Commercial keg prices

[DVCNick]

I never paid attention to this until I got a kegerator last year, but when I did, I figured why not get an occasional commercial 1/6th now and then to hold me over between homebrew batches... got to be a better deal than normal packaging, right?
Wrong

At least around me, go check the 1/6th keg prices, divide it out, and it is often equal or even MORE than just buying two cases of the same beer in cans or bottles.

How is this possible? Is this just a local thing with me?
Bottling and canning, they are paying for disposable packaging they will never see again, have to run complicated equipment, etc. I'd think that filling a keg they are going to get back is far cheaper and easier for the brewery, but that doesn't seem to be reflected in retail prices at all. Just wondering.

 

[soccerdad]

Where I live you can get a 1/6 Sweetwater 420 Pale Ale for about $80 (not factoring keg deposit) . That's about $1.50 per 12 oz and less than $2 a pint. It's good beer. But I prefer to make my own.

 

[jjw5015]

I think it's like that everywhere. Just doesn't seem to be much of a deal to buy in 'bulk'

 

[DVCNick]

Where I live you can get a 1/6 Sweetwater 420 Pale Ale for about $80 (not factoring keg deposit) . That's about $1.50 per 12 oz and less than $2 a pint. It's good beer. But I prefer to make my own.

That's exactly what I'm talking about... I'd have to double check the 6 pack price here, but $9.60 sounds almost exactly right. Same price as the keg. Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[soccerdad]

Yer right

 

[BruceH]

A two liter growler is another example. It's always as expensive or more expensive than buying cans or bottles. The growler can go bad fairly quick too. I think some places just don't clean their setups.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Go into your local watering hole holding a growler and ask "how much for a growler fill?" when they answer "8 bucks per growler, my friend". Pull out your other hand holding an empty keg and say "filler up!". Make sure you have a label on the keg that says "growler" on it. That way they can't argue semantics.

Boom!.. $0.20 per pint.

You're welcome.

 

[day_trippr]

And good luck with that

Cheers! (More likely a recipe for ending up laying on the sidewalk with a crushed keg...)

 

[gunhaus]

Go into your local watering hole holding a growler and ask "how much for a growler fill?" when they answer "8 bucks per growler, my friend". Pull out your other hand holding an empty keg and say "filler up!". Make sure you have a label on the keg that says "growler" on it. That way they can't argue semantics.

Boom!.. $0.20 per pint.

You're welcome.

Right on the mark. My doctor told me to hold my drinking down to a couple of cans a day. That afternoon I took up kegging my beer!!!! 2 cans? NO problem.

 

[schematix]

yup never made sense to me.

 

[9Kegs]

I went down this path before getting back into brewing. I realized it's just a novelty having a commercial beer on tap. The days of buying keg beer in bulk to save a few bucks are over.