Expensive Rogue Beer

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fenderbass

fenderbass

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To anyone who enjoys the great beers of Oregon, I have a question.
Whay is Rogue Beer so dang expensive? I love Dead Guy Ale, but at 10 bucks a six pack... I just order it when I go out to eat. And I really want to try the Double Dead Guy Ale, but it's 12 bucks for a 22 oz. bottle. Maybe it's just me, but this seems a bit steep. Their other ales and stouts are great, but still a bit spendy.
So why is that?? Does anyone know??
 
I couldn't tell you, but I know that usually a six pack of dead guy is 14 dollars around here. Their stuff is usually way more expensive than other sixers, except for stone brewing.
 
Most craft beers are on average $10 a six pack. I figured since you are in Oregon it may be a little cheaper, due to less shipping, but I guess not. In the Dallas area, we only have two local craft breweries, Rahr, and Franconia. Rahr is about $8 a six pack, but others from Texas are between $8 and $10.
 
I pay 9 for a 6 of SN. seems about normal. Craft beer costs more than Budwesier.You get what you pay for. You also don't drink with the goal of drinking 20 in a night.
 
??? A 12 pack of Bud Light Lime here is 24 $ I can usually drink craft or micro for cheaper than BMC if I hunt for specials/reductions. Count your blessings: 9 bucks for a six pack is usually the cheapest beer in the store.
 
I turn (or try to) the empty bombers into tumblers. There is a thread in the DIY section on it. I also do the same for Stone bombers when I can find them.

There is also the possibility of harvesting pacman yeast from some of the Rouge beers.

My personal favy's from Rouge are: the chocolate stout, oatmeal stout, Irish ale, and the bitter. The dead guy is ok, I have yet to have a double dead guy, I just buy other stuff lol. I strongly disliked the hazelnut.

I also have 3 McRouge Scottish ales that I have been hording for a while. Those little buggers were pricey...$5 for an 8oz bottle!
 
I like most of Rogue's beers, but they are not worth the price to me either. $12 for Double Dead Guy is ridiculous when a Double Bastard, which uses a lot more specialty malts and hops, is $7.
 
I love Rogue, but a bomber runs about $6-$8 near me. The Rogue St. Red, Smoke Ale and Hazelnut Brown are my favorites.

A plus side to liking this beer and getting into home brew is that Ive been saving their bottle for my own use which causes me to buy less bottles. They are easyto clean since their labels are printed directly onto the bottles.
 
I love Double Dead Guy, but I too have had a hard time trying to justify the high price they charge for it. 2 Row, C15 and Munich + some Cascades....70 IBU and 8%abv...why is it so expensive again?

Through their whole line they're one of the more expensive beer brands. Their bombers pretty much start at $5, and that's at the store by my house with really good prices. I have a couple of bottles in my fridge now that I'm going to harvest yest from for my DDG clone, but yeah, they're not a regular buy for me. When I can get bombers from so many other great brewers for $3-5, the Rogue stuff just doesn't offer the quality to justify the $5+ price. $5 for a Rogue Brutal IPA when I can get Stone IPA for $3.29, Lagunitas Hop Stoopid for $3.79, Racer 5 for $3.79 or Pliny the Elder for $4.79?

Even Dead Guy at $7.99/six gets beaten pretty soundly on the price/quality ratio. I can get a 6er of 60 Minute or a 4 pack of 90 minute for the same price! Or a 6er of Green Flash West Coast IPA!

Suffice to say Rogue is not a regular buy in my beer shopping cart. Also my fingers are crossed that my DDG clone is amazing.
 
I am envious of your local beer pricing. All of the things you mentioned that you can get are at least a dollar more (the ones that I can get anyway) at my beer stores.

Something else that I've noticed in this thread is that can we really base the price of a beer on the complexity of it's recipe? I don't expect beers to be cheaper just because they have less ingredients or vice versa.

