Victory Dirt Wolf - Why 4-packs??

Patrik, your statement has a lot of truth in it. The three tier distribution system in the US has some nuances as regards beer pricing. I will be using names in the below treatise because it is easier for me.

Victory Brewing sells beer to wholesale distributors (they also sell to beer drinkers at their brewpub). So the principle customers for Victory Brewing are the wholesale distributors. The wholesale distributor that serves me is called Gretz Beverage (Norristown, PA). Gretz purchases beer from Victory in the format of pallets of cases. I have no idea whether Victory sells a case of Dirt Wolf to Gretz for the same price as they charge other wholesale distributors. Gretz then sells cases of beer to retailers. In PA, the principle retail store that sells beer is retail beer distributors who by law sell beer by the case. In some areas of the state there are beer stores that can sell beer by the 4/6 pack and also by the individual bottle. Victory’s decision to package Dirt Wolf in six 4-packs, vs. four 6-packs results in the retailers, who are permitted to sell non-case beer, selling this product by the 4-pack. It is my understanding that it is the retailer (Wegmans, Whole Foods, Capone’s, etc.) that decide what price they will sell the 4-pack for.

It is somewhat ironic that beer consumers in the neighboring state of New Jersey are able to purchase 4-pack of Dirt Wolf for $8 (which is reasonable pricing to me) but the beer consumers in Pennsylvania (where Victory is located) are paying $9-10 per four-pack. I think this is a confluence of two things:

· There are limited licenses for retailers to sell beer by the non-case so the level of competition is limited
· Retailers believe that beer consumers view a price point of around $10 acceptable for 4/6 packs.

Since there is reasonable competition at the retail beer distributor level you can purchase Dirt Wolf by the case at a more reasonable price; “$42 + tax at most places”. Including the 6% sales tax that would be $44.52 which is $7.42 per 4-pack.

One of the aspects that I find less than ideal is that by Victory choosing to utilize the 4-pack format they are ‘encouraging’ some retailers to follow the practice of pricing around the $10 price mark. In my perfect world, Victory would not have made this decision since some retailers (PA retailers and other states) are exploiting this format to increase their profits. In New Jersey there is more competition for selling beer by the 4/6 pack so those retailers have decided to not exploit the situation.

Since every state has their own unique laws I have no way of knowing where the packaging of 4-pack will be exploited. It would appear that this is happening in Maryland with the price of a 4-pack of Dirt Wolf is $12 and somebody stated it is around ten bucks in CT.

It would have been so much better, from a stability of pricing perspective, if Victory had chosen a 6-pack format instead of 4-packs. This same situation occurred a few years ago when Brooklyn Brewery changed the format of Black Chocolate Stout (BCS) from 6-packs to 4-packs. BCS is expensive in the 4-pack format (around ten bucks) but still reasonably priced by the case (in PA, anyway).

4-packs stink!

Non-Cheers to 4-packs!

 

It's really quite simple. They replaced $10.99 Hop Wallop with $11.99 DirtWolf. You don't notice because its a different beer, in a 4-pack, and we suck at math. So we instead focus on the fact that its a great beer and make comparisons to other 4-packs which are more expensive and say, "wow, great deal!" Fast forward to next year.. DirtWolf is now $8.99 a 4-pack, or really $13.49 a sixer. And you pay it gladly while still scoffing at Sculpin.

 

“Fast forward to next year.. DirtWolf is now $8.99 a 4-pack” or I could purchase a 4-pack today at Wegmans for $9.99. Maybe I should wait a year so I can pay less!?!

Cheers!

 

Ha, yeah obviously I'm not using backwoods PA pricing. Only normal states.

 

9.99 a 4 pk here. Other Victory 6'ers are 9.99 and mostly 10.99.

Hop Wallop, which Dirtwolf is replacing in the line-up, has always been 9.99 for a 6'er

Would think mo money, but with more demand on hops, am sure raw materials are much higher in cost to the brewer.

