smaller, probably most averaging under 250k down to 15-10k. And, when so-called "microbreweries" came along, they fit in under that (and under 15k is still the definition of "microbrewery" although many people use it for a craft brewery of any size).

So, by definition, even if you lived across Pestalozzi Street from Anheuser Busch's St. Louis brewery, while they were local to you, they were still a National brewery.

Granted, in today's Craft Brewery era, the breakdown doesn't work as well. The Brewers Association defines "Regional" as 6m-15k bbl. a year (quite a spread) but, as you note, there are many small breweries (under 100k) that ship coast to coast, well beyond their local and regional markets while skipping others, and some of the B.A.'s largest "Regional" breweries like Boston Beer Co. and Sierra Nevada have national distribution.

 

in Australia, "local" usually means "from Australia", and sometimes includes New Zealand too

 

Local to me is NC brews easy to get and always available. This excludes specialty releases.

 

Here in Vermont the localvore food movement considers anything local that is within the state or within 100 miles of were the food is grown. One could consider that as a loos model for what local means.

 

I consider anywhere in Texas to be local being in Austin.... which is pretty centrally located (3 hours from Houston, 4 hours from Dallas, 1 hour from San Antonio).

Gotta support everyone in the state if things are going to change!

 

I consider within the state to be somewhat local but I guess when it comes down to it, within 50 miles seems right.

 

Always an issue unfortunately.