Bourbon County 2017

Now I understand your post regarding being a little ashamed of how much you stocked up this year. .

Not shameful at all. But that's more than I had guessed. Hard to know what people mean when they say these things.

 

And I'm not even the worst one that I know! I also talked to some other folks not from Illinois at Binny's this year. Seems like the general consensus was about 1-2 cases per person.

 

I brought back 2 cases of regular and wish I had gotten more because it was readily available at the time. Down to 1 case now.

 

Can I do a quick poll here? BCBS is not exactly cheap. Let's assume one spends +/-$500 on 1-2 cases and/or variants in the month after release. Is this:

A. <5% of one month's take-home pay
B. 5 - 10% of one month's take-home pay
C. 10 - 15% of one month's take-home pay
D. 15 - 20% of one month's take-home pay
E. >20% of one month's take-home pay

Seems like a significant portion of income is being spent on this (I know it was in my case).

 

I stopped buying beer/trading for the most part in the 3 months leading up to Black Friday, and also did not do much purchasing/trading in December. I did that for BC purchases.

I spent around $375 after tax I think.

My income is limited, but that's why I also chose to limit what I would be spending leading up to that event.

 

I don't purchase more than a couple bottles of BCBS a year. A case would take me literally 4 or 5 years to drink through (I don't really drink it during the summer, and usually drink lighter stuff on weekends because I'm also drinking hard liquor). $500 would absolutely be a significant portion of my take-home per month, and I typically favor variety of beers over a massive haul of one.

 

I bought 2 allotments, minus reserve, at Jewel. Cost slightly less than $200. I would of liked to procure some more Prop and a Reserve but I put more money aside for the Side Project BBT release which then turned into BA Coffee Shop Vibes. If it happens again next year, I'll skip BC and spend all my cash at SP. Those 2 beers plus Derivation 8 onsite, nothing else needs to be said.

 

I used to find the beer chase fun, getting a bottle or two of random good stuff each week. Now I find it a pain in the ass, so I gravitate toward larger hauls of my favorite beers that keep my fridge stocked for a year or more. So these Black Friday type hauls are a significant investment for me, but they are few and far between. 2 cases plus Binny's allotment came out to roughly $500!

I think it will be difficult to find many people willing to provide these kinds of number regarding their income and Black Friday budget.

 

I’ve walked past stacks of BCBS in Florida over the last month. I bought 1 bottle to enjoy while on vacation. Regular is plentiful in FL. $10 and change for those wondering.

 

Let’s not forget that still seeing BCBS on shelves is a great thing. Sure, I probably could’ve held off on buying a case in Nov/Dec (which was actually down from the prior two years), but how many of us would’ve loved it a couple years ago if someone told us we could easily get BCBS in February (and perhaps later)?

And I’m always willing to help out any BA’s in MI having a hard time finding it.

 

Yeah--I was just curious. Our Finance team at work was chatting about inflation and beer prices, and there seemed to be a general consensus that "peak" beer re: price is either already here or will be very soon. Wondering just how true that really is..

 

When you say take-home pay, does that subtract the alimony and child support I pay my multiple ex-wives?

Depends on what beer. When talking about the higher end quality like Bourbon County, then not even close. Thousands of people converging on Binny's and other locations in cold temps late November should be your first clue to the contrary of your "consensus". This is just one example of beers not even hitting the shelves (mainly variants). Too many to list special releases with people lining up hours (or days) in advance.

My guess is we see 5-10% price increases on average per year for at least 5 years with the Bourbon County stuff. You have people like Lazhal and Croush buying multiple cases each year. Do you really think they will stop because regular goes from $10 to $11 next year? Or even $11 to $12? I don't, and really don't see much change in demand until prices get much higher.

 

It isn't here. It'll be a while. We are going to see creep for a number of years as we start developing different tiers. The "luxury" beers probably have about $30-40 more a bottle to creep up.

 

To your point, I don't even really register BCBS price differences if it's in the $10-13 range; sub $10 (the glorious WF sale Thursday) and $14+ is when I take note. So I think a small increase each year is not only likely, but probably won't slow sales at all, at least for the next few years.

 

Agreed. I think stouts have room for increases. I am not so sure about hoppy beers though. For instance, I think a 4 pack for $25 might be a point where people get upset

 

but that 4 pack of deths tar id buy all day all day

 

Yeah we went from $20 4-packs of KBS to $35 Deth by Cherries in a hurry. BA beers could hit $40 a 4 pack and it’ll still sell if it’s a trusted limited release

 

For those styles, I agree. But I also agree with the hoppy IPAs having trouble getting to $25/4-pack. I simply won't buy those offerings if they ever reach that level of pricing. Has nothing to do with being able to afford it. More about the principle of the thing.

 

Next step is to cut back pack size it will be a two pack of cans for $24 rather than exceeding the $40 mark. 24ozs of a BA stout for $24 dollars is comparable to pricing on other BA stouts in 750s...

 

I think Monkish has already hit $25 for some of their 4 packs (I believe it’s for their bigger beers such as TIPAs). And they sell out fast. I’m not saying it’s “right”, just pointing out that it is out there. Maybe that’s an LA market thing to be able to do that, but how long until it spreads?