Beer Prices

[Horn_Spanker 524]

How much are you willing to pay?

I was standing in my open HEB today staring at the beer, when a distributor with a Thirsty Goat sweatshirt asked if he could help me:

ME:  No, I'm just amazed at these prices

HIM:  They're only going up!

ME:  You guys are going to price yourself out of business.

HIM:  HA HA, people will not stop buying their beer.

[jimmyjazz 45430]

Wasn't the initial price jump on cans mostly due to the raw cost of aluminum?

I drink pretty cheap beer for the most part -- canned Shiner Bock.  I'm not proud.  I'll buy local ales and IPAs now and again.  Their prices seem to have jumped, and it's hard to find a 6 for less than $10, but the generic stuff seems to not have suffered as much?

[4th&Five 41444]

I paid $20 for a 4 pack of 16 ounce tall boys of my favorite seasonal today.  Still cheaper than bar prices. Ten bucks for a sixer of craft beer is pretty standard these days.

[next2naus 436]

I spent $80 + at the beer shop the other day. Bought 3 Pints of BB Black Ops in cans, 2 Pints of those Bourbon Barrel Goose Islands, a couple cans of a Double NEIPA to try and a four pack of another brand of stours. didn't feel robbed. 

[CooterBrown 17852]

You'll pay $20 for a 4 pack and like it. If not, enjoy your poverty. Mad Dog 20/20 is on the shelf behind you.

 

[Deej 76401]

$9.99 at Total Wine. 

Don't care, got drunk. 

 

[next2naus 436]

37 minutes ago, Deej said:

$9.99 at Total Wine. 

Don't care, got drunk. 

 

but you had to drink the whole thing vs I only need two or three fancy boy beers.

[Deej 76401]

43 minutes ago, next2naus said:

but you had to drink the whole thing vs I only need two or three fancy boy beers.

I drink beer almost exclusively outside in the summer. At that point, I just want something cold.

[Incredulity 11446]

I can remember 30 packs of Coors Light being on sale for $9.99

 

That's gotta be 1991 or so.

[Gourmand 7774]

4 hours ago, Horn_Spanker said:

How much are you willing to pay?

I was standing in my open HEB today staring at the beer, when a distributor with a Thirsty Goat sweatshirt asked if he could help me:

ME:  No, I'm just amazed at these prices

HIM:  They're only going up!

ME:  You guys are going to price yourself out of business.

HIM:  HA HA, people will not stop buying their beer.

he's right  though

[patrickdrinksbeer 788]

as someone who makes and sells beer at a small brewery, believe me when i say no one is getting rich on $10 six packs. it’s incredibly expensive to operate a craft brewery. we make good beer and charge a fair price. at our scale raw ingredients, cans, labels, etc are expensive and seemingly increasing every goddamned quarter.

[DalTxHornFan 3074]

^This.  Most errbody not in the business of brewing (or distilling, for that matter) has much of a clue of how little the cost of making the liquid has to do with the cost of a finished retail product.

Edited December 15, 2021 by DalTxHornFan

[GreenspointTexas 9547]

If you dont wanna pay a premium for good beer, drink Everclear. Its cheaper and has more alcohol content than shitty cheap/light beer.

[Incredulity 11446]

8 hours ago, patrickdrinksbeer said:

believe me when i say no one is getting rich on $10 six packs.

[Nueces River Rat 5522]

14 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

If you dont wanna pay a premium for good beer, drink Everclear. Its cheaper and has more alcohol content than shitty cheap/light beer.

 

[dcbc 14368]

20 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

12 packs of SNPA still $17 around here, and that's up from $15--16 in 2019.

But yes, profit on beer is measured in pennies per ounce.

Spoke to a friend who owns a brewery about the cost of raw materials.  He said he hadn't notice a huge jump, but emphasized that they have some good long term hop contracts in place.

[Guest Lobo]

Are we still also calling them "microbrews", or is it exclusively "craft beer" now? 

What about microcraft beers?  Or nanobrews?  From breweries so small, you can't even see 'em.

I do feel bad for the market squeeze being put on these folks who make an excellent product and are barely making ends meet.  People will never stop buying beer, but they will absolutely not pay more for premium and ultra-premium brands.  I'm biased towards "Big Beer" because I worked for a Coors Distributor in college and made great money with free beer.  But I enjoy a locally brewed beer that you can tell was made with pride, and am willing to pay for it.  However, in economic times like these, I buy cheap beer and spend the difference on wine and bourbon (at my age, I can drink cheap beer all day long, but I can't drink cheap bourbon).  

I'm sure to make up for our economic shortfall, the state will raise excise taxes on in-state breweries and further fuck those guys over. 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Lobo

[next2naus 436]

15 hours ago, Deej said:

I drink beer almost exclusively outside in the summer. At that point, I just want something cold.

How about some chilled piss?

[Captain Ron 12771]

As a bartender once said "if you're worried about the price, you shouldn't be drinking."

