Absurdly High Markup on Beer.

[motobrewer]

man. i remember the days when 120 was $8 and hopslam was $14

 

[louie0202]

I love Orval which is $6 for a 12oz beer if you can find it, guess thats why I am brewing my own Oval Abbey Ale....either $50 for 54 12oz bottles(even though I am kegging it) or $324 for the same amount. Of course I have to wait a year to even drink my beer which is why n ext time I will make a 10 gallon batch.

 

[prrriiide]

Rick's Wine and Gourmet on Duke St. in Alexandria.

You're welcome.

 

[Aunt_Ester]

Rick's Wine and Gourmet on Duke St. in Alexandria.

You're welcome.

+1 I love that place. Go around noon on Saturdays for tastings!

 

[peterson82]

Yeah, Rick's is where I snagged the six-pack of Hopslam.

 

[Montanaandy]

I am glad I live in MT where I can drink great local beers as well as visit Denver/Ft Collins/Boulder where I can get more great local beer as well as any of the beers produced by west coast breweries and am not being ripped off...

 

[The_General]

There is a restaurant in town (South Bend, IN) that sells Three Floyds beers at $20-25.00 a glass. You can literally walk a block and buy a 6 pack for $8.99 or drive a hour and be at the brewery.

If you don't mind me asking, where are they charging that much? Having lived in South Bend for 6 years, I can't think of too many places in town that could get away with charging prices like that.

 

[AdamPag]

I didnt even read the other 4 pages... But dude, im on long island, It doesnt bother you going to a bar and getting a Bud lite for $7 a bottle and heineken for $8? If I could bring homebrew to the bars, Id actually go.

 

[raptorvan]

Bars around me tried to sell hopslam for 8.00 a pint...it actually didn't work for a number of reasons.
1. We live in Michigan...home of hopslam. Its everywhere
2. Nobody that knows anything about beer would bother with that kind of.pricing
3. Its 10.00 for a wider at any half decent beer store
4. Its 22.00 per mini keg...though apparantly they didn't make them this year.

Last i saw they were having hopslam "specials" at these bars...half off. Which would he a good deal if the kegs weren't 2 months old by then.

 

[raptorvan]

man. i remember the days when 120 was $8 and hopslam was $14

In 2006, the first year i bought 120 it was 12.00 for a four pk. Now it is 12.00 per bottle and good luck finding it. They got popular and people just HAVEA TO HAVE IT NOW so there is rationing around here and the sky is the limit...with the demand, if it gets too procey for one guy, there are 7 more who will pay it

This is when it is actually more logical to clone it

 

[PollardsVision]

I'm still pretty new to drinking better beer (a year) and obviously even newer to homebrewing (6 mos.), but it's very hard for me imagine myself doing much chasing down and overpaying for special releases.

Maybe that'll change at some point, but there are just so many fantastic beers out there at decent prices that it's hard to see the point. Not to mention, a nice APA or IPA is generally "good enough" to satisfy me.

I've never even seen any of the highest rated and hard to find DIPA's around here. Obviously, I'm ignorant on the issue, but is a Hopslam really that much better than a Gubna or Hop Wallop?

I'd never question what people choose to spend money on, especially when I'm so ignorant on the issue, but it just seems odd to essentially have bidding wars when great beer is so plentiful.

I should also add that I'm cheap by nature. I love decent bourbon and whiskey, but still refuse to pay more than $30 for a bottle because the selection of under $30 stuff is so wonderful.

 

[deputyandy]

The price of quality micros is only going to go up and up. There is such a focus on limited releases/barrel aging/vertical style offerings that its only natural for prices to get out of whack with reality. A lot of people in the industry are predicting "wine like pricing" in the future.

Another issue is lots of breweries like maintaining the size and output they are currently at and don't want to expand too much. It gives them a better control over the product and keeps them more true to the "craft brewery" designation. Meanwhile, demand only increases. I know personally that avery and great divide are much harder to find in pa/nj then they used to be and that it stems from supply issues.

The upside is hopefully quality breweries will be so numerous that everyone has access to great brews.