How local is the beer you drink?

I have been experiencing a similar transition in my own preferences. I am from Charlottesville, VA where the local craft beer scene has really exploded over the past 5 years. In my opinion, many of the local beers have reached even with or exceed the quality of some of the larger out of state offerings. Starr Hill, Three Notch'd, Champion Brewing, Blue Mountain, and Chaos Mountain are a few local breweries of note. It's really special to watch these breweries grow and mature from infancy to receiving national awards and shipping out of state as well. Don't get me wrong, I still have some favorite out of state and import brews, but I find myself reaching for the local stuff in the grocery store more often of late.

 

I think a better way to run this survey would be to assign rough percentages to each of those categories. Mine would likely go: 5, 60, 30, 5.

 

Bordering states and within state is 90% what i drink. not because of freshness or anything it kinda just happens my liqour store has two fridges for specifically the local areas beer within 150 miles. Not super local but its the tri state area plus maryland is to me, my local. If u look at a map, im almost as far south as delaware or DC any way if i drove straight line itd be a quick ride

And i would have no problem drinking only NJ stuff, but my area doesnt get much River Horse maybe just one beer and the seasonal. Flying Fish im cool with everything actually Forgotten Boardwalk is great too, Spellbound i dont see much of but Carton is a lot harder to get than youd think in store especially only being 1 1/2 hr from the brewery. And sadly the drive coudnt happen for me because of college budgets lol. Those are the bigger nj breweries can count on one hand. And thats fine but i only ever see two where im at and the big 5 including kane would be better because i like variety.

 

I've pretty much given up the macro completely. For the last 8-9 months I've spent too much time chasing out of state distro IPA's to the point that I don't often drink too much local.

Luckily the local scene is drastically improving though and I think that once the trading phase ends, or at least slows, I'll focus more on the local micros.

 

No response to the poll for me since none of them fit.

I don't drink macros or homebrew, and I'm in an area with lots of really good local beers and with lots of really good distribution. So I get to pick and choose, and do.

When I find locals that are hard to beat on quality I buy them they usually cost less. When I find imports or big name flavorful beers that are hard to beat I buy them even if they do cost more. For example I don't need to buy a Pils from outside PA except to try it or to satisfy and occasional "itch," since some of the best Pils in the country are local and they are almost always fresher than imports. So the stock of Pils in my fridge is almost always local. When things are pretty much even, I'll almost always opt for the local.

On the whole, however, it is mixed. Some beers are local, some some are from out of state or bigger brewers of flavorful beers, and some are imports.

So no response to the poll for me.

 

Percentage Breakdown to Question Posed: 5, 30, 65, 0

 

All the beer I drink is local. If it weren't I wouldnt be able to reach it.

 

The only difference in how I approach the question and what you have described is that macro may make up about 5% of what I drink. Otherwise, you description is exactly how I look at it. Don't even think I could ballpark a percentage seeing as how I do a lot more whim buying than emotional buying.

 

Combo. None of the above. I've got stuff from Cigar City and Firestone Walker in my fridge (decidedly not local), along with Wormtown and Long Trail (pretty darned local).

I like beer that is delicious. Where it's from is of secondary concern.

 

Probably about 50% within state and 40% the rest North America and 10% Europe with the occasional brew from Hitachino. No known macro brews but I have been deceived periodically.

 

All the beer I drink is local but some of it is brewed far away.

 

I really can't give an exact percent since I honestly don't pay that much attention, though I'd estimate about 60-70% is Michigan beer

 

3 out of 4. By macro, I assume you're meaning the likes of Heineken, Moosehead and Guinness, as well as ABSABMCBev? Well then, a heaping helping of everything, please. I don't homebrew, though. I'll let @Hop-Droppen-Roll help me with that one.

 

I drink maybe 50% local (Colorado) with the other 50% going toward national crafts and European imports.

 

Now that Wicked Weed has upped how much they can brew, I would say a good 60% of what I drink is brewed within state.

 

45% "craft" (maybe 1/4 of that is from Illinois)
45% imports
10% Miller High Life and Busch Light

 

I used to try as many craft brews from all over the world as I could. Then, when I realized how many beers are really out there, now I just focus on Colorado beers. More than enough in-State beer to try.

 

I'd say:
45% Big Craft - Sierra Nevada (mostly SN), Anchor, Smuttynose
45% Local - Barrier, Greenport and Finback
9% Imports - German and Belgian
1% Guiness Extra Stout