 

[stc 1451]

refuse to pay more than $15 for a 4/6 pack. there are A LOT of good beers readily available below that price. pinthouse is the best in town but they can get fucked with their $20 4 packs. 

[RPM 26168]

1 hour ago, dcbc said:

profit on beer is measured in pennies per ounce.

This. Beer is a volume business.

[huge 3787]

I never look at the prices and recently I realized that I paid over $20 for a fancy 4 pack.

It was probably worth it but I dont remember

[Trey3216 15321]

I'm a bifurcated beer drinker.  I go to my local breweries and drink there, or drink their offerings when I go to a bar.  When I go buy beer at the store, I buy quantity beer and quality beer.  

For instance, I'll get a case of YellerBellies/John Elways and 2 6ers of a craft brew that I like.  

Or, and I hesitate to give up my state secrets in hopes that they don't go away from selling it this cheap, I'll go to Dollar General and buy 3 or 4 8-packs of 16oz Coors Lights for $7.95/e.  Found that deal during the pandemic shutdowns (it was actually $6.95/e then) and haven't looked back.  

[BurdineBandit 805]

1 hour ago, RPM said:

This. Beer is a volume business.

This is surly, beer is definitely a volume business on this end. 

[Macanudo 12917]

14 hours ago, patrickdrinksbeer said:

as someone who makes and sells beer at a small brewery, believe me when i say no one is getting rich on $10 six packs. it’s incredibly expensive to operate a craft brewery. we make good beer and charge a fair price. at our scale raw ingredients, cans, labels, etc are expensive and seemingly increasing every goddamned quarter.

Jimmy gave some background as well (aluminum prices) but one of the things that has really driven the market is hop prices.   It was already bad 10 years ago and it's only getting worse.   The big boys have volume purchasing ability or outright ownership of some hop fields.   They can also afford to forecast out for a longer time period than the smaller breweries.   And they ARE not afraid to over buy in order to screw others out of contracts.   

[elfenix 34161]

3 minutes ago, Macanudo said:

The big boys have volume purchasing ability or outright ownership of some hop fields. 

https://www.wired.com/2015/10/the-biggest-beer-deal-ever-could-threaten-real-craft-brews/

 

stop buying karbach, goose island, and other macro "craft"

[Macanudo 12917]

I don't buy them anymore.    But everyone now and then I end up drinking one at a restaurant when the other choices are Bud Light, Stella or Ultra.

[jimmyjazz 45430]

I try to stay local when I deviate from the general get-the-job-done stuff.  Real Ale, St. Arnold's, etc.  I can't keep up with who has been bought by the big boys and who hasn't.

That said, I still say Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the tits.  I assume they are still independent.

[Trey3216 15321]

4 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I try to stay local when I deviate from the general get-the-job-done stuff.  Real Ale, St. Arnold's, etc.  I can't keep up with who has been bought by the big boys and who hasn't.

That said, I still say Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the tits.  I assume they are still independent.

Still love Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  It's what got me started down the road of truly appreciating different beers when I was about 22.  

[Storm the Field 5268]

Not that it really makes a difference when buying, but I have noticed HEB and Kroger have both tacked on $0.50 to $1.00 on their six-packs within the last 3 months, after basically 5 straight years of a standard $8.99 full price (usually on sale/loyalty card price of $8.49 or $7.99). $9.99 is now the full price and the markdowns are less frequent.

[elfenix 34161]

10 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I try to stay local when I deviate from the general get-the-job-done stuff.  Real Ale, St. Arnold's, etc.  I can't keep up with who has been bought by the big boys and who hasn't.

That said, I still say Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the tits.  I assume they are still independent.

generally i think you can trust the independent craft logo to not be one of the big boys.  maybe @patrickdrinksbeer knows different

[dcbc 14368]

18 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I still say Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the tits.

I don't think there's a better American pale ale.  It's always on my grocery list.

[dcbc 14368]

58 minutes ago, elfenix said:

https://www.wired.com/2015/10/the-biggest-beer-deal-ever-could-threaten-real-craft-brews/

 

stop buying karbach, goose island, and other macro "craft"

Sierra Nevada still is independently owned.

Miller/Coors bought Revolver several years ago as well. 

Heineken owns a majority share of Lagunitas.

The list goes on

https://www.themadfermentationist.com/2018/07/craft-beer-connections-brewery.html

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by dcbc

[davidg 4020]

4 hours ago, BurdineBandit said:

This is surly, beer is definitely a rental business on this end. 

Fixed it for how much I piss when I drink a lot of beer.

[patrickdrinksbeer 788]

he got rich on $6 six packs back when the rest of the shelf was $4.

[Incredulity 11446]

48 minutes ago, patrickdrinksbeer said:

he got rich on $6 six packs back when the rest of the shelf was $4.

I agree.  I was just being stereotypical Surly.

 

Totally respect what you are doing, and it is a way different game now.