How often do you buy beer as a homebrewer?

[Lefou]

I will usually buy bottled beer once in a while to scrounge up extra bottles. It makes it easy to share because MY 22oz bottles won't be given away as friendly samplers.
These bottles, most of which are the smaller German imports, are great to re-use an refill for other people. I don't expect to get them back.
The local store has an OK selection of craft beer, but much of it is the over-hopped IPA variety. I make styles you can't find on the shelf, drink the affordable ones I might want to brew, and give away extras for special people. For me, spending $10 or more for craft beer is mostly out of the question and it has to be something out of the ordinary - like two corked bottles of Chimay Blue Grand Reserve, something I've never tried in my life, stowed away and hidden for a special occasion.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I buy a lot of commercial beer. Part of it is that I don't brew as often as I'd like. Part of it is that sometimes I feel guilty about "wasting" my homebrew on myself when I put so much work into it that I want to make sure it stays on tap for visitors. And I'm a big guy, so if I'm putting away a couple pints a night, I could go through it pretty darn quick.

So I'm commonly buying interesting things I see at the store. If I was a little less busy and was brewing more frequently, it'd slow the commercial purchases, but I don't have NEARLY as much time as I'd like to brew.