Beer prices - yikes

[beernutz]

I went to the best package store in my city, which is somewhat notorious for not putting price tags on a large part of their products, and when I brought my 6 pack of Ballast Point Sculpin and bomber of Straight to Ales Hellfire Quad to the counter I had sticker shock when the guy said that would be $26.50 plus tax.

I told the counter guy I could brew 5 gallons of beer for less than that and he agreed saying he also homebrewed. Even worse, I took the Scuplin to a friend's house, drank 2, and left the rest in his fridge accidentally. He is strictly a BMC drinker but I would feel pretty cheesy going over there and retrieving the rest of them.

There is no real point to this thread other than I now appreciate my homebrew even more since the last 10 gallon batch of IPA I brewed I calculated the per 6 pack cost at $2.45.

 

[MattyIce]

Not too many beers that I buy a full six pack of anymore. I'd rather spend the cash trying new stuff.

 

[singybrue]

Yeah, Sculpin is a pricey beer. Usually around $15-16 around here plus tax.
The way I look at it, I wouldn't blink to spend $5-6 for a pint at a bar, so $17 for a sixer isn't bad. Plus it's a fabulous beer!
I remember thinking when Two Hearted went from $7.99 to 9.99 at the beer store, well it's still cheaper than the bar!

 

[Zekk]

Yeah, Sculpin is a pricey beer. Usually around $15-16 around here plus tax.
The way I look at it, I wouldn't blink to spend $5-6 for a pint at a bar, so $17 for a sixer isn't bad. Plus it's a fabulous beer!
I remember thinking when Two Hearted went from $7.99 to 9.99 at the beer store, well it's still cheaper than the bar!

Exactly my thinking. Plus Sculpin is delicious! I wanted to hit the store and get a 22 of sculpin and my wife was not happy asking why I couldn't drink the beer I had in the fridge. Sorry to say I didn't get the beer

 

[singybrue]

Yeah, a couple of IPA-loving friends have both thanked me and cursed me for turning them on to Sculpin!

 

[IslandLizard]

Agreed on sticker shock. But we've heard worse...

I used to get 12oz bottles Saranac Imperial IPA in 24-pack cases at around $26-30 from my favorite discount store, they're special order, but he'll order anything I ask for and he can get. Those were around $10 when purchased by the 6-pack in specialty stores.

OK, that Saranac is a bit sweet on the palate now since I got into bigger time home brewing, and tasting lots of other IIPAs, but still a very decent price for a good craft beer. I'd say anything over that is all marketing and hype that boosts the price.

I expect your bomber to be about $10-12.

And sure, I'd pick up those 4 that were left in his fridge. They tend to evaporate over time.
How did you like your Sculpin?

 

[Remmy]

The Sculpin 6-packs here in CT are $13.99. Bombers are $9.99. I get them every now and again. Until my wife makes more $ than I do, she has no say as to what I want to buy. . No, really.

I home brew a lot and buy roughly $100/month's worth of craft beer. Not too bad. It's never an issue in my home but I understand the pain in the ass it is to spend what you're spending on six-packs.

 

[Teromous]

Ballast Point is amazing. Their beer is delicious and somehow I can get it fresh from CA here on the East Coast. I used to be able to get a lot more Southern Tier beer before they got extremely popular...and now my local bottle shop can barely keep most of their beer in stock (can't even get some) and they're up in Lakewood, NY. I don't mind paying a premium on fresh good tasting great beer. I know I can homebrew, but I still have my favorites I love to drink.

 

[brewprint]

Yesterday the wife and I went to the pub and they had some sculpin on tap. I tried and I liked!

So I decided to stop at the store and grab a six pack remembering I'd seen it there in the past. $15! I contemplated on the purchase and then pulled the trigger.

It's a good beer but I could brew 50 of them for probably $25 or $30.

 

[beernutz]

The Sculpin was very good at least though at >$3 a bottle it won't be a regular purchase. The liquor store had both Sculpin and Big Eye and never having had either before I was debating which to get based on the ratebeer descriptions they had posted. I almost picked them both up to give them both a try along with the Hellfire in which case the store might have gotten a chance to try out their defibrillator

 

[robfar]

Every time I try to get Sculpin, I see an empty slot on the store shelf.

 

[moreb33rplz]

My local store is a 2 minute walk, and has an excellent selection of craft beer. Even the import selection is awesome. No matter how much I brew, it's hard to not try something new every time I walk by...

 

[RichBrewer]

There was a story on the local news here in Denver that the barley crops were not very good this year so the price of beer is going to increase even more. I don't know if this is just a local problem or of national concern.

 

[kh54s10]

There was a story on the local news here in Denver that the barley crops were not very good this year so the price of beer is going to increase even more. I don't know if this is just a local problem or of national concern.

I heard this late fall. Since barley is grown all over the world I wouldn't expect a huge increase. I haven't bought much commercial beer lately, but I have not noticed any significant increase so far.

I have not tried the beers mentioned. They are out of my price range. I do not buy any that don't have the price posted.

Besides, I like my homebrew more than most of the cheaper commercial beers.

 

[Calichusetts]

I have a handful of amazing beer stores. Several with pricing that just blows other places out of the water. Still...I tend to frequent the stores that allow you to take a single of anything. If one of my favorites comes along...I might grab two, and 4 beers I've never tried. I've been redoing my home so the pipeline is really low. Its nice to supplement the home-brew with a few nice bombers or beers though.

