What does hyperlocal mean to you – a look inside Vermont beer.

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“Do You Know Where Your Beer Is Brewed?” Soft guitar music played while clips of idyllic landscapes and sunrises peaking over breweries slid across the screen. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

The gentle voice of the narrator says, “With 12 breweries spread all across the United States, your next Budweiser is closer than you think.” Budweiser hangs its hat on the fact that it can produce the same beer at 12 facilities and it will always taste exactly the same no matter where you drink it. No small feat, to be sure.  But then the voice adds, “You might even say we’re America’s largest local brewer.”My eyes narrowed and my brow furrowed. ‘What in the heck is this?” I exclaimed. “That is our word!”

It took me a while to calm down from Budweiser’s blatant attempt to co-opt the word “local.” I was hot under the collar and wondered how Budweiser could justify this position…