I think the majority of what you are paying for when you buy beer is the time that the brewers are putting into making it, which is what I feel is the most valuable part of brewing beer myself.
 
devilishprune said:
I am envious of your local beer pricing. All of the things you mentioned that you can get are at least a dollar more (the ones that I can get anyway) at my beer stores.

Something else that I've noticed in this thread is that can we really base the price of a beer on the complexity of it's recipe? I don't expect beers to be cheaper just because they have less ingredients or vice versa.

I think the majority of what you are paying for when you buy beer is the time that the brewers are putting into making it, which is what I feel is the most valuable part of brewing beer myself.
Click to expand...

A new store (Total Wine and More) opened locally that has GREAT pricing. All of those beers are $1-2 cheaper than at the BevMo across the street. It's pretty awesome.

It's not about the complexity of the recipe per se, obviously there are factors that raise the cost outside of that...anything that's aged, soured, etc. etc. I have no problem paying $15 for a Russian River sour because I understand that it's a complicated beer to make, even if the grain bill isn't so much. But I can't fathom how DDG costs orders of magnitude more than a Stone Double Bastard, or a Dogfish 90 minute, or really any other DIPA. It doesn't have some crazy amount of malt or hops, it doesn't have some ridiculous aging time or require a bunch of barrels or wood chips or anything else. It's priced at what the market will bear, obviously, I'm just having an increasingly hard time bearing the cost of Rogue beers when I have so many other options that are as good or better for a lot less.
 
I always feel like I'm paying extra for fancy bottles and I'd rather have great beer.

Rogue is selling for that because people keep paying it. Do what i do and stop.
Although I did recently buy a John John hazelnut.
 
It depends on where you live, too. Beer is more heavily taxed in some states, and I pay $9 a sixer for Bell's, with craft beers from other states costing even more. Even SNPA is nearly $10 a sixer. I wouldn't blick at paying $10 for Dead Guy, since that's far cheaper than I've ever seen it.
 
I was just at the Rogue brew pub in Portland last weekend and asked our server about the price of their bottled beer (their beers on tap are actually on the cheaper side ...at least compared to other craft breweries around, like deschutes for example). He said part of the issue is the increased expense of painting the bottles with those distinctive Rogue labels... That shouldnt affect the 6ers since Im pretty sure they have paper labels.

RE: DOUBLE DEAD GUY. If you like dead guy, Id say spring for the double dead guy.. at least once. Im not a fan of Rogue beers over comparable beers elsewhere (deschutes is my favorite brewery and my usual go-to), but I have to say that dead guy is one of my all time favorites.

EDIT: Has anyone had the 21 ale from Rogue.. now thats expensive ($21 for a bomber). I might pay 20 bucks for a nice aged deschutes beer, but rogue is just too... um... ROGUE!.. haha.
 
Deuce said:
Most craft beers are on average $10 a six pack. I figured since you are in Oregon it may be a little cheaper, due to less shipping, but I guess not. In the Dallas area, we only have two local craft breweries, Rahr, and Franconia. Rahr is about $8 a six pack, but others from Texas are between $8 and $10.
Click to expand...

Taking the local grocery store that has the best selection of craft beers in town, I'd say you're a bit higher...except for the Rogue stuff. It sticks out as pretty nearly always $2-3 higher than the run of other crafts. I've never had a bad Rogue beer, but I don't buy it much. Very rarely there's a sale on Rogue, and then I might pick up a six.....
 
It's more expensive so it will taste better to certain people. The more you pay for something, the better it is. This has nothing to do with quality, quantity of ingredients or labor.

In 1/3 of the population, the simple act of spending money activates the pleasure centers of their brain. The more money they spend the more these pleasure centers get stimulated making food and beverages more enjoyable. Rogue is simply giving these people what they want, expensive luxury. If you are in the 2/3 of the population that gets psychological pain when they spend money, you will not get any extra benefit from spending more on beer so you will just buy the better valued beer because you are just using the flavor. So if you are in the 1/3rd percentage, Rogue actually tastes better because it is more expensive. If you are in the 2/3rds, it doesn't taste any better than cheaper craftbrew so we buy that instead.

