Is Craft Beer Underpriced

[TheCanisDirus]

I think it's overpriced,due to our 3-tier system. Too many middlemen & their profit mark up. It's not so much the breweries as the warehouse & store.

This 100%.

 

[dlester]

i used to be concerned about their prices then i learned how to brew. They can now charge whatever they want. In fact, I tried Three Philosophers one night then a Chimay the next. They are each over $5/bottle and I thought to myself I love these beers but I can't afford the hobby of being a craft beer drinker...I wonder if I can make 'em. BOOM

Yes, Yes you can! BOOM!

 

[Phunhog]

If craft beer is going to gain marketshare they will be forced to drop their prices. Most people aren't going to pay 10 bucks for a six pack on a regular basis. Of course only the big craft breweries will be able to do this and still make money. The price of craft beer was one of the reasons why I started brewing....more beer ( at least the same quality) and less money. I rarely buy beer at the stores anymore....too expensive. If I do it will be something simple like Sierra Nevada or whatever craft beer is deeply discounted.

 

[JohnSand]

If they are making a profit, it's not under-priced.

 

[whitesheperd]

This is no easy answer and there are a number of factors.



Is it underpriced? Maybe.



I don't necessarily think so. I can't afford a $9.50 6 pack from a brewery only 2 hours away.



Is it overpriced? No.



It costs a assload to operate a brewery and a packaging, shipping facility. Plus marketing, etc. but a $9.50 6 pack.



If craft breweries want to price their beer higher, they expect less buyers. This is already the case now (due to the expensive-marketing and shelf space, regulations, etc.). Most people can't afford to try craft beers so they don't.



There is no easy solution or answer in my opinion.

I agree with you, would you like to sell A LOT of beer for little price, or sell a little bit because it's to over priced? it's under priced and a lot of people will get it for the low, they are making profit or they wouldn't still be selling.. I hope anyways haha. Don't be to greedy but if you were to sell beer your self I would have to say do price it high because most here are a one man to two man crew making so many gallons.. So you do bust your ass and you really want the pay for the labor you done back.. And of course you want the money back from the hops and grains you had to buy..


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[masskrug]

I pick up $10 bombers all the time. $15 is really when I pause for thought, I'm only buying something rare/known for good quality.

This is why I brew at home. I can brew a pretty decent bomber for about $1.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I would drink more Coors if it was 5 bucks a six pack. But no way I would drink it over craft at the same or very similar prices.

It is $5/sixer equivalent if you buy it by the case...

 

[MindenMan]

I am kinda on the fence about this topic. If anybody knows the slogan, "It's not yucky, it's Icky", please tell me why a pint at the bar is $6.00, and a six pack is $8.99? Personally, I don't really care for any of their beers, as their IPA's are not well balanced, and their porter to me was like brown water. Am I willing to pay $36.00 for the equivalent of a sixer at the bar for that beer or any other, not likely. My wife and I recently went to BJ's, and their nitrogen porters, were not pleasing to me. Am I am a$$ hole, well maybe. I like to take my wife out once in a while and go to a "new" place and see for ourselves, what we think. I guess I got a little off track here, yes, I know it costs a whole lot less to get a six pack to the retailer, than it does to get it served at the bar, but, let's be reasonable... At the Brew Brothers, Reno, a 15oz draft is $4.99, and before we get into a casino makes their money on gambling and everything else is gravy, it is a classy place, with great entertainment, and trust me, they could sell their handcrafted for more, and people would pay it, without blinking an eye, as they have won national awards for their beer.
I have no problem paying $6.99 for an Imperial pint of Samuel Smith's Organic Apricot Ale, as I have tried to make an apricot ale that amazing, and gave up trying. Magic Hat #9, to me is crap. No mouth feel, no smooth apricot flavor, and almost the same price! I make a close relative of Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter, as my house Brown Porter, and not only is it a beer that my beer friends like ( especially my wife), but it won a contest too. Charge what the public will bear is being sustained by supply and demand on beer's like Pliny's. Have I had a pliny's?, no I have not, but they help set the standard of bomber pricing in my opinion. I could almost guarantee if their were more Pliny's produced during the year, their price would not be so offensive as it is now. I brew my own beer because, I can afford to use the best quality ingredients in every recipe, and I never get near $5.99 a bomber to produce it. Will I ever be able to produce an exact clone of any of my favorite ales? No, I won't, that would against the laws of phsyics.

End of rant. If I have offended anyone, I will apologize now.

 

[FastAndy]

My wife and I recently went to BJ's, and their nitrogen porters, were not pleasing to me. Am I am a$$ hole, well maybe.

End of rant. If I have offended anyone, I will apologize now.