Costs more, but as Warsteiner says "life is too short to drink cheap beer" and I will go with that.

That being said, I put the Dirtwolf down for tonight, and grabbed a 6'er of Brown Shugga for 9.99.

I know not the same thing, have not tried either, but those two extra bottles for the same price broke the decision tie for me.

 

Connecticut: “it's 9.50-9.99 here in NE CT.”

Massachusetts: “In my neck of the woods Wallop was usually $13 and DW at $10/4 means a $15 six.”

Ohio: "9.99 a 4 pk here. Other Victory 6'ers are 9.99 and mostly 10.99."

Maryland: “$11.99 for a 4 pack of Dirt Wolf.”

There seem to be other “backwoods” states out there beyond PA. And it would appear that PA is ‘better’ than MD?

Cheers!

 

“Would think mo money, but with more demand on hops, am sure raw materials are much higher in cost to the brewer.” Well, they are selling Dirt Wolf by the case in PA for around $42 (plus tax). A case price point of $42 per case does not sound like material costs are too large for producing Dirt Wolf.

Cheers!

 

Brewers and or retailers are obviously aware of consumer irrationality in this area. People will pay more money, per liter or gallon, if the package is more convenient. That's why 6-packs get away with having a higher price per bottle than cases, and 4 packs have a higher price than 6 packs, and singles might have a higher price still compared to either. And if the competition gets away with charging a specific amount for a specific volume, then they will try to match that. If DIPA becomes a craze, then prices will go up, above and beyond any increases in costs of production.

I'm amazed at how people are willing to pay that much more for a 11.2oz bottle compared to a 16.9 can of beer, even for cheapo brands, and how there's even a market for the 11.2oz packages when they are so much more expensive by the liter, but the consumer is obviously willing to pay more money, for the exact same product, if it is packaged in a different configuration. When it comes to cheap lagers they might pay more in order for the beer to not go flat as quickly as in the larger container.

When it comes to a craft beer they are simply weary of the high price per bottle, and so a lower bulk price of 10 dollars for 4 instead of 42 dollars for 24, seems more reasonable from the perspective of the consumer. It's all about exploiting the irrationality of the consumer, which I myself am guilty of alot of times as well, buying beers which liter by liter costs more than a tastier beer in a larger package with a slightly higher price (yet having a lower liter price).

Then again, even with the larger packs and the lower margins the brewers obviously price them to give them a profit, so they win regardless, which is the basis of any business. Victory could run a profit, and their wholesaler could run a profit, with the prices they run on cases, but obviously both the brewer and the retailer will make better margins on the 4-packs compared to the cases, all the consumer can do is choose what profit margin they want to give to the producer and the retailer.

 

Because breweries are getting greedy. They're dropping from 6pks to 4pks and charging the same price. And anything still left in 6pks has risen $2-3 in the past couple years. Pretty soon it's gonna be cheaper to just drink Rochefort & Orval all the time. This is getting insane.

 

Come on folks. Given the state of the craft beer market, it's not that these are a bad value -- it's that Hop Wallop and the old Storm King 6er prices were EXCEPTIONAL values.

With the exception of people like JackHorzempa who refuse to buy bombers (more power to you), everyone else complaining about this price bump needs to keep things in perspective. The truth is that for 90% of breweries out there, quality, highly hopped DIPAs or Imperial Stouts aren't being sold in 6- or 4-packs, they are being sold in bombers (or worse, the new trend of single 12 ozers) at much higher $/oz ratios. The bottom line is that these premium (high ABV/hop rate) beers from Victory are STILL a fair deal in 4-packs, even if they are a slightly less good deal than they once were (or Hop Wallop was) in 6-packs.

