Price of craft beer?

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Here in AZ it seems pretty comparable to other places in the U.S. posts on this thread, maybe a little cheaper. Four Peaks is 8.99/6 15.99/12. Santan is about a dollar more. Sam Adams or New Belgium went up from consistent sales of 13.99/12 to consistently 15/16.99/12. We get sales like buy 2 12 packs of Kona for 11.99. Another sale, get a sixer of Sleepy Dog Wet Snout Milkstout for 7.99, but prices are much more stable recently and not in a good way. Build your own sixer is never more than 9.99, but there's never anything very special in there either.

 

[madscientist451]

I've seen Goose Island IPA as low as $6.99, local craft brews run $10-$12. (prices are for a 6 pack) Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams Variety 12 packs are sometimes on sale $15-16. I travel a lot and different states have asinine laws designed to protect small "mom and pop" stores that generally have higher prices.
The high price of beer is (in my opinion) a "bubble" waiting to burst as more competition and over capacity in the beer industry should be having an effect on the prices. Alcohol, like heath care, is a regulated industry with built in "regulatory capture" being used to create a pricing structure that has nothing to do with supply and demand. As long as consumers (and voters) are willing to put up with it, nothing will change.

 

[jwalk4]

Wondering what the relative cost is for everyone else out there? I'm in Ontario and don't have access to a lot of the highly rated beers out there, but to give you an idea...

One of my go-to beers is Nickelbrook's Naughty Neighbour which runs about $3/tall boy. Cheap compared to their Immodest, at $5.50.

I love Nicklebrook beers. Their Headstock is delish, but so is their blonde. I have a brother in law that lives in Burlington, so I have a place to crash when I visit their Funk Lab soon.

 

[Coathanger]

I love Nicklebrook beers. Their Headstock is delish, but so is their blonde. I have a brother in law that lives in Burlington, so I have a place to crash when I visit their Funk Lab soon.

I haven't been out that way recently but would love to check them out. I discovered Headstock around the onset of my home brewing and it was a huge influence on the beers I started making. It was largely an introductory beer for me to the whole craft thing.

Honestly I've never had a beer of theirs I didn't like, and most of them I absolutely love.

 

[kristiismean]

Chicago (suburbs here). Craft beer store expect to pay 8.99-11.99 for your typical IPA, either 6 pack or 4 pack of talls. 3 floyds expect to pay 16.99 a six pack for yum yum, zombie dust, gumballhead.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Chicago (suburbs here). Craft beer store expect to pay 8.99-11.99 for your typical IPA, either 6 pack or 4 pack of talls. 3 floyds expect to pay 16.99 a six pack for yum yum, zombie dust, gumballhead.

Wow. I just bought a 6 pack of gumball ten minutes ago for $11 at the shop down the road from me in Cleveland. That's crazy.

 

[shellsbells]

Hey Coathanger, I'm in Ontario too. We have some awesome craft breweries, but our prices are ridiculous! One of the best deals I've seen lately was a 2-4 of GLB Canuck (tall boys) for $54. Works out to $2.25 a can, which is really pretty good as far as prices around here go. Plus, it's an awesome brew :rockin:

 

[Kharnynb]

In finland everything is expensive, alcohol doubly so

craft beer starts around €3.- for a small bottle, up to €8-10,- for the more expensive ones. Everything over 4.5% is only sold at the state alcohol store.....

Normal bulk lager is about €25,- for 24 cans, average wages are nowhere near as high as over there, a normal worker takes maybe 20,000,- a year, a teacher would make about 40.000,- a basic doctor 70.000,-

 

[beernutz]

Just under $16 here. Interesting!

Which would be about $13 USD so taking tariffs into account that sounds reasonable. FWIW, $10 USD is the standard price for SNPA at local grocery and liquor stores here in Alabama.

 

[Coathanger]

Hey Coathanger, I'm in Ontario too. We have some awesome craft breweries, but our prices are ridiculous! One of the best deals I've seen lately was a 2-4 of GLB Canuck (tall boys) for $54. Works out to $2.25 a can, which is really pretty good as far as prices around here go. Plus, it's an awesome brew :rockin:

I haven't had Canuck in a while - time to give it another taste, I think!

 

[Coathanger]

Which would be about $13 USD so taking tariffs into account that sounds reasonable. FWIW, $10 USD is the standard price for SNPA at local grocery and liquor stores here in Alabama.

Damn. Right now $10 USD is almost $13 CAD. So you can see my initial disparity at shelling out around $16 CAD. That being said, I'm also curious about how it all compares relatively. I think where I am we get paid "more" for comparative jobs, but taxed wildly (I think) as far as even something as basic as income tax goes.

But it's starting to look like even though I've always had the perspective that I get ripped off in alcohol prices here, it may not actually be all that bad.

 

[MGerald]

I have no idea about it.

 

[3qu1n0x]

In South Africa at current dollar exchange rate (R13.14 = $USD) we pay roughly $4.95 for a six pack MGD (6x330ml).
Craft goes between $2. and $5 (330ml to 500ml)

 

[Derp]

My local supermarket has started selling 15-packs of Founders Mosaic Promise for $17.99. That comes out to $7.20 per 6-pack. At that price it'll replace Ballast Point Grunion ($9.95 per 6-pack) as my "regular" beer purchase. The beers taste very similar to me.

