Local Beer is Better Beer

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I agree. Not only with beer, but as a lifestyle, I prefer buying local for various reasons. I'm lucky enough to have many local breweries with a variety of beer to choose from. I also make the argument that I want my favorite beer to be one I can readily get. Why say my favorite beer is a some obscure Belgian quadrupel that comes around only once in a lifetime if I can't have it when I want it? I can have most of my favorite local beers at many locally owned restaurants and bars, and my grocery store stocks some of those that are bottled. That being said, I still do enjoy a beer from many of the great craft breweries across the country and around the world. I just find myself choosing local beer more often than not.
 
I'd like to point out that, if you consider Starr Hill local, you're also close to Blue Mountain, Devil's Backbone, and Wild Wolf. You're also not too far from Port City in Alexandria, Blue & Grey in Fredericksburg, or Hardywood and Legend in Richmond.

But, back to the point of the article, I think the appeal of local beer, whether it be near your home or where you are traveling, is the connectedness. I get a different enjoyment out of visiting a brewery, tasting the beer fresh, seeing the operation, and speaking with the people who work there than I do trying many different beers from around the world. Don't get me wrong. I love trying as many different beers as I can. There's just a different aspect of the beer beyond appearance, smell, taste, and mouthfeel that you pick up in person. As a homebrewer, there's also a sense of connectedness between what I do and what the professionals are doing.
 
ReverseApacheMaster said:
Not all local beers are good. There's a couple breweries here that push out a lot of less than average to downright nasty beers.
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Yeah, but if they were shipped a long distance they would be even worse
 
The closest brewery to me would be Buffalo Bills, and they suck. Beer food and service is garbage. Cult following though, so I'll probably get mugged after posting this.

I have NO problem buying local when it comes to Drakes though! Jolly Roger and Denoginizer till I pass out!
 
One thing that interests me about his perspective is the preference for buying beer at a local bottle shop vs. grocery store. To start, I would like to say that I don't discount ANY of his points about the advantages of buying at a small local shop, he's completely right about all of them. But the flip side is that by buying craft at a grocery store, I feel like I'm encouraging that store to carry more craft products, and therefore increase the possibility of exposure to a larger market. Don't get me wrong, I also shop at local bottle shops. I just don't think we should ignore the potential positive in buying from larger stores as well.
 
As far as the buying local thing, I'm totally supportive. I buy some local stuff that I find to be "pretty good, not great" on a regular basis to support local breweries.

That said... there's always a part of me that gets a little miffed when people in, say, certain parts of california as an example (obviously this does not apply to the article in question here), start getting at all preachy about how you should only buy local beer. Easy for you to say! You're surrounded by fabulous options. Some others aren't so geographically blessed. :D
 
Local beer is better beer when its Texas or Louisiana beer. Except Lone Star. Though I hear the secret is to drink it with KFC, which is not real good either.
 
Being in between KC and STL I guess Budweiser would be kinda a local product:cross: but I usually go with boulevard
 
Beerfarts79 said:
Nothing is more local than my keezer! That said, supporting locals with QUALITY PRODUCT is great.
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unless you are getting some other economic value (good feelings etc.), you shouldn't buy stuff just because it is local. That beings said.... the local producers have an advantage because their products are generally "fresher" or do not require preservatives (or as much). An example as it relates to beer.... I recently visited a brewery started by a guy in my neighborhood. I wouldn't say his beers were miles above the bottled stuff I buy, but the fact that his beers were good AND fresh made them better than the bottled stuff I buy. I will visit again, not because the place is local.
 
i must admit that growing up in vermont i thought the buy local mentality was nationwide. now that i have been outside vermont for more than 10 years, i find it incredibly funny that the buy local movement is such a current movement.
we sad, uneducated farmers and hippies buried in the hills of vermont have been espousing and living by the benefits of localized economics for almost 40 years now - good to see the rest of the nation climbing onboard...
 
The craft beer scene has exploded where I live. When I drink something other than homebrew it is normally local craft brew. Unless I have an urge for something foreign.
 
Balls.

I am working right now literally 3 minutes from the Molson brewery here in Toronto. The local beer is garbage.

Now if we venture a little further... Mill St., Spearhead, HopCity, Amsterdam, the list goes on!
 
osagedr said:
Couple of good economists I know wrote an article on buying local that has garnered some attention.

http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2011/LuskNorwoodlocavore.html
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Good article, I appreciate a rational argument.

A free market only has the values we assign to it. If we value the benefits (real or perceived) of "going local", a free market will reward it, whether it's rational or not. Whether that's optimal is another story...sounds like maybe it isn't.

That's all I got. I buy beer that tastes good. And I like the local stuff (TwoBrothers) because I "know" them. And I get brewing supplies from them so I want them to stick around.
 
osagedr said:
Couple of good economists I know wrote an article on buying local that has garnered some attention.

http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2011/LuskNorwoodlocavore.html
Click to expand...


