OhReally

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I was in a McCormick and Schmick's a couple weeks ago, and on the beer menu they had a Domestic list, an Import list, and then in wee little lettering down at the bottom it says "Local Craft Brews Also Available". I live just across the river from DC, so I thought "Sweet! Maybe they've got Port City, or DC Brau, or Lost Rhino, or Flying Dog or somesuch."

When I asked the waiter what they had, he said "Yuengling."

And Pottsville, PA is local to DC... how?... ;-D

I just smiled nicely and ordered a Guinness.

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Matt3989

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I can understand that Pennsylvania is close to DC, therefore any beer brewed in PA is a local beer....if yuengling was only brewed in PA....

But I don't know if I understand how they call it a craft beer...

GrogNerd

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it's not.

wow... not even DC Brau?

if you can handle the drive out to Dulles, there is a restaurant in Ashburn called Ford's Fish Shack with some awesome seafood and local and not-so-local craft brews, including DC Brau and Lost Rhino

Lost Rhino is close enough you can see the brewery from the Shack.

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"I'm only happy when I'm suffocating yeast" - Rob Grog
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drinking: Sweetpea's Mock Maibock, BigHair Belgian Pale Ale, O'Rob's Irish Red, Rob's 50th SMaSH ESB, Feet & Ass Mild - bottle conditioning: CLB's Red Barley Wine - primary: DB 8 Point IPA Clone - on deck: Belgian Pale Ale

Raenon

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Who determines what is or is not "craft"?
I know some of the folks on here have tried to duplicate the flavor of yuengling and have used a lot of adjuncts, but that doesn't mean they use them in the original recipe (even if they did, plenty of beers use adjuncts- see cream ale, many belgian varieties...)

I'd also point out that in many western states, they'd refer to anything within state as being local, and Pottsville is closer to DC than many of those situations.
So do you determine that yuengling isn't local because they opened a second brewery to serve Florida, or they aren't craft because of that?

The entire "craft" distinction is pretty hazy, and "local" is worse... but I really get a kick out of the fact that OhReally chose, as an alternative to "local, craft" Yuengling, an imported macrobrew.

ETA: I'll point out that I personally wouldn't state categorically that Yuengling IS either local to DC or craft, but I see where others might actually make the argument, so I'm playing devil's advocate. A nearly 200 year old institution that's still family owned deserves more consideration than the quick dismissal that so many give it.

GrogNerd

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brewers do

Yuengling produces 2.5 million barrels a year, the largest US-owned commercial brewery in the US

the American Brewers Association defines a "craft brewery" as "small, independent and traditional", and gives a production size of less than 6,000,000 US beer barrels (700,000,000 L) a year and can not be more than 24% owned by another alcoholic beverage company that is not itself a craft brewery

(corrected production volume, original was 2005 #, updated with 2011)

__________________
"It's all beer, it's all good." - Words of House Grog
"I'm only happy when I'm suffocating yeast" - Rob Grog
"Homer no function beer well without" - Homer Simpson

drinking: Sweetpea's Mock Maibock, BigHair Belgian Pale Ale, O'Rob's Irish Red, Rob's 50th SMaSH ESB, Feet & Ass Mild - bottle conditioning: CLB's Red Barley Wine - primary: DB 8 Point IPA Clone - on deck: Belgian Pale Ale

logan3825

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Reinheitsgebot is crap. There is little reason to include that adjunct stipulation.

OhReally

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Thanks for this suggestion. Sounds pretty tasty and I'll definitely be checking it out. Easy enough drive.


As for Raenon's
"but I really get a kick out of the fact that OhReally chose, as an alternative to "local, craft" Yuengling, an imported macrobrew."

What can I say? It's my old fallback when nothing else strikes my fancy. There's nothing necessarily wrong with Yuengling, but I just wasn't in the mood for Pennsylvania that night, I guess.

OhReally

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And just for the record, if it takes more than an hour on the highway to drive to, then for me it's not "local." Regional, maybe, in a "Mid-Atlantic States" kinda way. I'd consider Yuengling regional in the same way Dogfish Head is.

Nightshade

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After having a meeting regarding beer, brewing and how to discuss beer like you know something, not more than a day or two later I hear one of our waitresses explaning what "full continuation" is. I didn't correct her in front of the customer but politely informed her it is attenuation not continuation.

Just goes to show that sometimes a little knowledge can be a scary thing.

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rodwha

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"And just for the record, if it takes more than an hour on the highway to drive to, then for me it's not "local." Regional, maybe, in a "Mid-Atlantic States" kinda way."

I kinda thought everything on the upper east coast was local... jk

It certainly seems that way from where I am. I'm in the center of Texas and it takes virtually all day to get out of this place! Was kinda nice when we stopped in Belmar, NJ, but visited NYC, as well as Annapolis, MD and it didn't take all day!

And it can take an hour and a half (one way) to get good BBQ.

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