Surly Wet is on shelves.

I concur, that price stands on the limit of expensive for me. I'd surely buy a single bottle to try it out, but not the 4 pack.

 

The Centennial/Cascade 2013 was decent. Can't imagine how could it can be considering the likes of Todd and Abrasive.

 

I would suggest that Surly has their limited release stuff priced correctly - Todd The Axeman flew off the shelves in the Milwaukee area. I am sure Wet will do the same thing.

 

Have you checked out Costco? I picked up a 4 pack for $12.99!

 

Axeman costs more to make than Abrasive. ABV doesn't say a whole ton about production costs.

 

Don't know about Wet, but I bought two 4's of Axeman at $17 a copy, and considering it's limited release, it was well worth the coin dropped for the enjoyment. You gotta LOVE that UK Golden Promise malt they used. Hard to come by and expensive to buy. I'm a welder by trade, so I don't think you'll see me droppin 16.99 for a bomber of ANYTHING ! Can't say that I ever checked the ABV of the Axe

 

To me Surly prices are okay compared to other breweries. What I think is pricey are some bombers of beer than start in the low teens and go up to $20 or more. If you do the math a $16 four pack of 16 oz each is still cheap compared to a $10 bomber of only 22 ounces.

 

It's already only 8 oz short of a standard 6-pack. It would be 24oz over in a 6-pack.

 

Some places have already shipped to out of staters as well

 

Have you ever paid more than $6.11 for a bomber? Then you've paid more than $20 for a six pack

 

I wish I could have just bought a single can instead of a 4 pack...its definitely below average

 

It's been said, but ABV does not tell the whole story in regards to cost. Golden Promise malt is very pricey and must be imported. Citra and Mosaic are two of the most in-demand hops in the business right now, making them also the most expensive. These are 16oz. cans, so the price/oz. is really not that bad. Todd is 7.2% ABV, only 1.8% less than Abrasive.

Wet, on the other hand, is a whole different ball of wax. Wet-hopped ales must use hops that are within 24 hours of picking. The logistics on this cost a lot for brewers in the Pacific Northwest where the hops are grown, let alone a brewery about as far from a dedicated hop-growing region as Surly is. They also use a ton of hops (or rather, three tons, 6,000 lbs). Wet is 7.5%, 1.5% less than Abrasive.

At the price you found it at, Wet costs ~$0.27/oz.

Another wet-hopped ale from the Midwest, Founders Harvest, costs $12-14 for a four-pack of 12oz. bottles (let's say $12 for argument's sake). Harvest is $0.25/oz. Same ballpark. Three Floyds Broo Doo costs $10/22oz. bomber, $0.45/oz., though perhaps this isn't a fair comparison given the awful bomber format.

All told, I think you're complaining about a non-issue: Wet, Todd, and Abrasive are all priced reasonably per their costs to create. Whether you want to pay that price is up to you, but I don't think any of these are insanely high compared to competitors. Now if you want to talk about the cost of Smoke in the past or some Surly anniversary beers or Pentagram, maybe we could talk, but again, bomber format is a big part of that.

Edit: You also mention faux scarcity as a tactic. I'm not sure if you're talking about Wet or not, but if you are, that's not faux. As I mentioned, wet hops are very much a scarce and fragile commodity. Regular hops of certain types (and probably hops in general) are also growing more scarce given how many breweries there are. Scarcity in the case of wet- and Mosaic/Citra-hopped beers is not a marketing tactic, it's reality.

Lastly, it's silly to limit people to only four-pack comparisons. The packaging is irrelevant to the cost per ounce, which is all that really matters at the end of the day.

 

don't move to new york city.

 

You keep saying 4 pack. They're pints. 4 pints.

 

In a pack of 4.