Pennsylvania Beer Prices

So I went to my favorite six pack shop (can't get beer in grocery stores or gas stations in PA) and picked up some beer. To my surprise it looked like their prices had jumped up from the last time I was there. Here's a few gems I saw in prices:

- Brew Dog's beer was $8 dollars for a 12 oz. Many Belgian beers were this price too.
- A bomber of Duvel was $14
- 6 packs of American micro brews were $14 bucks. For example, stuff from Victory and Troeg's were that price and the breweries are in the same state.
- Bombers from Southern Tier were $12 and $14 bucks.

What really made me sad is that this place used to have the best prices in the western PA area. They definitely have the best selection and have some world class beer, but I'm not going to be purchasing it at those prices. I swear, home brewing with extract is cheaper than buying micro brews these days.

What are prices for those beers in your area?

man I hear you 100% .... I'm here in south-central PA and it pains me to see bottle and six pack prices....rogue bombers are at $7.65 for the "normal stuff" (dead guy, shakespeare stout)...six packs are anywhere from $12 on up for again pretty normal micro stuff like Troegs, victory, DFH, weyerbacher and the likes.

The worst though...the guy around here wants $28 for a 4 pack of st bernardus. Its a great beer...but for 5 bucks more I can get a case of a decent micro.

Similar story here in Maryland. Normal beer shops that sell mostly BMC varieties with the occasional regional beer like dogfish head have most micro brews around 11-12 bucks a six pack but have very few good choices. The "craft beer" shop that's got a more exotic collection near me is selling things like Bear Republic's Racer IPA for 17/six pack. Stone Ruination was something like 26 for a six pack. A 4 pack of Tupper's Hop Pocket was around 14. A 22oz bottle of Troeg's Nugget Nectar was 9 bucks. Ironically while visiting a friend in VA I found six packs of NN for 11.99.

I love trying new beers but I feel like craft beer is becoming trendy enough around here that places who do have a good selection seem to be adjusting prices upwards to account for the increase in demand. It's becoming a lot harder for me to justify trying new beers when I can make my own so much cheaper. This is unfortunate because I would really like to support the craft breweries out there, but I can't afford to pay these prices on a regular basis.

Somewhat related, there's been a lot of beer pairing dinners cropping up lately in the MD/DC region. This made me really excited at first, until I saw that most of them come with $75-100 per person price tags...

Bombers of ST were THAT much?!?! Man, I know a bar where you can get Unearthly IPA for $6.50...and that's BAR prices. At the brewery a bomber is $5 or $6 depending on whether it is a stout (Black Water Series or something) or not. I would never pay $14 for 22 oz of their beer.

you're gettin jacked, make a road trip to NH with a UHaul truck and you wont regret it

bknifefight said:

Bombers of ST were THAT much?!?! Man, I know a bar where you can get Unearthly IPA for $6.50...and that's BAR prices. At the brewery a bomber is $5 or $6 depending on whether it is a stout (Black Water Series or something) or not. I would never pay $14 for 22 oz of their beer.

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I did see Unearthly there and it was $14 bucks....

I've heard that beer in PA is 45% more expensive but I've never seen an a source for that statistic. But if you set foot in any place that sells beer you can see that 45% is quite accurate.

Do you guys in PA have super high taxes or something? I have just started seeing Victory 6 packs coming to Oregon grocery stores and you can usually get them for $9-10 and that's across the country.

Bombers of Duvel are about $8-9 and microbrews from the Northwest/California are usually $7.99 a six pack, but there's always something on sale for $6.99 and if you're lucky $5.99. At the bars it is hard to find a place that charges more than $5 a pint. I got DFH 60 Min for $2 last week.

Where in Pittsburgh do you get your beer? There are a couple places that have a good selection and decent price. However, my pipeline has been full for a while so I may be out of date.

Those dang yunser middle-men!

Giant Eagle Market District in Robinson Twp. has some really nice prices on 6 packs of good micros. I think they have a web site that may list the prices and what they have.

Salute!

PGHBrew said:

Where in Pittsburgh do you get your beer? There are a couple places that have a good selection and decent price. However, my pipeline has been full for a while so I may be out of date.

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The place I was referring to in the original post was 3 Sons in Wexford. Great selection, organization, and really nice and helpful staff, but the prices have gone up.

I've been to Bocktown, The Beer Store (Moon Township), Barley and Hops, D'z, and Brews Brothers and at one time 3 Sons had the best price. Now they're about the same (Barley and Hops is the worst though).

Giant Eagle is starting to get beer at better prices (still not out of state prices though). However, their selection is limited and their storage techniques are questionable. There have been reports of stores leaving beer directly in the sunlight at the front of the store.

I was thinking D'z, but haven't been there for several months. All the more reason to make your own.