Skillet Donut Stout

How about $7 for a bottle of Italian Soda?

 

If anyone can get an extra or two would be willing to trade! IP or shipping!

 

This, to me is the real problem at least at WW. If you have a beer on draft regularly and it is 2x or more to get the same beer in a bottle then why buy the bottle? Most draft beer is sold at 2x-4x bottle prices. If you'll only be in the area once or twice a year, I can see the appeal but otherwise the pricing is just off.

Now for limited seasonal releases that all goes out the window since you're only gonna have the chance to buy once a year.


As for Burial, it being their first bottle release and all I would expect prices to be a bit higher. Hopefully if this becomes a regular thing prices will drop.

 

It's not a motto, it's economics. If people thought it was too high, then they wouldn't buy them and the brewery would be forced to either lower the price or not sell them.

 

This one is Burial's 2nd bottle release right? They did a Belgian ipa that was a collab with someone this past summer if I'm not mistaken.

 

Yeah with Pisgah. The beer was good, nothing mind blowing. Can't remember what they charged, maybe $10?

 

A friend had it on tap Tuesday and said it was pretty average. And he didn't taste any doughnut and barely any coffee.

 

So here's how this likely works for these new breweries with special bottle releases:
-they don't have their own bottling line or they have a small one that's almost like hand bottling - this costs a decent amount of money because of time and labor. That's minimal economies of scale.
-they compare bottle prices of nearby craft breweries for those types of beers - essentially a market price
-they have some sort of estimate for the cost of making the beer
-then their final decision is, what sort of margin do I shoot for and what is my brand cache? Will it sell out? Some don't worry about margin because they make it elsewhere (tap room, kegs, food, etc.). Some want nice margin on it.

In NC at least, this means $12-$20 per bottle, depending on those factors. Wicked Weed has some under $10 but they are 16 oz bottles rather than 22 or 750. Hopefully the bottling costs and even beer making costs come down over time as these expansions kick in. Otherwise people will start to substitute unless the beers are fantastic.

 

Was that friend @marleyr? I heard you guys are pretty tight.

 

Cemetery Gates. $10 or so sounds about right. Might have been $12 but can't remember for sure.

 

My bet, Burial is a bit worried about paying for that new expansion. Heck, it seems like everyone is expanding in Asheville at the moment. I can think of construction at least 4 sites, well 3 now that Burials is finished.

 

Seems odd that they started on such a low production brewery, very unstable. You're probably right though, they need to pull in some quicker income. Hard town to come into without a more solid business plan IMO.

 

I think they probably have a solid business plan. Start small, build your brand, and plan to increase over time. They got into a small space they could rent for a while and then bought the whole building and have now expanded. By the time they get they new space built out, the beers in the bigger tanks will be selling themselves.

I rather have breweries start small, grow the business and perfect their craft before going crazy with expansion or just starting out too big. This is what pretty much all of the breweries in Charlotte are doing and so far, the model is working well. I believe all the Charlotte breweries have now gone through at least one expansion with places like Olde Meck, Noda, and Birdsong doing massive expansions/moves.

 

Being at 1 bbl and going to 10 bbl seems like a such a small startup though. Especially if it means being closed pretty frequently but regardless I'm glad to see theyre doing well. As long as they focus on good beer then that's what really matters.

 

any chance this is still floating around MLK weekend? I was supposed to head up this weekend and plans changed, gotta wait an extra week...

 

They've got you right where they want you

 

I believe they sold out. I think last night they mentioned they were on their last case.

 

A friend of mine went today and said they sold out.

 

Saw that, hell yes. Also stoked about cans of Surf Wax, it's a really good ipa.