Stoneface is making an American Adjunct Lager

Jack’s Abby Framingham Lager four packs (16 oz. cans) are $12 at the brewery. Not sure if this is considered a fair price, but it’s a good but less than $16.

But as far as Stoneface goes, I haven’t been there since they were selling beer in bottles, before the restaurant opened. If I’m in the area, I intend to check it out. I’m very much open to giving it a try.

 

That seems like a huge exaggeration even for NY. When you say "any beer store," maybe you really mean "most brewery taprooms" or "most small specialized beer stores that only cater to beer geeks seeking local product."

 

Sure as shit isn't. We have a LOT of beer stores around here, I'm exceedingly familiar with all of them and their pricing and I stand by exactly what I said.

 

I really feel like they've come a long way since the days of their bottled beers. The beers they sell to distribution are pretty cheap, their flagship IPA and Full Clip for instance are priced at $13 for a 4 pack. Their limited IPA's are in the $17 range. They have a bunch of BA RIS that are in the $15/bottle range, I think I bought every variety when I visited last weekend and am looking forward to trying them. I don't feel they get the hype that someplace like Spyglass gets but I personally prefer Stoneface. For my tastes a $13 4 pack of Full Clip is perfect, a sixth barrel is around $107 I believe so that comes out to around $9 for a 4 pack if you buy it by the keg . Personally I like that model, I'm happy to pay $17 for their occasional 4 pack to try something new but I have the option of their standard beers at a cheaper cost. The singles from the brewery are also a welcome option as someone else mentioned.

 

I've never stated it like that - "refuse" - but that's been the results of my beer buying so far for the past 50 years or so*. I think I may have bought beer at a normal retailer store (liquor store in NJ) one time for that high a price - I think it was when a local "A" rated store got in a few half pallets of about 4 beers from one of these much-discussed (by the geekery) brands - maybe Other Half?

They have cans with pretty colors and designs but without any real branding or other info unless you pick 'em up and have powerful reading glasses on ya, right?

Didn't buy anything the day I saw 'em but did come home, read some reviews and the brewer's website and next time I stopped in I popped for something, probably whatever sounded like a standard IPA and paid around $18 (minus NJCB discount, plus tax) for it - probably the cheapest of the OH beers they had. Didn't strike me as something better than the beers I routinely pay $10/six for.

* UNLESS we consider inflation. I recall the first time I broke the $10 sixpack barrier - late '70s, when most US pre-craft beer was priced at less than that for a case (even Anchor Steam Beer was usually around $5/six). It was Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Pale Ale - imported by Merchant du Vin, the owner of which, Charles Finkel, even bragged that it was "... the most expensive beer you can in the country" to a Miami Herald reporter in 1979, saying it was nearly $2/bottle.

So, if one goes by the DoL Inflation Calculator, that's nearly $40 in 2021 dollars - so the equivalent of a $35 16oz. X 4pk. (BUT I did have a good factory job, working nights (+shift differential) and a lot of OT (2hr. day + every other Saturday).

Postscript - I went to drink one of them one afternoon, and noticed it looked "funny" (clear bottle remember) ... examined the bottle closely and the bottle neck was cracked, held together only by the foil around the top of the bottle. WTF! I mean, I'd come across partially-filled bottles and cans, bad crowns, etc. (esp. in sealed cases, where they couldn't be examined) but the first cracked bottle I ever bought was in the most expensive sixpack I'd ever bought?

Well, as others have noted, that estimate seems high and, more to the point, the ~25% of the stock that is priced under it accounts for, what, maybe 98% of all the beer sold in the US? And probably 98% of the beer drinkers (including a lot of people here on BA who don't consider themselves "tickers" or hyped beer chasers) don't even realize they'd have to state "I refuse to pay $16 a 4-pack" because it's a given - they don't even realize that on the other side of the beer aisle or cooler there are beers priced that high, or what they might term "an absolutely ludicrous" price.

 

Yeah you guys can miss me with the "that estimate seems high" shit. I know my market. Please feel free to walk into Westmere Beverage, Pint Sized, EBI, Delmar Beverage, Savemore, Glenville Beverage, Colonie Beverage or wherever else and just look around a bit. Tell me how many sub-$16 4-packs you see.