Rogue is at least $3 a six pack or $3 a 22oz more than comparable beers from other craft brewers. I've drank quite a few in my day, even went to their brewery but I will not buy their beer because there is beer that is just as good for significantly cheaper. It's not that I can't afford it but I get the same amount of pleasure out of both beers but less psychological pain with the cheaper one.
 
alecoholic said:
It's more expensive so it will taste better to certain people. .
Click to expand...

Funny, must be the opposite w/ me. Local pub last football season hat $2 pints of Dead Guy...I loved em much more than any of the $10 sixers I had purchased. Actually thought about asking to see If I could harvest some pacman from a kicked keg.
 
The price of Dead Guy Ale was what inspired me to brew my own.
While my clone is maltier than the original, it's very yummy and reduces my need to spend $12 to feed my fix :)
 
Issaquah brewhouse (Rogue affiliate) here has a "garage sale" every now and then, they had cases of 12 22oz double dead guy for $40, so I got a couple. I still have over half a case left.
 
munche said:
Even Dead Guy at $7.99/six gets beaten pretty soundly on the price/quality ratio. I can get a 6er of 60 Minute or a 4 pack of 90 minute for the same price! Or a 6er of Green Flash West Coast IPA!
Click to expand...

I envy anyone that can get west coast IPA for $7.99 a sixer... it's about $14 where I'm at, even at Total Wine! I usually opt for Green Flash bombers since they're all right around $5. I recently fell in love with their stout.
 
I was just speaking with the manager of a local beer store the other day regarding this topic. He said of all the beers his distributor carries, Rogue is the priciest. I love their brews but most of the time, can't justify the cost...
 
From a you tube video of Rogue brewery done by them. Interesting response (kinda sarcastic with a tone of being an a$$ on rogues first response to the initial comment IMO. Here is what I am referring to and the link to the video is here too. If you watch the video you will see why the guy says bottom feeders in his comment btw.



WAKeele
10 months ago 3

I do have to ask, if you guys are "bottom feeders" and are frugal with your purchases, why are you one of the most expensive production beers?!?




@WAKeele because Brewmaster John Maier decides what goes in the beer, not the accountants.
RogueHQ 4 months ago

#
WAKeele
4 months ago

@RogueHQ That doesn't answer the question. That's obvious. I wouldn't expect any craft brewer with the name and distribution to do so, i.e a certain revenue. From what I've read on many of the bottles, generally local ingredients are used. There's got to be more to it than that. I mean a great beer is worth it sometimes--and if you have the money, all the time. I just can't pay that much for beer like that regularly unless I'm trying something new. I drink quality or it's water for me.




@WAKeele It's pretty simple. Here's how it works for us. John Maier makes the beer to his specifications. The sales people then look at what it cost to make the beer and what kind of margin we need to make to stay in business. That's the price we sell it at.
RogueHQ 4 months ago 3
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I will add that I think it is kinda b/s that they are so expensive too. I mean don't get me wrong they are all very good that I have tried. However, I saw a couple 8oz bottles in the beer store the other day for 5-6 bucks a piece! I mean ya its craft as he!! but I can't image them making 3-4 different beers that cost as much to make to as the price would make you think. Anyways I don't know much about the economics of things that is just my ignorant two cents.
 
after reading more of this thread, Ive come up with a better answer...
The real reason why ROGUE beer costs what it does.. plain and simple:

because enough people are willing to pay that much for their beer.
 
crlova2 said:
From a you tube video of Rogue brewery done by them. Interesting response (kinda sarcastic with a tone of being an a$$ on rogues first response to the initial comment IMO. Here is what I am referring to and the link to the video is here too. If you watch the video you will see why the guy says bottom feeders in his comment btw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFXALoegMR8

WAKeele
10 months ago 3

I do have to ask, if you guys are "bottom feeders" and are frugal with your purchases, why are you one of the most expensive production beers?!?




