Why is Against The Grain so expensive?

Tried a few ATG beers (Citra Ass Down, Rico Sauvin, Kentucky Ryed Chiquen, a Brett IPA) and the best was underwhelming, the worst was a quick drainpour. Not worth half their cost, IMO, and can't understand how they get away with the prices they are slinging.

 

Agreed - I was a quick learn with them. Not again...

 

The same happened in Seattle. Definitely not worth the $.. .dust collectors

 

I got suckered into one of those Citra Ass Downs, never again.

 

A $17 IPA bomber? Laughable. I get it, Bo & Luke is a great beer, but if you think that means you can charge whatever you want for other beers...not a chance.

 

This particular topic was covered pretty extensively in this thread, and the owner even chimed in:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/citra-ass-down-worth-16-50-a-bottle.195311/

Seems the price point is a problem nearly everywhere they distro to out of their area.

 

Drinking 35k now. It's OK at best. Lucky I got it for $12 instead of the usual $15. But it's not worth even the $12.
I was hesitant to begin with. I can't see myself buying anything else from them unless it sounds outstanding

 

There's another thread somewhere on here where the owner weighs in....

Punchline: they're the only brewery to ever have to sell through multiple distributors so their sh*tty beers are $16+ for a bomber....or something like that. But we should be willing to pay for "high quality product that we demand" (read: Citra Ass Clown). Yawn - go back to KY - no market here...

 

I went through that thread and read his response. And I got the same gist, everyone tacks on more in order to get their profit and the consumer pays for it. That is standard.

But what doesn't seem standard is essentially the doubling of the cost from the home market. We're used to seeing some jacked up prices around here, but AtG just seems to be significantly more than most others. His complete acceptance of the exorbitant amount it is a little off-putting.
Someone, somewhere in that chain is trying to bite off too big a piece of the pie. If they actually want CO as a viable market, they'll want to figure that one out. Or save everyone the hassle and pull out, they wouldn't be even close to the first to try their product in this shark tank of a market and had to with withdraw a hand short.

 

Tacking on more to get their profit is actually a business model that allows distributors and stores to remain viable. Neither can give things away and remain in business (Economics 101?).
There are breweries that have figured out how this works. Take a look at Avery's $12 brewery releases that end up in distro. Those bottles are generally pretty close to that price on the shelves in stores, which obviously means the front end price is much lower so each tier can apply their (pretty standard) mark up.

 

Look two posts above yours.

 

I know I caught that after I hit Post -- oops

 

I'm from Louisville and I don't even buy their beers because they aren't good. Bo & Luke, 70K (barrel aged 35K which is really good) and London Balling (their BA barleywine), are the only beers of theirs worth drinking.

 

When I moved here to KY Against The Grain was the one local brewery I was most excited to check out. Been very underwhelmed with their stuff, most of which I don't think are any good.