Price gouging... Hopslam is not Heady Topper!

[FirstAidBrewing]

So after giving up on trying to score Hopslam this year, I accidentally stumbled upon it today. I had to do a double take as the retailer wanted $45 for a 12-pack or $86 for a case. Good lord!

I just did some Googling, and Heady doesn't even retail for that much per case. I love craft beer, but I can't bring myself to drop that kind of cash on something that doesn't have world-class status.

On a side note, if you are really jonesing for Hopslam, I now know where to get some

Rant over.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

$45 for a 12 pack??!!!??? Thats insane. Around here a 6 pack goes for about $17, which is still pricey but not completely unreasonable.

 

[pshankstar]

Wow that's crazy! Hopslam just arrived in our area and it retails for $17-18 a six pack. This is on the high end of what I would pay for beer, so I cannot blame you at all.

Now there was another thread on here talking about how a lot of people were disappointed with the Hopslam this year. So I wonder why there is the price gouging going on. I would think the demand might be a little lower if anything if a lot of people are disappointed with it this year.

Anyways, I am not too familiar with this beer but thought I would throw in my two cents.

 

[theseeker4]

So after giving up on trying to score Hopslam this year, I accidentally stumbled upon it today. I had to do a double take as the retailer wanted $45 for a 12-pack or $86 for a case. Good lord!

I just did some Googling, and Heady doesn't even retail for that much per case. I love craft beer, but I can't bring myself to drop that kind of cash on something that doesn't have world-class status.

On a side note, if you are really jonesing for Hopslam, I now know where to get some

Rant over.

It is all about the scarcity, more than the flavor. Get a little interest in a beer, as long as it is decent, and make it have a very limited availability, and you will have people paying through the nose to get a hold of it, despite it not being better than other commonly available beers. Then the next year, there will be even more hype around finding the beer and the price will be driven up even further, due to the limited availability the prior year. These beers are about hype to a much greater extent than they are quality.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

I really should have taken a picture. The guy behind the counter said that they got 5 cases in, and they still had 2 1/2 due to the cost.

PA is a bass-ackwards state when it comes to beer, so when you can buy less than a case, there is typically a markup. For example, Jai Alai can run you $15 per six pack. But the OP takes the cake as far as ridiculousness. I can almost buy a case of Grapefruit Sculpin or Two-Hearted for that price.

 

[BigMack]

Guys, this would be a great time for another supply/demand economics debate. I love those!

 

[Roland_deschain]

Ive seen 6 packs in the Milwaukee area selling for 18. SOMEBODY is paying that much or else they wouldn't keep raising the prices. I admit Hopslam this year was way better than last years but I wouldn't pay those prices for it.

 

[m00ps]

Posted this in another thread:
also side note: I was on a business trip to Columbus OH last year and found myself in the middle of a hopslam scandal. Apparently one bottle shop sent their employees to every Giant Eagle in the area to buy all the hopslam. Every single case. A pic surfaced on social media of one of the employees with literally a palate jack of hopslam behind him. There werent any specific policies at Giant Eagle forbidding it. The shop then posted something like "missed out on this years hopslam? we got ## cases left!" They sold it at a considerable markup The whole city rallied to boycott the store

totally my soaps for the day

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Ive seen 6 packs in the Milwaukee area selling for 18. SOMEBODY is paying that much or else they wouldn't keep raising the prices. I admit Hopslam this year was way better than last years but I wouldn't pay those prices for it.

Yeah, for the reviews I've heard, I would have *considered* paying 20/25 for it. But as much as SWMBO disagrees, I have my limits.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Posted this in another thread:
also side note: I was on a business trip to Columbus OH last year and found myself in the middle of a hopslam scandal. Apparently one bottle shop sent their employees to every Giant Eagle in the area to buy all the hopslam. Every single case. A pic surfaced on social media of one of the employees with literally a palate jack of hopslam behind him. There werent any specific policies at Giant Eagle forbidding it. The shop then posted something like "missed out on this years hopslam? we got ## cases left!" They sold it at a considerable markup The whole city rallied to boycott the store

totally my soaps for the day

I saw this from that thread. This is just plain price gouging. I'm really tight with most of the employees at this distributor (again PA is goofy with their booze) and the guy behind the counter today said it was all just hype that was dictating the price. But come on...

 

[slym2none]

I paid $20 for a sixer last year. I said I wouldn't pay that for it this year, and didn't. I'd imagine it went for the same price this year, if not a couple bucks more...

