There is a new brewery that is fairly close to me (within a 40 minute drive) that just opened a year ago. Pretty much everything they have offered in the past year has been excellent and seems to draw extremely good reviews. They do not bottle or can yet and only offer keg beer. I am lucky enough to have two retail stores in my immediate vicinity that offer their stuff on tap when they can get them. One of the stores offers their beer at prices equal to or over what the brewery charges directly for growler fills. The other one undercuts the brewery fill prices by alot. I asked the owner of the store that undercuts why it was so cheap and he said they were trying to help the little guy get some name recognition. But this left me wondering if that is good or bad for the new brewery. I am certainly more inclined now to wait and see if that store gets kegs as opposed to making the trip to the brewery for fills. Just wanted to see if people thought this was good or bad for a new brewery.
Its not uncommon to find prices at a given brewery higher than those at retail. Consider that, if you were the brewery, it might not behoove you to undercut the retailers who are using their real-estate to sell your product. I guess I say good for the brewery.
You will find this at larger, more established breweries as well. Victory comes to mind. I find their stuff cheaper all over the place. It's probably a combination of what ScottyC54 said and also tourists and other folks willing to pay a premium to get it at the source.
The breweries beer is becoming more accessible, that is not a bad thing. A new brewery should welcome the exposure. You get your beer in more peoples hand and you start to generate interest. I see nothing wrong with this.
Same here in Boston. Harpoon pints are actually more expensive at their tap room/beer hall than at many bars around the area.
Wanted to keep it fairly ambiguous as to not hurt either retailer just in case some people thought it was bad for the brewery.
Rushing Duck Brewing Co. Guess some people from the area might be able to guess who the retailers are based on my description. But since this is not as uncommon as I thought based on everybody's posts it should be alright.