Good read. I disagree with it though. The authors argue that imported foods have a competitive advantage over local foods. In argument #3 they point out that local is often fresher. To me that Is the local foods competitive advantage..

Especially when applied to beer...
 
paulster2626 said:
Balls.

I am working right now literally 3 minutes from the Molson brewery here in Toronto. The local beer is garbage.
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This expression isn't used nearly enough. :D

Cranny04 said:
Good read. I disagree with it though. The authors argue that imported foods have a competitive advantage over local foods. In argument #3 they point out that local is often fresher. To me that Is the local foods competitive advantage..

Especially when applied to beer...
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It just depends on how you value things. The majority of people value their dollars higher than the slight quality advantage you might get by buying local, though that seems to be swinging the other way now.
 
Cranny04 said:
Good read. I disagree with it though. The authors argue that imported foods have a competitive advantage over local foods. In argument #3 they point out that local is often fresher. To me that Is the local foods competitive advantage..

Especially when applied to beer...
Click to expand...

No - the authors establish that buying a product that is produced locally does not benefit the locality more than buying an identical product produced somewhere else. They took quality out of the equation to knock down the notion that buying local is better just because the product was produced locally.

They then acknowledge that quality or any other value are (of course) good reasons upon which to base a purchasing decision. If you get something out of buying local (as I do) then great. But don't think you're doing your local economy a favor by spending more for something just because it was produced locally.
 
PVH said:
No - the authors establish that buying a product that is produced locally does not benefit the locality more than buying an identical product produced somewhere else. They took quality out of the equation to knock down the notion that buying local is better just because the product was produced locally.

They then acknowledge that quality or any other value are (of course) good reasons upon which to base a purchasing decision. If you get something out of buying local (as I do) then great. But don't think you're doing your local economy a favor by spending more for something just because it was produced locally.
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The authors use a circle of logic to diminish the value of fresh local foods.
1: they accept premiss that local food is fresh when available
2: they state that people make trade offs between the more expensive fresh local food and the less fresh and less expensive imported food
3: fresh does not always equal local. They use an example of over night delivery of Maine Lobster. To get a Maine lobster delivered is considerably more expensive than buying one from a fish market in Maine.


With all of that being said. I agree with the rest of their points on how the "Eat local" movement does not help the local economy any more than eating imported foods... But the value of "Eat Local" is the freshness, at least for me.
 
Cranny04 said:
The authors use a circle of logic to diminish the value of fresh local foods.
1: they accept premiss that local food is fresh when available
2: they state that people make trade offs between the more expensive fresh local food and the less fresh and less expensive imported food
3: fresh does not always equal local. They use an example of over night delivery of Maine Lobster. To get a Maine lobster delivered is considerably more expensive than buying one from a fish market in Maine.
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Where do you see a circle here? I read those as all valid statements that boil down to "Local food is often, but not always, fresher. When it is fresher, this is a valid tradeoff many people make vs cheaper imported food." Do you interpret differently?
 
osagedr said:
Couple of good economists I know wrote an article on buying local that has garnered some attention.
Click to expand...

Good thing I don't think solely in dollars and cents, or I would start believing what these fervent economist are saying to dishearten the locavores. One thing is to watch your pocket book and if you care enough, the global economy. It's another thing to simply support the people you know and live with in order to build a better community, but whatever, good points from a purely economic standpoint.
 
i believe in buying local whenever possible and reasonable. I'm lucky to have have a few local breweries and brewpubs to frequent and support.
 
Most of my purchases are local, but it is a lot easier considering that there are several great breweries local to me. I don't know that I'd buy local so much if it was a totally average product rather than a Great Lakes, Thirsty Dog or Fatheads.
 
Living in Vermont, I'm pretty fortunate in that I'm within an hour's drive of a bunch of awesome breweries. I live an hour from Long Trail, 45 minutes from Otter Creek/Shed, an hour from Harpoon, and an hour and a half from Magic Hat and Switchback. Life is good.
:tank:
 
thisgoestoeleven said:
Living in Vermont, I'm pretty fortunate in that I'm within an hour's drive of a bunch of awesome breweries. I live an hour from Long Trail, 45 minutes from Otter Creek/Shed, an hour from Harpoon, and an hour and a half from Magic Hat and Switchback. Life is good.
:tank:
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No mention of alchemist or Lawson's? Fiddlehead? And you call yourself a Vermonter...
 
Here in Austin, I can't say I think the local beer is particularly spectacular. Most of it is alright, but none even comes close to the Arrogant Bastard I had at the Stone Brewery, or the little local places I visit whenever I go to Colorado.
 
The point is relatively moot from the craft beer buying public, simply because of the quality point, but also because of the extended benefits that may come from having a local brewery. They may provide things like parties, musical acts, limited releases, etc.

These things wouldn't be there if a person bought the cheaper beer from another location.

It's just too hard to create a real sense of equality between a local beer and something imported from elsewhere.
 

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