Kalamazoo Beer Exchange

Seems pretty cool, like a stock market for beer.

 

I don't like it. If I was drinking a beer I paid $6 a pint for and I liked ti and went to order it again and it was now $8 a pint I would leave. I want a consistent price that,at the very least, lasts as long as I am in the place .

 

a guy at work e-mailed me this exact picture this morning....why the hell is Miller Lite trending upwards?

 

Mildly entertaining but kind of stupid

 

Straight Whale bro

 

Dislike the gimmick, but any place with draft Night Time for under $3 a pint can have my business.

 

If I could get those prices in NY I would love that gimmick Seems like would be funny once, but kinda of pointless way to set price

 

This is my favorite beer bar in Kalamazoo. It's such a cool idea. The bar consistently has fresh stock because the beer people aren't buying drops in price until it's a good deal. The beer people are buying gains them extra profit. It's the real-time free market at work. A few times a night they'll have a "Market Crash" where everything drops a few dollars for 15 minutes. That's when you order the expensive beer you've been eyeing. Great food too. It's a lot of fun.

 

Been a few times. Catch the market crashes.

They can't go under state minimum as I understand it.

 

Cool, but how much does it drop during the crash? I mean, if I went there, there's a good chance I'd want a beer that other people want as well, right? Finally get a chance to try this beer or that, and the price is jacked way up? That doesn't seem fair.

Edit: I guess I don't see any thing too expensive on there...

 

What does the trading period mean?

 

Prices don't get too crazy. If it starts to get too high, people stop buying, and soon enough the price goes down. If I remember correctly, the pricing changes every 15-20 minutes. So if something you covet is say $3.99 per pour, you have that window to buy it. If the "market" says its too high, the price will drop soon enough. If everyone else thinks the pricing is fine and keeps buying, it will go up. I think the increases might have been $.50 per pour at most when we were there.

We had a blast with this concept, and took advantage of a market crash as well. You learn to order in bulk during a crash. I remember getting Dark Horse Plead the 5th for $2.50-$2.99 during the crash, and don't remember much else after that.

 

I've been there and that place is awesome!

 

I don't know if I'm clear on what you're asking. The price only changes every 15 minutes. (@Immortale25 - a trading period is a 15 minute chunk of time where the prices stay the same. It starts at 6pm so if my calculation is correct, this photo was probably taken around midnight.) A market crash will probably take 30-50% off the current price, although when I go I don't really see beers as cheap as $2.50. So those probably wouldn't drop much in a crash. During the trading period after the crash prices will be pretty high on everything, then the next period will take into account the amount of purchasing from the previous period, and so on.

It's kind of a game. If you're in the mood for a beer you've gotta take a gamble and buy it now, or wait till the next trading period. If you wait - sometimes you win, sometimes you'll want to choose a cheaper option. The goal is to buy what other people aren't. They once had BCBW on tap and it wouldn't drop below $10 for a snifter. I still ended up buying it though. I'm sure it was a personal whale for a lot of people in there.

 

What does the "nc" stand for?

 

No change.

 

They have been doing this at State Street Brats in Madison since the 90s. It's a lot of fun especially when you get something good like Hopalicious for $3! On Wisconsin!

 

Exactly right, although this place has really good craft beer, there are a lot of college students & professionals downtown that go for the Miller Lite & other BMC crap. That keeps the prices pretty decent throughout the night & if you're a ticker it works great because you start with one of the cheapest & next time around a different beer will likely be cheaper than your first round.
When the price crashes it's 50% off or around that & I believe they cap you at 1-2 beers during a crash. I live in Kalamazoo & we have several great craft bars around & this is one of them. I don't go there a ton but I always love it when I do

EDIT - looking at the picture, the fact that Perrin Black is less than Miller Lite & Pilgrim's Dole is the same price is hilarious! Pilgrim's Dole is a BB wheatwine that is really good & like drinking 3-4 Miller Lites