 

[madscientist451]

With all the new breweries opening and existing ones increasing production I'm thinking at some point the market will be saturated with beer and we'll see some price reductions. No sign of that happening around here. I recently paid $20 for a 750ml sour beer, and justified it in my mind by telling myself I'm learning about sours and will use the dregs in my next sour experiment.
But $12-15 for a six of beer that is produced day in day out is just too much to swallow.
But thanks for the raves about Ballast Point, I'm now going on google to find a clone recipe.

 

[guitarguy6]

Where I live in Canada the price of beer is ridiculous. A 24 pack of Bud costs $44.63, the cheapest crap beer costs $12 per 6 pack. My province also instituted a new law which adds extra cost the higher the ABV of the beer is. A local brewery has a %6 beer which costs $14.14 and a %4.8 which costs $12.14 per 6 pack.

 

[brewprint]

Where I live in Canada the price of beer is ridiculous. A 24 pack of Bud costs $44.63, the cheapest crap beer costs $12 per 6 pack. My province also instituted a new law which adds extra cost the higher the ABV of the beer is. A local brewery has a %6 beer which costs $14.14 and a %4.8 which costs $12.14 per 6 pack.

That is just insane. I always thought I'd love to live up north where it's a lot cooler longer plus all of the great fishing. The tax system is unreal though.

 

[guitarguy6]

That is just insane. I always thought I'd love to live up north where it's a lot cooler longer plus all of the great fishing. The tax system is unreal though.

The tax system is pretty ridiculous although it varies by province. I'm in Manitoba and it's a lot higher than other provinces. Our sales tax is %13 and that's after they tax about %30 of your paycheck. At least we're real friendly up here, eh?

 

[user 30639]

Yeah, Sculpin is kinda pricey but it's so damn good. I think of it as a special treat, I only get it once in a while.

 

[Jim311]

This is one of the reasons I am stoked that I've started brewing. Even if I brew an expensive extract kit that costs me 50 bucks I still come out ahead if I'm paying a minimum of 11 or 12 bucks for a six pack of something decent. I figure that's twice the cost of brewing an IPA that I like. The fact that I actually enjoy brewing it is just icing on the cake. Save money, drinking good original beers, and have fun doing it!

 

[brewprint]

The tax system is pretty ridiculous although it varies by province. I'm in Manitoba and it's a lot higher than other provinces. Our sales tax is %13 and that's after they tax about %30 of your paycheck. At least we're real friendly up here, eh?

I found it would be difficult to make a move up there. I believe that you have to have family or something with business.

Lots of good fishing!

 

[bsperr]

when I brought my 6 pack of Ballast Point Sculpin and bomber of Straight to Ales Hellfire Quad

I just tried Ballast Point Sculpin for the first time this weekend. It's great but pricey...around $13 for a six pack at the cheapest place I can find. Oddly enough, I also picked up one of Straight to Ales' beers to go with it. The Monkeynaut IPA, best can art ever.

 

[MaltnHops]

I was at Albertsons last week and a sixer of Sculpin was $17. I checked the make your own six pack fridge and there were 8 of them in there. It's $9.99 to make your own sixer so I got all of the Sculpins and a few other beers that I hadn't tried.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Around these parts, and I'd imagine many other places, bombers start at $13 (we're talking for like, Rogue, so nothing too special).

I just don't get it: it's, what, 22 ounces of beer? Why so much money for the beer in a taller bottle?

That's the thing that always gets me about Growlers too: 64 ounces, usually between $15-$20 to fill a growler with the equivalent of 5.5 bottles of beer which won't be good after 24 - 48 hours.

 

[Calichusetts]

I love my stores more after reading about these prices.

 

[mgregg]

Sometimes you have to pull the trigger for some really good beer. I grab 2 4 packs of Bourbon County Stout every black Friday when it comes out plus I get a couple 120 ipa's every year. The BCS was $26/4 and the 120's are usually around $10 each. I couldn't make myself spend the $16.99 the local beer store was asking for a bottle of bourbon county barley wine though.

I was more then happy to pay $10 for a 10oz draft of canadien breakfast stout at a local bar a couple weeks ago. What a fantastic beer!

 

[beernutz]

I was at Albertsons last week and a sixer of Sculpin was $17. I checked the make your own six pack fridge and there were 8 of them in there. It's $9.99 to make your own sixer so I got all of the Sculpins and a few other beers that I hadn't tried.

That's the same thing I used to do at our local Publix for the last couple of years until someone there finally caught on that they were selling some of their $9.99 mixer sixes at a per beer price that was cheaper than what the beers sold for normally.

Now they have each beer you can choose for a mixer individually priced and almost all of their prices are above $1.67 a bottle. Enjoy that little pricing anomoly while you can because someone at Albertsons is sure to catch on eventually too.

 

[beernutz]

Around these parts, and I'd imagine many other places, bombers start at $13 (we're talking for like, Rogue, so nothing too special).

I just don't get it: it's, what, 22 ounces of beer? Why so much money for the beer in a taller bottle?

That's the thing that always gets me about Growlers too: 64 ounces, usually between $15-$20 to fill a growler with the equivalent of 5.5 bottles of beer which won't be good after 24 - 48 hours.

Not after my uKeg128 Christmas gift finally gets here in July! :rockin:

 

[Hello]

Crooked Stave came here, $13 a bottle and still is. BSBC $26 for 4. I paid $9 for a 12 oz bottle of a BA Imperial Stout. Prices are insane, but I do the mixed packs and at least get variety. Sculpin is $16 a 6 pack here, I think it was $14 at the shop was at in So. Cal. before.