Local vs Good vs Outstanding

A couple of days ago, Stan whether Quality trumps Local.

To me, the answer is very easy, a big YES. I've said it many times, I believe it is important that we support local businesses, but, as I've put in my comment there: as far as I’m concerned, everything is subordinated to quality, or rather, my perception thereof; and that includes local. If a local brewery doesn’t make a beer I will want to drink, I will not buy it, I will not support that business. Why should I? Fortunately, that’s not the case where I live, and I’m happy to support my “local” brewery, which makes great beer, with business and more.

But the thing that caught my attention the most in that post is a quote from an article by one Greg Engert, that says:

Now, the desire to drink local brews has reached a fever pitch, often blinding publicans and craft beer drinkers alike from what should ultimately guide our choices: Is the beer of the highest quality? Is it bereft of off-flavors? Is it delicious? In short, is it superlative and memorable?

Editing the second part of my comment a little, I think that Engert’s search for the outstanding and the memorable is foolish, to say the least. It’s putting yourself in a position where you will likely be disappointed. Does any sensible person really want to live like that? ¿Isn't good, good enough? ¿Since when? We should embrace the good, praise the good. The outstanding should remain that, something out of the ordinary, something that surprises us, and for it all the more valuable. When everything is outstanding, nothing is.

Na Zdraví!

PS: On the other hand, the fact that someone can consider a beer bereft of off-flavours as outstanding and memorable speaks pretty much by itself.