We only make one porter so I'm not sure how you tried "Porters" at BJ's. Great Basin does a fantastic job and like us, wins many a medal at GABF, NABA, and the World Beer Cup so I think it may just be you. Obviously you are entitled to your opinion and I fully respect that.

 

[Tutsbrew]

High price or low price is relative, if not subjective. A guy getting by at 10 or 15 bucks an hour, especially with a family to care for, will think eight or nine bucks is about right for a 12 pack of brew maybe once every other month. Yes, I typed "12 pack"... A guy or gal making 100-grand a year for simply look'n good and talk'n to people will think nine bucks is just fine for a sixer of craft brew. One man's dollar is another man's ten bucks.

 

[Conehead]

Not where I come from which is tax happy Ontario, Canada. Check out these prices.

www.thebeerstore.ca

Most six packs of Craft Beer are very close to $14.00. This is why I make my own and rarely buy beer. I do buy singles the odd time to see if I can clone it. In the Maritimes Bud sells for around $44.00 for 24 bottles. How would you like that?

 

[unionrdr]

Not to mention that,even around here,some of those 10 buck 6 packs are now 10-11 buck 4 packs. To me,that's just greed & avarice,pure & simple. But again,it's the middle man's mark up compounding the problem. Not just the brewer pushing the limits. Sure,get paid for your work. But if you produce it for even 75c per bottle,don't mark it up to $1.75...because the middle man will ad a couple bucks for himself.

 

[The_Glue]

The price of american craftbeer looks so cheap looking from here, i probably wouldn't even brew if i could buy 10 dollar 6 packs.

1.7 dollar per bottle is around the price of a homebrew(!) IPA for me accounting for the price of hops, yeast and extract.

 

[unionrdr]

I produced my BuckIPA for some 57c per bottle.

 

[dyqik]

IMHO the standard stuff is not underpriced in 6 packs. For the most part, bombers are overpriced. The rare stuff is underpriced based on supply and demand.

Pretty much agree with this. Although the disconnect in prices between 12oz and bombers for the same beer is interesting. I bought a four pack of Boulevard's Sixth Glass last night for $10.99. The same beer in a champagne type corked bottle, from the next aisle in the store was $10.49, for just over half the amount of beer. Now I always check the four-pack prices against the bomber prices (and I usually don't want to drink a whole bomber of a 10% beer in one go, 12oz bottles are a much better option).

 

[Calichusetts]

This is why I brew at home. I can brew a pretty decent bomber for about $1.

I agree on this...somewhat. I've made some fantastic barleywines, never at $1 though.

Still, I've tried many different homebrews. Not even the best have come close to the commercial level best. In just about every style. Do they beat or meet the average "good" craft beers, sure? But the best? Never.

I'm willing to pay for excellence, pay for "research" along with tastings of styles I have never seen brewed, and most importantly, pay to support the craft beer industry. Especially the locals/favorites


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[BigFloyd]

Breweries and distributors price their product just like any other business. They set (and sometimes modify) a price based on what they think will maximize their profits looking at several factors. If someone puts out a new craft beer that is well received and flies off the shelves, they raise the price and/or up the production.

To say that something is underpriced is pretty much the same as saying that the people on the business side of things either initially guessed wrong or aren't paying enough attention to supply and demand.

 

[Phunhog]

I think it is funny when people refer to a six pack as "costing" 8.99. At least in CA the REAL cost is over 10 dollars once you factor in sales tax and CRV. Yet another reason I brew/drink my own!!

 

[JKaranka]

In the UK it's quite pricey. Three pints for £5 is a common deal (mix of craft, regional and national breweries) or around £1 per pint for unexciting national stuff. Imported stuff is more expensive so you pay close to £4 for a bottle of Stone's Ruination (that's about $7). Price goes straight up with abv as well as breweries are taxed by it.

 

[unionrdr]

Well,to be honest,since saving some 30% on my refinance,I don't give as much of a rat's patootie as I used to. I can brew two batches a month & still buy craft beers to...a...research...

 

[MindenMan]

We only make one porter so I'm not sure how you tried "Porters" at BJ's. Great Basin does a fantastic job and like us, wins many a medal at GABF, NABA, and the World Beer Cup so I think it may just be you. Obviously you are entitled to your opinion and I fully respect that.

I was wrong, there are not multiple porters at either location, I do apologize.
I do realize awards have been won at both places, and my rant got off track.
I was a chef for many years, and have a notion of what things should tastes like, and their texture should be. I had a predetermined notion of what I expected, and that wasn't what I got. Lesson learned.

 

[FastAndy]

I was wrong, there are not multiple porters at either location, I do apologize.
I do realize awards have been won at both places, and my rant got off track.
I was a chef for many years, and have a notion of what things should tastes like, and their texture should be. I had a predetermined notion of what I expected, and that wasn't what I got. Lesson learned.