 

[bleme]

My local supermarket has started selling 15-packs of Founders Mosaic Promise for $17.99. That comes out to $7.20 per 6-pack. At that price it'll replace Ballast Point Grunion ($9.95 per 6-pack) as my "regular" beer purchase. The beers taste very similar to me.

I had Mosaic Promise at a beerfest this summer and liked it a lot. The grocery I usually shop doesn't carry Founders though. I might have to look around.

 

[vampirebeer]

Do you guys in the states live near target or costco? SNPA and their seasonals are usually about $16-17 at target by me in NY, founders 15 pack cans was about the same, and miller High life is about $8 for the 12 pack. Costco has cases of Sam Adams for $28. I also will just pick up whatever is on sale at the supermarket... usually around $15 for a 12 pack of Stella, Amstel, Heineken...

 

[Jako]

in UT beer is so expensive and you have nothing to pick from. this is why i brew. the LDS church runs our laws.. the joke is its cheaper to buy hard liquor. last time i bought some beer it was two 16oz and i spent 10$ and one was out of date.... also most beer in our store is out of date on top of being 3.2%

 

[Jako]

Do you guys in the states live near target or costco? SNPA and their seasonals are usually about $16-17 at target by me in NY, founders 15 pack cans was about the same, and miller High life is about $8 for the 12 pack. Costco has cases of Sam Adams for $28. I also will just pick up whatever is on sale at the supermarket... usually around $15 for a 12 pack of Stella, Amstel, Heineken...

Costco's in Utah are 100% dry i think we have some in the back but its so far out of the way it looks like its in the loading dock area.

 

[augiedoggy]

Yep Canadian - I edited my first post realizing that's probably important to point out, lol. We get taxed on booze hard.

Its always been that way with British colonies... Thats why the partyguille mash came to be in Scotland Also why thier beers where labeled by price which was a direct correlation to alcohol content and tax rate...

It seems to me every time I spend time there for work , that pretty much everything is expensive up there, Especially around Toronto... I do get a kick out of the Tim Hortons coffee/Wendys partnership combo restaurants up there... even though Tim Hortons has been owned by Burger king for years now...

Was not impressed by the lack of local breweries due to politics... 3 brewers was not so great. Lots of good food up there though. Buffalo is one of the rare places in the states that labatt blue outsells bud... I picked up a few 6 packs of 16 oz cans of blue for $3.99... 12oz was $2.99 per 6 pack on special.

 

[MaxStout]

Damn. Right now $10 USD is almost $13 CAD. So you can see my initial disparity at shelling out around $16 CAD. That being said, I'm also curious about how it all compares relatively. I think where I am we get paid "more" for comparative jobs, but taxed wildly (I think) as far as even something as basic as income tax goes.

But it's starting to look like even though I've always had the perspective that I get ripped off in alcohol prices here, it may not actually be all that bad.

Total Wine stores here in the Twin Cities are pretty good on price, and their stock rotates fast, so beer is usually very fresh. Prices can run as low as $7 US for a sixer, particularly local brews that they feature on sale from time to time. Most beers are usually a buck or two cheaper per 6 than smaller stores.

I was just in Ontario a few days ago, and yes, the choices are limited at the gov't LCBO stores. Single cans only of craft beers, and the only 12-packs and cases available are the big macro brews. I did a mix & match of about 12 local beers, and the cost was almost CAD$40 for the lot, which is about USD$33 by today's conversion rate. The plus is that all the cans were 473ml (16oz).

Don't know what part of ON you live in, but next time you visit the states, stock up.

 

[Bosh]

Do you guys in the states live near target or costco? SNPA and their seasonals are usually about $16-17 at target by me in NY, founders 15 pack cans was about the same, and miller High life is about $8 for the 12 pack. Costco has cases of Sam Adams for $28. I also will just pick up whatever is on sale at the supermarket... usually around $15 for a 12 pack of Stella, Amstel, Heineken...

I live near a CostCo, they were (IIRC) selling 12-packs of Kirkland branded beer for $48.

I save so much money homebrewing in Korea.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

So the Hopslam is in the same range as my aforementioned Immodest. Interesting. Where abouts are you?

Iowa

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Here is western NY a 6-pack of 12oz bottles of craft beer is usually $8-13. There are some higher end ones, like the Ballast Point beers always seem to be $15 (+/-) a 6-pack. Wegmans has a good selection of pick your own 6-pack for $10.99. If I do pick up beer I try for that to try new beers. Or sometimes they have higher end beers in there to pick from and it makes it a steal. Like Founders Doom (Bourbon Aged Imperial IPA) is $11.99 for a 4-pack, but I found 3 of them in the pick your own 6-pack section.

Bomber bottles seem to average around $5-10 per bottle. We pay 5 cents per bottle or can for the deposit here in NY.

I do recall coming back from Canada picking up alcohol was always cheap from the duty free shop, but that was 10+ years ago. Never had any taxes to pay as long as we didn't exceed the amount we were able to return. It stinks that the taxes to bring it into Canada is so high.

Ballast Point is similar pricing in Iowa. I don't buy it because I think it's overpriced. I really like Grunion as a sailing beer (cans, great taste, not over the top ABV) but I don't buy it due to price.