Josh Rubin has a good article in the Toronto Star today about Creemore Springs and the real or perceived pressures it faces in moving its business model forward. Let's count them, shall we:

• A former owner who remains vocal and opinionated.
• A brand that is too closely tied to location.
• A village that is fearful of short term expansion and long term abandonment.
• An opportunity to bring greater financial stability and jobs to a rural community.
• An absentee owner that operates at a massively larger scale.
• Unhappy if friendly neighbours.
• A new CEO being parachuted in Whose favorite beer is favorite beer is Molson Export.

For the craft beer fan, so much of this is a side show. Creemore has expanded their range and won me over despite earlier suspicions. But good beer can be made in large facilities or on equipment that can fit in your living room. It can be made in rust belt urban cores or pristine countryside. I think the former owner might be living in his own dream if he thinks that to some "a beer made by elves, lost in some little village, has more appeal" unless we are speaking about people who have no real sense of beer. People out antiquing. See, "local" can be a distraction.

I have had nothing but great relationship with the fine folk who work at Creemore and it makes me sad - even frustrated - for them. This story is a poignant example that the obsession for local and whatever that means to any give person, like nationalism, can sometimes also be the recourse of cowards, a curse - even as much as it is a source of pride and motivation making the best. Compared to the boom that is being experienced with relative ease at the other end of southern Ontario at Beau's, the news sounds like they are weighed down by so many forces that have ultimately little to do with their good beer.