 

[Roland_deschain]

I'd pay for Heady Topper, obviously I've never had it. My local haunts have had Hopslam on tap at different times so I've been able to have it on different occasions. Have 'we' created the monster?

 

[stonebrewer]

I bought Hopslam about 4 years in a row, hoping it would get better or my palate would refine. To me, it has always been a boozy mess of a beer. I am sure there are lots of folks out there that love it, as all of our palates differ. Give me some Trillium or Tree House and I will be much happier, at a much better price point.

 

[specharka]

When I last bought Heady around 2 months ago, it retailed for around $16/4 pack. But they are 16 oz cans, not sure what size hop slam is.

 

[madscientist451]

There's a thread on HBT right now where someone says they saved $1,000 home brewing in a year. A high priced beer like Hopslam is where Home brewers can make that work. Doing some quick figuring, and using a clone recipe I found, that beer can be made for about $4-5 a six pack, even lower if you buy your grain/hops in bulk.

Link to the recipe:
http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26504

 

[Dirt_McGirt]

Not that shocking to me. Beer taxes being what they are in Utah, most domestic craft is $1.50-$2.00 each for 12oz., and something like Ballast Point comes out to something like $40 if you bought a case of it ($2.99 for each single before tax). So A) I don't buy Ballast Point that often, and B) I buy pricier craft beer in small amounts to aid my cognitive dissonance.

It's also one of the reasons I started homebrewing - the beer taxes and selection here mean that I can actually save some money even without big efficiencies.

 

[Dirt_McGirt]

When I last bought Heady around 2 months ago, it retailed for around $16/4 pack. But they are 16 oz cans, not sure what size hop slam is.

That's crazy to me. I lived down the street from the Alchemist a decade ago, back when they were just a gastropub in Waterbury with good food and beer, but didn't even brew. I drove through on a vacation a few years later and to my surprise the gastropub was gone (flood damage), and in its place was this brewery that made one beer that everyone thought was the cat's ass. I bought a four-pack at the brewery, and while it was definitely very good, I don't see why everyone is crapping their pants over it. I'm guessing their limited production and word of mouth has a lot to do with building up hype.

 

[GNBrews]

It's around $18 a 6-pack here in ND. I'd offer to mail you guys some, but after shipping costs, it wouldn't even be worth it.

 

[Moose_MI]

I bought a 12pack...enjoying them very much.

 

[dwoods]

PA is a bass-ackwards state when it comes to beer.

Remember we have to pay the 18% Johnstown Flood Tax to help it recover from the 1936 flood.

 

[littletommy]

Had Hopslam at our local pizza joint the other night, I liked it, but now that I've had it, I certainly wouldn't pay the $16-20 it was going for around here.

I guess this is one of those situations where my obsession with trying different beers really pays off, I'm too damn tight to spend a lot of money on a beer I've already had when there's a beer I've never tried, and is significantly cheaper, sitting next to it on the shelf.

 

[kevink]

I bought Hopslam about 4 years in a row, hoping it would get better or my palate would refine. To me, it has always been a boozy mess of a beer. I am sure there are lots of folks out there that love it, as all of our palates differ. Give me some Trillium or Tree House and I will be much happier, at a much better price point.

Well said. A boozy mess of a beer. It's not even close to the really good IPAs that you can find today.

 

[NervousDad]

When I lived in Philly they would charge $26 a six pack and it would be gone within 15 minutes. Here in Ohio I still see six packs on the shelf @ 17

 

[A2HB]

Hop slam on tap when it's fresh is sublime. The bottles lose something as with most beers compared to that.

I will continue to buy it, because I support Bell's. I support Shorts, Founders, Dark Horse, Brewery Vivant, Atwater, ABC, Grizzly Peak, Jolly P, Wolverine, and all the rest as well.

MI craft FTW

 

[Moose_MI]

Hop slam on tap when it's fresh is sublime. The bottles lose something as with most beers compared to that.

I will continue to buy it, because I support Bell's. I support Shorts, Founders, Dark Horse, Brewery Vivant, Atwater, ABC, Grizzly Peak, Jolly P, Wolverine, and all the rest as well.

MI craft FTW

This ^^^^ .....haters......

 

[radwizard]

Holy hell. I thought 10 bucks for a four pack of pounders was a lot...

 

[kaffeenjunkie]

I understand it was 60.00 a case at the brewery.
They didn't have any when I was there on Tuesday.
I don't care for it myself.

