Why am I just now hearing about Singlecut?

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty confident that canning is significantly cheaper than bottling. It seems to make sense if you look at breweries that bottle - Barrier, Singlecut, and MBC all bottle IPAs in 500ml format and cost significantly more per ounce. Either that's a coincidence (and those breweries are getting away with much higher margins) or cans are cheaper.

The time issue is definitely a factor, but lately I haven't found Singlecut to be quite as plentiful around the city. Could be because they continue to broaden distro (just entered VT), or maybe people are catching on. This often requires me to travel somewhere else in the city to get it from where I live, which is still a time commitment. I also don't mind waiting a few hours at OH and coming home with a much higher volume of beer. Let's say you bought 24 bottles of Singlecut vs 24 bottles of OH, you'd be saving $72 getting the OH (rough estimate, could be less if you're buying AGE). Also, if OH isn't doing some kind of special release, you can pretty much walk in and out like (like at the last two AGE releases).

The above is less true with Grimm, which has much lower limits, but Grimm still tops Singlecut in taste for me so I still try to hunt it down when I can.

 

i want singlecut in western pa! have had a bunch of their stuff in my travels to nyc but they came to rivertowne outside pittsburgh and brought full stack and it made my night! was best beer at event i think one of owners plays/played in band and they were entertainment for the beer event! i knew then these guys were going to be good!

 

"bottleisking"- first off not true, second off-the reason they're more expensive....

 

I dont live in NYC but go there frequently but itd be like an hour by public transport? Be easier/ shorter to just hop in an uber

 

About time = money - I can find Barrier and SingleCut almost anytime by me now. The Barrier bottles sell out fast, maybe because they make less but you can find SingleCut for sure in Queens at least.

 

Singlecut is for sure easier to get than Grimm and OH, and I wasn't trying to suggest otherwise. Just saying that lately I've had to search some still to get Singlecut - maybe bad luck or maybe I'm not on top of it. In any event, it's not like it takes me zero time to get Singlecut.

If it takes 3 additional hours to get OH and I'm planning to buy a case of beer, for me I'm still coming out ahead in price/time for OH. Put it another way - you could pay a task rabbit $20/hour to wait at OH for 3 hours, for $60 total, and you'd still come out slightly ahead vs purchasing 24 bottles of Singlecut.

Ultimately it just comes down to personal preferences though. Singlecut is great, so is Barrier, OH, and Grimm - I like to drink as much of all four as I can. I just prefer to drink Singlecut (and Barrier) in bars, and drink OH and Grimm at home, if I can. I don't really mind waiting in line, and don't count it as wasted time anyway since I'll usually read a book while waiting anyway.

 

their ipas are usually a bit bitter for me but i know many people who love them. always get them super fresh here in buffalo too. i will say that heavy boots of lead is a great stout, super chocolatey

 

Most new brewers start distribution in bottles, so that should give a hint at the relative costs. From what I've heard good bottling systems are generally cheaper than good canning systems, but I'm sure you could find cheap, poor quality systems for either. By good, I mean reliably counter-pressure and seal the container with minimal packaged oxygen, which is harder for cans because the pre-sealed can mouth is significantly wider than bottles and thus why good canning systems tend to be more expensive. Cans do have slightly cheaper margins for shipping costs (lower weight and they stack tighter), but a brewer needs to produce a fairly high volume for those margins to be a significant factor. A half-filled delivery truck is going to cost a lot more than a filled truck, regardless of bottles or cans.

 

Interesting, I actually just read up on this too and it does look like bottling is likely cheaper. So what's going on here - are Barrier and Singlecut just jacking the price/margins because they can? Perhaps there's a perceived quality bump for bottles over cans and they are taking advantage of this to price higher? Or maybe they are canning much smaller batches vs. breweries that can, which allow those breweries to take advantage of economies of scale? Or maybe something else is going on? I find it hard to believe that their materials or overhead costs are substantially different.

 

No I don't think so - they both bought their own bottling systems as opposed to OH and Grimm who contract with mobile canning companies (last that I heard). Yes I've heard that good canning systems are much more complicated, need more space and expensive than the mobile canners.
So I don't think they are doing any excessive markups compared to others - but I don't know.

 

Possibly... Although I would not use the negative term "jacking" because all brewers will price their product as high as consumers are willing to pay. In some cases higher price [for any product] can be deliberate marketing, to try to sway consumers into thinking the higher price is indicative of a better product. Sometimes these perceptions can become self-fulfilling. There's lots of psychological marketing analysis on that phenomenon.

Cans are very popular among beer geeks these days, so I wouldn't say that, but certain larger-sized or unique bottles might give a perception of higher quality to consumers. Again, perceptions can become self-fulfilling.

Material costs are usually relatively small to other costs and brewers have little control over many less flexible costs like wages, distribution, utilities, taxes, rent/lease, capital investments, etc. So, economies of scale (volume) are big cost drivers for brewers.

Regardless of why a beer is priced a certain way it's up to the individual consumer to decide if it's worth it. Ultimately, we vote with our wallets.

 

Come on man.....share this gem with your Cali brethren

 

- was I being unfair ?.....

 

You were being honest, but "way off the beaten path in a mostly industrial section of Astoria" does not sound like a positive description, but if you did not intend to be negative, then my apologies. I was just pointing out that breweries in industrial parks is pretty typical. (See #3 )

 

It IS a positive description ! (worth seeking out) - Cheers!

 

From the Your 2015 Beers in Review thread

From the Under/Overrated Beers of 2015 thread

I'd happily try more of their stuff if I lived out East!

 

Bon bon is probably the best "shelf" ipa i have ever bought in CT. Might be a little pricey, but I am happy to support them and buy their beer. Just bought a log of half stack for a party last saturday, it was a hit, everyone loved it and i was psyched to be able to serve it.

 

I went to NYC for a few weeks last Christmas and thought Full Stack was better than any of the beers I had from Other Half (Grimm was not yet making hoppy stuff at that point, at least not regularly)