Brews like Hop Wallop and Storm King have been rock-solid year-round releases since most of today's new, hyped breweries were in short pants. As a result, they came on the market at a time before $8+ bombers were commonplace. $10/4-pack prices land Dirt Wolf around the $4-5/bomber price range--which is similar to brews like Hop Stoopid, which are widely lauded for their relative affordability). In other words: chill out. If we won't accept 4 pack pricing, breweries like Victory will probably just move all the way to bomber pricing.

I'm curious what breweries people think are offering a better value for high quality beers like these.

 

Storm King cases are still the same price with 4 packs as 6 packs. A case of Dirt Wolf costs what a case of Hop Wallop went for. They are still an exceptional value to anyone getting a whole case(mostly us Pennsylvanian's) vs anyone getting a 4 pack.

 

“If we won't accept 4 pack pricing, breweries like Victory will probably just move all the way to bomber pricing.”

But that is not an accurate assessment. Victory is not making more money here, it is the retailers exploiting the beer consumers. Victory sells beer by the case to the wholesale distributors. They are making their money at the case (pallet of cases) level. There really is no incentive for Victory to move to the bomber format (unless they can charge the wholesale distributors more for a case of bombers).

Cheers!

 

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I can't stand the idiots who act as though there is a set-in-stone bomber price
Yes, they are generally more expensive- key word being generally. However, a local brewery's bombers are $3.50 while 4-packs are $7.99. IMO, the way it should be. I paid ~$7.50 for two bombers of SN NH Harvest last week while on the subject of appropriately priced bombers.

 

No- if we won't accept 4pk pricing, their sales will drop, and they'll go back to what worked. Bombers are a total ripoff and I've almost completely stopped buying them. Justifying expensive 4 or 6pk prices because it's cheaper than a bomber is the wrong way to think about it and will only make matters worse. There are more breweries than ever competing for our business. If a brewery raises their prices- stop buying it and try something new. I just saw Victory Storm King 4pks for $12.99....you think that's a fair deal? You think I'm ever going to buy that shit again at $13/4pk? Nope.

 

It's $7.99 in MD. That 11.99 is probably at one of those joke stores like Perfect Pour. But anyway, none of that has to do with my original point. If anything, you reinforced why this type of pricing scheme works, even though i already clearly explained it.

 

Ok, Ok, I retract that one line of my post. I have no idea what will happen if the 4-pack pricing were to fail.

Nonetheless -- yes, I think that $13/4-pack is relatively reasonable for Storm King, given what the rest of the market looks like. Most breweries would charge at least $10/bomber for a comparable beer. The only readily available imperial stouts with a similar price/quality ratio I can think of are Ten Fidy and Old Rasputin (which I think is slightly less, yes?). I'm sure there are a few others, but I can't think of them. Can you?

 

Great Lakes Blackout $10/4, Thirsty Dog Siberian Night $10/4, Sierra Nevada Narwhal $10/4, Old Rasputin $10/4, Founder's Imperial Stout $11/4, Brooklyn Black Chocolate $9/4, Bells Expedition $16/6, Founder's Breakfast Stout $11/4, (formerly Storm King $9-10/6)

Just off the top of my head available in NE Ohio.

Bombers are a ripoff.

 

Bro Storm King was like $7.99 a sixer three years ago. Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter and Horn Dog Barley Wine would be comparable though not technically stouts.. they're $12.49 a 6-pack. Pearl Necklace.. The Truth.. both $9.99, both 6-packs.

 

Fair enough -- I'd forgotten a couple of those, and a lot aren't regularly available to me. Storm King is still a lot closer to these than it is to a $10 bomber, which keeps keeps Victory on the side of good in my mind. If you feel differently, so be it.

Anyway, I'm done arguing about beer on the internet -- I'm going to get back to enjoying my reasonably priced Founder's Imperial Stout.

 

or go to a four pack and raise the price by $2 for less beer, and go from year round to seasonal specialty with the same beer(Reds Rye). I still love it, just wont buy bottles, good thing I am only 5 minutes from the brewery.