 

[moreb33rplz]

All the hyped beers are overpriced. They're good, but no better than plenty of other hop forward beers that are more regularly price.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

To the OP, that price is largely driven by the beer laws in PA; I've been out of PA 5 years now, and I do not miss the crazy/backwards beer laws and taxes. It is a rigged game. That said, considering it is about $18 a sixer only 1 hour north of Bell's, $45 doesn't seem far off for the price in PA for a 12'er.

 

[bootlegnjack]

$20 for a 6 pack in Australia would be dirt cheap, I forked out $35 this weekend to try a sixer of Stone IPA. They wanted $45 for a growler of ruination. You lucky bastards.

 

[aprichman]

I can barely bring myself to spend $10 on a 6-pack although I did just drop $100 on 8 500mL bottles and regularly buy 4-packs of 16oz cans of a local IIPA for $13

 

[slym2none]

$20 for a 6 pack in Australia would be dirt cheap, I forked out $35 this weekend to try a sixer of Stone IPA. They wanted $45 for a growler of ruination. You lucky bastards.

Guess I'd be a "tee-totaller" if I lived Down Under... yikes, man!!!

 

[urg8rb8]

Guys, this would be a great time for another supply/demand economics debate. I love those!

Everything is based on supply and demand. As long as people are willing to pay the crazy prices, those price will continue to be crazy.

 

[Bobby_M]

Disclaimer. Pet peeve. This is not price gouging. It's just opportunistic pricing in a free market. Gouging is more applicable to goods that are necessities for which there is no alternatives/competition due to emergency supply problems. An example would be $10 a gallon gas during a hurricane because you're the only station that has power to run the pumps.

You don't need beer. Even if you did you don't need IPA. Even if you did, there are 1000 other versions to choose from.

 

[govner1]

So after giving up on trying to score Hopslam this year, I accidentally stumbled upon it today. I had to do a double take as the retailer wanted $45 for a 12-pack or $86 for a case. Good lord!



I just did some Googling, and Heady doesn't even retail for that much per case. I love craft beer, but I can't bring myself to drop that kind of cash on something that doesn't have world-class status.



On a side note, if you are really jonesing for Hopslam, I now know where to get some



Rant over.

This is one reason I brew my own!
I avg well under $40 for 6 gal AG.

 

[LostHopper]

Nothing new.
In the 60's Coors was commanding outrageous prices outside their 8 or 9 state distribution area. Of course gouging was $5 per case, not by Coors but beer bootleggers.

Anyone see Smokey and the Bandit? Illegal truck load of Coors to Mississippi.

 

[urg8rb8]

Disclaimer. Pet peeve. This is not price gouging. It's just opportunistic pricing in a free market. Gouging is more applicable to goods that are necessities for which there is no alternatives/competition due to emergency supply problems. An example would be $10 a gallon gas during a hurricane because you're the only station that has power to run the pumps.

You don't need beer. Even if you did you don't need IPA. Even if you did, there are 1000 other versions to choose from.

I'm not against price gouging either.

 

[bobeer]

I haven't seen it here yet but I remember a couple years ago it went for 24 bucks a 6er. I had never had it before then so I bought one and was underwhelmed. 10% IPAs are no good imo. Stone's enjoy by series is the same way. Too much alcohol drunk with too little aging. I think 8% is the way to go... If it were cheaper I'd try it every year because it obviously changes from year to year, with some years being better than others, but I'd rather spend that money on ingredients to brew 5 gallons of something that's similar.
I have my own version of hopslam I brew this time of year called Honey Brew Brew. It's an 8% IPA with honey and it's quite good!

 

[MVKTR2]

Price gouging is actually healthy for the an economy and extremely important for proper distribution of resources during emergency situations. I'm guessing the reason the OP 'found' Hopslam at those prices is because it was still avialable ... because of those prices.

https://mises.org/library/price-gouging-saves-lives-hurricane
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/02/164157335/some-economists-think-price-gouging-is-good

If you don't like the price ... don't pay it! When enough people don't pay it, the price will be adjusted down or the product eliminated or most likely another vendor will enter the market at a lower price point. Very basic economic principles.

 

[MVKTR2]

Everything is based on supply and demand. As long as people are willing to pay the crazy prices, those price will continue to be crazy.

In a free market, yes. However american markets are heavily managed, centrally planned, and regulated resting closer to closed markets than free on a sliding scale. When it comes to beer, pricing in our market is based off of regulatory costs as much as anything.