Craft beer is certainly everywhere these days. You can find it at many places you couldn’t have until recently, from grocery stores, and movie theaters, and smaller restaurants that only had one or two taps. More people drink good beer now, so it seems you can’t really go hardly anywhere and not find it. I personally like this, and hope this is the way things continue to be. If you agree with me, the best way you can support craft beer is by drinking locally. Supporting the beer scene in your area is a vital job, and it starts with craft beer drinkers like yourself.
I enjoy most styles of beer, and visit a lot of breweries. It starts with those places close to my house, and I am fortunate living in central Indiana to have well over 50 breweries within less than an hours drive of my home. And driving around the rest of the state gives me access to nearly 100 more. It’s the same no matter where you are, and if we want this awesome selection to be available to us, we need to support the breweries we like, and make sure the ones in our hometown’s are successful. Drinking locally means many things, and drinking beer made in your region is the obvious one.
I have done a lot of research and what I see in Indiana is accurate across-the-board. We have more breweries than ever because more people than ever drink craft beer. And with cities and large towns being saturated with breweries, it is the small towns of our country where we are seeing the most tremendous growth. Fellow beer writer Rita Kohn and I discussed this several years ago at a beer festival. We really felt that small towns offered an opportunity like no one else, and I’m seeing it happen right now. A good brewery can create a loyal fan base, and that’s one of the major keys to success. If you live in a small town, I hope do you are in one that already has a craft brewery, and if not, maybe you need to open one!
So I urge you to drink locally and support the breweries that you like. If they have a restaurant, eat there as well. If you go to a beer festivals, always stop by the tent of your favorite brewery, and let them know that you appreciate what they are doing. And if you travel like me, take your favorite beer to relatives everywhere else, and spread the word. But if you’re like me you probably have a few breweries that you would consider your favorite. My advice is to do what you can, and never stop drinking good beer!
Drinking locally also means doing just that when you travel as well. I made it to the upper Peninsula of Michigan this summer and found a sparsely populated region with over a dozen breweries! And when I used to go to New York, Little Town NYC always provided an excellent selection of New York State beer. They have close their doors so when Pic and I visit the city in November, I hope we can find another spot that will offer good local beer. I also have been able to write about a lot of breweries on the way there and back, and I look forward to visiting them as well as the tap houses I love to feature. I guarantee that no matter where you go in the United States, you can find beer culture if you look hard enough. For me that’s truly what drinking locally on the road means.
I’m writing this article seated at Scarlet Lane’s SoBro location in Indianapolis. They are decked out for Halloween, and the festive spirit really blends well with their off kilter beer. I have far too many breweries near my home to truly support them all, so I try to visit a few each week just to see what’s going on. We have a vibrant beer culture, and hopefully when Covid is a thing of the past, our beer selection will be just as fine. I’m doing my part to support the breweries in Indiana by drinking locally as much as I can. When I travel, I try to do the same. It’s a crazy time to be drinking craft beer, and I wouldn’t want it any other way! I didn’t pick the title for my blog just because I liked it. There truly is so much beer, and we have such limited time!
So Much Beer So Little Time 