Even "cheaper" locals like Chatham, Wolf Hollow and Sloop are at $16 for their IPAs and a lot of their beers in general now.

Look at Westmere's recent instagram posts and what they get in. Drowned Lands, Grimm, Equilibrium, Hubbard's Cave, Omnipollo, Frost, Other Half, Magnify, Timber, Westbrook, Pipeworks, Hudson Valley, Hop Butcher, Fifth Hammer, Thin Man, Industrial Arts, Prison City, Seven Island, Modist, Walking Mountains, LIC, KCBC, Singlecut. There probably isn't a sub-$16 4-pack among all of those. MAYBE a Prison City pale ale but that'd be about it.

You can find legacy brands (SN, Victory, Troegs, Bells, Founders) that sell around $12-13 a 4-pack here but that makes up a small portion of their weekly incoming shipments.

Beer in NY is expensive. $16 is the baseline. Good for you that you live in a place where you can get plenty of beer you want for cheaper, happy for you, but the next person who tells me I'm exaggerating is getting front kicked into a volcano.

 

I’m hesitant to buy a 12 pack for $16, never mind 4 cans.

give me a nice Von Trapp mixed 12 for $15 over some garishly labeled, ridiculously named 4pk in the $16-20 range

 

Wow, not only is your beer expensive, but you have volcanos too?

 

Going to try the new deviled eggs today and the releases

 

We would have to travel for the volcano, admittedly. Which could be a problem because last I checked flights were -- if you can believe it -- even more expensive than NEIPA 4-packs.

 

The problem with these conversations on price is that it devolves into comparing apples and oranges. Given that most 4 packs that are in the $16-20 range are IPA's and Von Trapp makes lagers comparing those costs mean nothing, IMHO. You can certainly compare those prices against other lagers, assuming you are comparing two similar lagers. I would question why someone would buy a Pilsner from Trillium at around $15 per 4 pack when you can buy equal or better versions from other breweries. Tree House is a bit better, they currently have a dry hopped pilsner and a helles lager for around $15 for a 6 pack of 12 oz cans. I think they sell their more traditional pilsner a little cheaper than those current prices. A better comparison might be Lawson's who sells a pilsner for around $18-19 for a 12 pack of 12 oz cans. Zero Gravity also has a fairly reasonably priced pilsner as well (Green State Lager). If memory serves, Trillium is the most expensive and to me is the one I preferred the least. One of my favorites for local Pilsners is from Medusa but they don't currently have to go pricing on that to compare.

Personally I'm willing to pay more for beer that is priced according to it's value, quality, and availability of style. I'd regularly buy Lawson's pilsner at a bit higher price than von Trapp because I prefer it. As for Trillium's pilsner even if I did prefer it I wouldn't but it because it's cost is significantly higher. I'm also happy to pay more for a harder to find style of lager, just because it's a lager doesn't mean it should be cheap. I'd certainly pay $16-17 for a well made Rauchbier for a 4 pack from a local brewery.

Same type of thing with IPA's, you can't really compare the cost of an IPA brewed with Cascade hops to one made with Idaho 7. If someone loves Idaho 7 and there are only a few breweries that sell IPA's made with Idaho 7 and they all cost $20 per 4 pack then the cost is reasonable in the eyes of the Idaho 7 lover. If I don't like pilsners then a $15 12 pack of pilsners is meaningless to me, as would the cost of a 12 pack of Bud Light to the guy paying $15 for a 12 pack of von Trapp.

 

This guy gets it.

 

I whole heartedly agree that $16 is the baseline, if not a good price. But if getting kicked into a volcano I’d prefer to get back kicked into it so I can see the volcano coming. Thanks in advance.

 

I mean I think that's a completely fair request.

 

Do you at least get to pick the volcano?

 

This thread has drifted pretty far from the OP...

 

Well OP dropped a weird opinion and then ghosted, so I think mayhem is to be expected.

 

Almost said the same thing.

 

Probably fell into a volcano...likely somewhere in Asheville.