I feel spoiled to live in the place and time I do. Where I live in Michigan, the market is saturated with small micro-breweries making good beer. Even in my small town. I’ve never actually had the cheap stuff since it’s always been easy to get the good local stuff.
I use a whirly-pop over the stove, myself. I just started buying beans from a distributor about an hour away from where I live. Managed to get 10lbs of Columbian for $3.25 per pound and no shipping since I picked it up at their warehouse. 