Brewers: Can you "justify calling beer local"? Are you being hypocritical when you do so?

On Friday, I presented a manifesto of sorts in this space, as recently published at Food and Dining magazine:

My column at Food and Dining: "Localism + Beer."

A reply I received (below) surely raises a few good points. Of course, the world is seldom black or white; it's mostly gray. And, the "localism" of which we speak in this context implies a large element of shift (in patronage, in spending, in procurement), and this is a concept that explicitly acknowledges an absence of perfection in choice.

In fact, I believe the reply is lucid, and merits further discussion. I'm not "calling out" the writer. Mostly, I'm curious. For those brewers and brewery owners reading ...

During the course of your daily routine, do you feel "hypocritical" when linking your work with emerging principles of localism? 

Is the localism in your lives something genuine, or are you merely "riding a tremendous propaganda marketing machine wave"? 

Do you agree, as the writer suggests, that truly local beer is impossible apart from a few scattered instances, i.e., Chatoe Rogue, or breweries operating in areas where both barley and hops are grown?

Let me know what you think, either here or privately. The full comment follows.

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Roger,

Let's say I owned a local restaurant based in New Albany. I pitch myself as being a "local" restaurant, and I want the patronage of local residents.

I make a big pot of vegetable beef stew each and every day.

My beef comes from New Zealand, my tomatoes come from Mexico, my beans come from California, the barley comes from North Dakota, and my black eyed peas come from a massive company with ties to Monsanto.

I have fooled the public into thinking they should support local just because I happen to own the restaurant, and they should "support local," but clearly I actually do not based on my ingredient list. Breweries are exactly the same way. They are riding a tremendous propaganda marketing machine wave.

How on earth do you justify calling beer local? It isn't feasible to make beer from only local sources. Ingredients come from all over the country and the world for that matter. It is hypocritical of all of these breweries asking us to support local. That money isn't staying locally. It is going to massive companies like Wayerman, Briess, Hopunion, Wyeast, and White Labs. Who is one of Briess's major suppliers? Monsanto!

I support New Albanian Brewing Company because you make a fantastic product. If you stop making a fantastic product I will stop supporting you. End of story.