When you choose to shop small, your dollar impacts your community more than you might realise. Local businesses support the local economy and give the community a place to come together and celebrate life. A small business owner pours their heart and soul into their craft and watching people doing what they love while giving back to their neighbourhood never fails to inspire.
From coast to coast, independent breweries and restaurants are on the rise as cornerstones of communities. Their inventive creativity and fun-loving spirit give their nearby residents a place to enjoy life while supporting the local economy.
WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT SUPPORTING LOCAL BREWERIES?
Supporting local businesses helps community members fulfil their dreams and allows the economy to flourish. Breweries, gastropubs and brewpubs are no exception. When you support local breweries and restaurants, you're giving directly back to your neighbours while enjoying a tasty experience. Here are just a few of the benefits of supporting independent breweries.
A Place to Experience Community
Pubs began as a place for people from all walks of life to enjoy good company, good brews and good conversation. The name "pub" is a shortened version of the phrase "public house."
Local breweries and restaurants continue this tradition as they create a welcoming environment for friends and family to meet and give people in the community a chance to meet the beer's makers. Local breweries are also more likely to host charity events to support local businesses than chain restaurants.
Support the Local Economy
By spending $100 at a local business, on average, $68 stays in the local economy, as opposed to only $43 when shopping at a chain. Over time, this produces significant impacts.
By patronizing independent businesses, you make a difference in the lives of everyone who plays a role there. From the owners to the employees, to all the local farmers the brewery relies on for ingredients, you're making a significant contribution to your community's future.
A Higher-Quality Brew
Local breweries generally turn to local, fresh ingredients to produce a more delicious product.
Makers consider taste and quality over the bottom line when choosing the ingredients for their art. They're interested in a brew that gives the drinker a unique experience, rather than sacrificing quality for a higher profit margin. This choice results in a higher-quality beer and also supports even more local business.
Sustainable Brewing Techniques
When ingredients travel less to get to the brewery and the beer doesn't go further than across the counter to you, you're making a delicious choice that saves the environment.
Macro brews source their ingredients from wherever it's cheapest and sometimes haul it thousands of miles to the factory. Once brewed in large batches, the beer gets trucked all across the country — or even shipped in internationally — to your big-brand supermarket or liquor store. All that transportation wastes fossil fuels and puts unneeded stress on the environment.
Big-brand disposable packaging plays another role in its substantial environmental impact.
Broader Selection of Styles and Flavours
Even if you don't consider yourself a beer lover, you have an excellent chance of finding a brew you like among a local brewery's extensive menu of exploratory tastes. Big brands typically come in one flavour — a beer that only tastes palatable when cold. How could the creativity of a seasonal brew made with local, in-season ingredients compare to the same formula of mass-produced lager that hasn't changed in decades?
A Chance to Meet the Makers
You develop a greater appreciation for any art when you get to know the master behind the masterpiece. Craft beer is no different. The people who make the beer work right on-site, so your chances of meeting them are high. They're innovators and creators, and getting the opportunity to talk to them could lead to interesting conversations. Drinking beer becomes a much more personal experience when you can put a face to the individual who created it.
If you really want to help the local breweries, you can visit Webster's Bar in Newtown! We serve a range of locally-brewed beers for you to enjoy!
Source: thompsonislandbrewing
