Ridiculous Prices...

There's so much middling and cutting and taking in between that it just ends up being something completely unexpected.

Since the original poster is from Canada I totally understand his (or her) frustrations. Beer costs and tax on alcohol and import duties on alcohol are far higher than they are in the US. I had to re stitch my friends jaw when they would come down and visit me and see a case of Corona for what was peanuts to them.

Beer in the US compared to Canada is just far cheaper overall....

 

I have only very old comparison data for you. When I was frequently traveling to the UK in the 90’s, with London being the principle place I was in, I would pay about £1.70 for an imperial pint of Bitter Ale (e.g., Bass) at London pubs. At that time, that was around 4 bucks which was the typical price for a US pint of beer at the bars local to me. Beer was about the only product that I experienced in the UK that was priced equivalently to what I would pay in my hometown in the US. Everything else in the UK from breakfast at McDonalds to dinner at a non-fancy restaurant was at least 50% more (accounting for the exchange rate). I reached a conclusion that if you could live on nothing but beer, London and the UK would not be an expensive place to live.

What would be the price of a cask ale (imperial pint) in the UK today?

Cheers!

 

Ethan, what do you think a mixed 6-pack of St. Bernardus would be priced in your neck of the wood?

Cheers!

 

FWIW, if I purchased a single bottle of Jever from my local 'bottle shop' I would be paying $5 for that Jever as well. That is one reason I refuse to purchase single bottles of beer.

Cheers!

 

The price of a London pint can be very high (especially keg beer in one of the American style 'craft' bars that are proliferating). Things are much more expensive now...I don't know...I haven't been to a pub for a long time. For a standard bitter it might be between £3.00 and £5.00. For stronger 'craft' beer, I'm sure £10.00 a pint isn't unusual (this might be totally inaccurate!). Incidentally, you can get a bomber of one the Stone IPAs for $24.00 in Brewdog bars.

 

By the way, how much does a six pack of Anchor Steam go for over there?

 

Ethan, have you ever been to State Line Liquors in Elkton, MD? They have a broad selection at reasonable prices.

Below are the list of their prices for St. Bernardus beers for 4-packs:

· Witbier: $18.99

· Dubbel: $18,99

· Tripel: $19.99

· Abt 12: $22.99

They do list a St. Bernardus Variety Pack but no price is listed.

Let’s just take the price for the Dubbel and ‘extend’ it to 6 bottles (6-pack): the price would be $28.49.

Using the price of less than 2 bucks as provided by @Dreizhen , a quantity of 6 bottles would be less than 12 bucks if purchased in Belgium.

The percentage change of $12 and $28.49 is 137.42%.

The above is a comparison of retail prices in Belgium vs. the United States (Elkton, MD).

Cheers!

 

Yeah, it is working. However, that doesn't mean you can't succesfully navigate the beer stores and come home with a good bounty without taking out a home equity loan.

The effect of them training us reminds of when gas prices shoot down a little bit , we celebrate because we are used to being gouged so badly, lol.

 

u iso?

 

“…it might be between £3.00 and £5.00.”

Let’s split the middle and assume that an imperial pint (19.2 US ounces) of Bitter Ale is £4.00.

Using today’s exchange rate this would be $5.98.

I live in a suburb of Philadelphia; the Philadelphia area is a moderate cost of living area. New York City is likely the best ‘equivalent’ for London from a cost of living perspective. I frequently pay $6.00 for a US craft brewed beer at my local beer bars. It should be noted that this $6.00 is for a US pint (16 US ounce) and let me tell you that the US bars are not nearly as conscientious at filling the pint glasses to the top as the British pubs that I went to.

FWIW, I think when it comes to beer, and British pubs vs. US bars, London represents better value; just my personal opinion.

Cheers!

 

Six packs with a sticker price more than $10 gives me pause. Six packs marked $13+ are rarely purchased by me. I can't recall purchasing a six pack of anything more than $15+ (though I may have at some point).

All this is to say, if you don't jump on the hype train, you can live it up, as this is the day and age of reasonably priced and regularly available awesome craft beer. That said, jumping on the hype train may be what brings you happiness in the beer world. If that's your deal, enjoy! But the price of admission can be steep.

 

I agree that the prices have risen quite fast in recent years - far outpacing inflation. There's tremendous demand as well which I'd have to imagine is what is driving the prices to the levels they are. I thought this thread was more about individual beers being outrageously priced as compared to what their "normal" prices are. i.e. beer X usually goes for $10/bomber in most stores around me but the beer store I just went into is charging $20 for the same beer.."that's outrageous!" - maybe I misunderstood the thread though. But back to your point, aside from not purchasing beer, what is your solution to keeping the prices in check? Because I, personally, do not see any other solution but for masses of people to discontinue buying craft beer. Therefore they will have to lower prices to sell their beer.

 

Not sure, but definitely more than it would be to buy it in Belgium that's for sure I think..

 

Do you mean that German beer prices are roughly equal to US beer prices? If so, I can't say I agree with that at all.

 

I am talking with some things not everything obviously, I would say it's cheaper for some common items for sure such as the main "macro" and large producers definitely.

 

Most crates of beer -- regardless of "macro" or local/family owned -- anywhere you go in Germany are considerably cheaper than in the U.S. For example, I just pulled this REWE weekly brochure, and it shows beer such as 20 Jever (0.5 l bottles) for 10.79 EUR (about $12); 20 Pilsner Urquell (0.5 l) for 13.99 EUR ($15); 20 Weiherer Kellerbier (0.5 l) for 11.49 EUR ($13); and 20 Moenchhof mixed (0.5 l) for 11.99 EUR ($13.50-$14).

More here: http://www.kaufda.de/Prospekt/Bamberg/Real/469749406#page=18

If there is anywhere in the U.S. selling beer at those prices, I'd love to find it.

 

Listen, Americans! Complaining about paying over $10.00 for a 'six-pack'? That's the cost of two commonplace (Anchor Steam, Sierra Nevada Porter etc) American beers here, or two micro brewed, 330ml bottles of Low alcohol (by American standards) 'craft brewed' British beer from a typical beer shop (itself a recent invention; there were almost none of these until recently). You have more choice and (considering the variety) better prices than anywhere else in the world! Leave the whingeing to the self-hating, grumpy, cynical British, it ill-suits your (perceived) weirdly optimistic outlook on life.

 

Did it sell out fast?