Why are Belgian beers so expensive?

love

 

Yes, as everyone says—import fees. And as MikeReserva points out, American beers are expensive in other countries.

~$3.50 / bottle for Brooklyn Lager in China.

 

Try to find the same styles brewed as well in the US (good luck!) and report back on the pricing.

 

And this is why the beer industry can charge so much for these types of beers: folks are willing to pay $20+ per 4-pack for them.

Well other folks are willing to pay this price; I'm not.

Cheers!

 

It's a combination of import costs and the fact that these aren't cheap styles to brew in the first place. The American versions are still over $10 a four pack.

 

The North American breweries price their beers to 'match' the market for Trappist-style beers. Breweries like Unibroue. Allagash, Ommegang, Boulevard, etc. fully know what the Belgian imports are being priced at and they price their beers accordingly. If the Belgian imports were priced more commensurately to how they are priced in Europe you could be rest assured that the US versions would be priced a bit less than they are.

Cheers!

 

Fair enough, but quads are more expensive to brew than most styles. I think even if the real Belgians were priced lower we still would see the American versions priced around the same price point as imperial stouts.

 

I homebrew my own quads and there is no doubt that there are incremental costs associated with brewing this style of beer: more malt, more sugars (Belgian candi sugar/syrup) and some additional process time. You can be rest assured that the expense of brewing is not the reason for the prices of these types of beer in the US.

In Europe (Belgium, Netherlands, etc.) the price of a beer like a Quad is a bit more than beer such as a Eurolager. Only in the US are outrageous prices associated with these sorts of beer. People are willing to pay those prices so it could be argued it would be stupid of the importing companies and craft breweries to not price accordingly.

Cheers!

 

Demand.

There are costs (importing, taxes), but if the beers in question can and are being sold at $7 or so a 4-pack in Europe, it is not the cost of brewing them that is making this happen, and other countries (Germany, in particular) put beers into U.S. stores without the same mark-up, so importing and taxes don't tell the full tale, either.

People wanting to buy Chimay and other Belgians are willing to pay for it. They also buy bombers at similar price points, so pricing 4-packs for less could cannibalize bomber sales.

All one has to do is look at the wine market to understand how powerful prestige is in the pricing of products. Anyone spending more than $20-30 for a bottle is not getting radically better wine, and most are not sophisticated enough to tell the incremental difference, but they are exhibiting wealth, power, privilege.

I am frankly surprised at how little of this kind of posturing is present in the beer world, considering, but the price of Belgians does seem to be a place where there is a hint of it.

 

People say the same thing about Stone

 

Belgian beers may seem expensive but so does $8 for a 12oz Prairie Bomb or $17 for a 375ml Side Project bottle. Don't get me wrong, I bitch about prices sometimes but when it comes down to it, if you wanna play you're gonna pay

 

Except Stone's beers are not even close in taste and quality to those Belgians. Stone is way over-hyped.

And to answer OP's question. High quality products are pricey.

 

I thought it was cause the Shelton brothers...

 

My version of what @WckdVbz posted:

“High quality products can be priced higher.”

Cheers!

 

Not strictly the style we are talking about, but I decided to indulge in some Flemish red ales recently...

Rodenbach Grand Cru - $12.00 for a 750ml
Duchesse de Bourgogne - $14 for a 750
Bacchus - $9.00 for a 375
Jacobins Rouge - $8.00 for a 375

Compare the US version:

Lost Abbey Red Poppy - $16 for a 375 ml
Bruery Oude Tart - $25 for a 750
Cascade Kriek - $30 for a 750

Why are the US versions more expensive? Because "craft"?

 

Apparently US consumers are willing to pay wicked high prices for these sour beers?

The only one of the US beers you listed that I drank was Red Poppy on draft. I had that beer once and that is enough for me but I should caveat that I am personally not a big fan of beers that are prominently sour.

Cheers!

 

What about all the other imported beer? There are plenty of German beers that are reasonably priced

 

That is indeed the case. Needless to say but German beers are not Trappist/Abbey type beers.

Cheers!

 

Beer does not travel for free. Do you?

 

When it comes to the trappist/abbey styles I don't find the domestic brewers are charging anywhere near as much as imports.

Part of the price on the imports is the cost of importing but part of it is also the cost of hype. Belgian beer was considered the height of exotic beer flavors for some time and that drove up what the importers could charge. Consumers agreed to pay a premium for these beers and as the price of other beers rose so too did the price point on these beers.