“If you sell to one of the big guys, the independents will have to fight even harder for a tap handle or shelf space in a liquor store,” he said. “It makes it tough.”

So the seal, he said, is an important step for smaller craft breweries.

The seal, according to the Brewers Association, isn’t meant to imply the beer inside is “good” while the big brewers’ beer is “bad.”

It is simply meant to be a signal to the beer buyers that their money is going back into the local community, Wilmoth said.

“You know who’s brewing the beer and where they’re buying their ingredients. There’s no mystery to it,” he said.

And if you ask Myers of The Happy Raven, that’s the way Nebraskans like it.

He wasn’t worried when he made the decision to quit selling Anheuser-Busch products, he said. As a craft beer bar, the standard domestics — Bud Light and Budweiser — made up a small percentage of The Happy Raven’s overall sales.

Myers said he doesn’t expect to hear many complaints until football season, when Husker fans on their way to Memorial Stadium might stop in to order the familiar fare.