@WAKeele because Brewmaster John Maier decides what goes in the beer, not the accountants.
RogueHQ 4 months ago

#
WAKeele
4 months ago

@RogueHQ That doesn't answer the question. That's obvious. I wouldn't expect any craft brewer with the name and distribution to do so, i.e a certain revenue. From what I've read on many of the bottles, generally local ingredients are used. There's got to be more to it than that. I mean a great beer is worth it sometimes--and if you have the money, all the time. I just can't pay that much for beer like that regularly unless I'm trying something new. I drink quality or it's water for me.




@WAKeele It's pretty simple. Here's how it works for us. John Maier makes the beer to his specifications. The sales people then look at what it cost to make the beer and what kind of margin we need to make to stay in business. That's the price we sell it at.
RogueHQ 4 months ago 3
Click to expand...


BTW.. is anyone else confused as hell about this post?? :drunk:
I think I get the idea but I had to read it like 5 times.... maybe I need another beer?
 
Sorry it's confusing. I just copied and pasted the comments from youtube associated with that video. The comments were between and random viewer and "RougeHQ" screen name that I am assuming is someone in their PR department. It will make a lot more sense if you watch the video on the youtube site and read the comments as they are on under the vid on youtube. Anyways you are probably right about the reason the prices are high but I feel like they could sell more beer at a slightly lower price and still make more money. Of course they probably have smarter people than me that have thought that through.
 
I'm drinking a spot on chocolate stout clone, after visiting the brewery, fermented with recultured rogue yeast that I just brewed. It's excellent, I jizz in my pants while I drink it, but I wouldn't pay what Rogue charges to buy it.
 
crlova2 said:
Sorry it's confusing. I just copied and pasted the comments from youtube associated with that video. The comments were between and random viewer and "RougeHQ" screen name that I am assuming is someone in their PR department. It will make a lot more sense if you watch the video on the youtube site and read the comments as they are on under the vid on youtube. Anyways you are probably right about the reason the prices are high but I feel like they could sell more beer at a slightly lower price and still make more money. Of course they probably have smarter people than me that have thought that through.
Click to expand...

ahhh its a twitter thing.. no wonder I was confused. Thanks for clarifying, I thought I might finally be losing it.
 
Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale $14.99 a six pack! I don't care how good the beer is (and it's pretty good). Even if I was a millionaire it's hard to justify paying that much for a six pack of beer.
 
redalert said:
Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale $14.99 a six pack! I don't care how good the beer is (and it's pretty good). Even if I was a millionaire it's hard to justify paying that much for a six pack of beer.
Click to expand...

Ends up being the same price/beer as a $10 4-pack, which are pretty common.

Also, to put it in perspective, it comes to $2.50/beer. One can expect to pay $5/beer when going out to a bar or brewpub.
 
Yeah it's ridiculous. Six packs of Stone beers cost like 15-16 dollars here. At a local beer store I managed to get 2 bottles of oaked arrogant bastard for 3 dollars total, which was awesome and the only way I would be able to try it.
 
You guys should get into wine or, better yet, whiskey, it would be cheaper... not :D But it's true that sometimes, it's hard to justify paying X for an item when a comparable one costs half as much and will do the same damn thing (ie. taste good). Our local microbrewery has an Imperial Stout at 4.50$ a 500ml bottle (16.95 a four pack). It's good, but give me McAuslen Saint-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout any day of the week at 8$ a sixer. Much more balanced and tasty to me.

And I'm still paying "millionnaire prices" compared to some of you guys it seems :D
 
You get what you pay for and I have never been disappointed when buying anything Rouge makes. Just recently I picked up a sixpac of Dry Hopped St. Rogue Red. Not only was it great to drink but it inspired me to try my hand at dry hopping myself. Great Beer and inspiration is worth a couple extra bucks IMHO. So I skip the soda or extra guacamole on my burrito next week meh...
 
check that, dead guy $11.99 here.

a 4 pack of ayinger celebrator is $10. and dat sh*t's from germany.
 

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