No hard feelings at all. I brew at the south reno location for BJ's so I am defensive of my craft. I brew around 13000 barrels a year and we ship about 95 percent of that all over the country. I encourage you to come in to the brewery some time and let me personally pour you one of our one off non menu beers that we brew from time to time.

Cheers and back to the discussion.

 

[dlester]

No hard feelings at all. I brew at the south reno location for BJ's so I am defensive of my craft. I brew around 13000 barrels a year and we ship about 95 percent of that all over the country. I encourage you to come in to the brewery some time and let me personally pour you one of our one off non menu beers that we brew from time to time.

Cheers and back to the discussion.

Andy, I have a place in Tahoe City. I'll swing by and try your beers this summer when I'm on vacation.


Cheers,

 

[FastAndy]

Please do

 

[fearwig]

Much or most of the cost of a BMC beer goes to municipal and state taxes. I think beer is usually taxed by volume/unit. That means craft beer margins are exceptionally good, even when you factor in economy of scale and ingredients. After you break the floor where they wouldn't profit enough to justify the business (which I think is probably $5-6/sixer retail, depending on the beer--conservative guess I think), they simply charge what you will pay (which is usually $9-10/sixer for basic craft beer at a good bottle shop).

Craft brewers play victim a lot, and I understand why they feel that way sometimes, but there are some weird and sick things happening in the pricing world of craft beer. Look at growler fills (a.k.a. "save us the bottling costs and we'll charge you double for it"). What you'll pay is what they'll charge.

 

[dobe12]

I wish big breweries would pay a ton of money for craft Brewer's recipes than make them on a huge scale and pass the savings of said scale on to the consumers who love craft beers and not their prices.

Done! It's called Goose Island.

 

[MaxStout]

I can go out to eat and buy a burger or go some place else and order filet mignon and lobster tail. I like both and am willing to pay for either. But I will be eating burgers a lot more often than steak & lobster.

I can go to Total Wine and buy a 12-pack of Sierra Nevada or Summit for $15. I can treat myself and spend the same amount (or more) for a bomber of something special once in a while.

 

[LandoLincoln]

I can only speak for myself, but if craft beer were any more expensive, I might stop buying it and just stick to my homebrews. Which would probably be a good thing.

There's a lot of current beers on the market that I just won't buy due to their price. That 16 dollar bomber of beer is not three times as good as the five dollar bomber of beer.

 

[fearwig]

I can only speak for myself, but if craft beer were any more expensive, I might stop buying it and just stick to my homebrews. Which would probably be a good thing.

Biiiingo. I'm already there. I ran out of homebrew the other week, I f'ed up big somehow. Bought some Victory HopDevil and Boulevard Pop-Up. Both nice, great to refresh my taste buds, get some ideas... but man, if I spend $23 on 12 beers a couple of times a week, my wife's going to kill me. Better to put the same money into homebrewing and have more to show for it.

And that's "cheap" craft beer. Sometimes I go crazy.

 

[dobe12]

Up until about 2 years ago I bought craft beer all the time. The cost has definitely gone up. A 6'er used to be $6 or so for decent craft beer. Those same 6er's are now upwards of $9-10 in New Jersey. In the last few years my wife and I had a son and having a child not only restricts your cash a bit, but also makes you reevaluate your priorities in life. So, I don't buy as much craft beer as I used too. Occasionally, I'll buy a mixed 6 pack of some things I'd like to try or go back to some old favorites. Well those cost $2.50 - $4 each. So a mix/match 6 pack is more like $16-20. But I may put one together every few months. I also search out a few Firestone Walker special releases that I really enjoy and cellar. Anniversaries, Parabola, Sucaba, etc. They run $13-20 for a bomber, but I buy maybe 3-4 a year.

As a whole I'd rather spend that $16-20 for a 6 pack of mix and match craft on 5 gallons of something just as good that I can make at home. It's WAY cheaper and I get the enjoyment of making it myself.... as most of us would agree... this is why we're here (said in Peter Griffin's voice).

Is is underpriced? I don't think so. If anything I feel it's a bit overpriced, but that's just from one man's perspective. Others would never think to pay $20 for a bomber of FW's Anniversary Ale. And others will stand in line for hours and hours to be able to buy 1 - 2 overpriced bottles of some whale.... mostly just to say they have it... but that's another story for another thread. It's all about perspective. But considering all the craft breweries that have and plan on opening recently, I'd say they're charging a good amount. I'm not saying it's easy to open a brewery and turn a profit, but a LOT of them are and a LOT more are lining up to give it a try. Something is working right for them.