Thanksgiving is coming up shortly, and I anticipate its arrival with the same enthusiasm I feel sitting in the gynecologist’s waiting room. (That poor bird with its legs in the air…) What I am looking forward to comes the following weekend: Small Business Saturday. Now, admittedly, this is just a made-up holiday concocted by American Express to make it look like they give a flying fruitcake about small business; however, it brings customers by the Prius-load to my bookstore, all cheerily looking to support local businesses rather than ruthlessly scrabbling for the last Disney Light-Up Frozen Realistic Hair Extension Play-Doh Kit. So, don’t think I’m complaining. Rather, I ask you to raise a small glass of beer with me.

I am assuming most of you know the basics of why one shops local, but I’ll go ahead and preach anyway:

• 68% of all money spent locally goes back into the community through wages and taxes and change dropped on the ground
• You support members of your community, not distant CEOs on yachts somewhere in the Caribbean
• You can be rightfully self-righteous

Selfie-Righteous

As much as I love being self-righteous, that isn’t the only reason I have for drinking small. I like my beer from places where I can see an actual brewer drinking their own beer. Good news for Americans is that, of the 3,000+ breweries in the US, 99% are small, independent businesses. The majority of Americans can find a local brewery within ten miles of their homes.

So, if this is true, I cannot fathom why you’d drink a case of Bud instead of a growler of pale ale. I know the cost of craft beer can be an issue. I’m pretty sure if we were to math it out to dollar per percentage of alcohol by volume, the growler and the case would be pretty close together but, I keep forgetting craft drinkers aren’t supposed to ever admit that we drink to get drunk.

Here’s why I try to drink local, drink small:

• I love that I know the names of the men making my beer at The Phoenix, my local brewery, and notice when they change their creative facial hair
• I love that they give their spent grain to the local bakery who makes Phoenix Rising loaves from it
• I love that they have art nights, which is exactly what it sounds like: drink beer, make art
• I love that I know I can come in every Thursday at 6pm and find my neighbor there with a hefeweizen and a handful of pretzel rods
• I love that the head brewer once admitted to me that he had only just now realized that some of his “regulars,” might actually be “drunks.” (I laughed and hoped we weren’t talking about me)

The beer at The Phoenix tastes like dreams come true. Their dreams and mine. Their pub feels like home. I drink local because it helps these guys be successful, not just in terms of money, but in terms of enriching the community. Drinking small, shopping small: all it means is being kind and grateful toward your fellow citizens. Ensuring that you are giving back as much to your community as you’re taking out. This is a holiday I can get behind.