What are you thoughts about Chimay?

The tax or duty paid may be relevant to prices in each country. Here's the info;

 

I dig all of Chimay's beers. I probably drink one 12 oz of each a year.

 

Thanks for reporting those prices!

You got a pretty good deal at $12.99 for a 750 ml of Chimay Blue. State Line Liquors (Elkton, MD) lists $14.99 for that beer. My retailers in PA charge significantly more than State Line Liquors.

It sounds like in Belgium the ‘baseline’ price is around 4.50€ ($4.87). The percentage change from Belgium to the US for Chimay seems to be a ‘better’ deal then it is for Cantillon. I would guess Cantillon is more ‘premium’ priced due to rarity.

Cheers!

 

I love Chimay red the best. Always good especially as it warms up.

 

I remember buying my first Cantillon in 2007 in Iowa City, IA. Back then they sat on the shelves. At the time it didn't agree with me and I understood why the bottles had dust on them. Over time I learned to appreciate them.

For big Cantillon hauls I would drive to Brussels and buy directly from the source. For a less than a 10 bottle haul I would just go to the craft shop in Arlon. They did charge around a 2.00e per bottle up charge, but that saved me 3 total hours of drive time and not driving through Brussels. That shop also stocked US craft. A SN Torpedo for example was around 3.50e per bottle as was Dead Guy. Founders Breakfast Stout at 4.50e per bottle. So our stuff in Belgium is as equally expensive. If you are familiar with the Jean Chris Nomad beers the Chris in the beer name owns the craft shop I went to.

The shop here in Dover I bought the Chimay from just got in 4pks of Abt. 12 for $22.00. I couldn't pull the trigger when I was paying a quarter of that not long ago. The same applies to State Line Liquors. I was up there two weeks ago. Lots of good imports, but I still remember buying them on the other side of the pond for much cheaper.

 

I think he's new to craft beer, and on top of that he seems to live in a place that has very little selection so to him this may be one of the only unpasteurized beers available to him. Not sure what "raw quality" is. "See it in the foam" I think he's referring to the thick head and lacing you tend to get from a good Belgian ale.

He's new, give him a break.

 

I keep a few 750ml bottles of Chimay Blue in my cellar. It was one of the first beers I aged and I hear it just goes and goes and continues to develop in the bottle for upwards of 20 years. I haven't verified that (yet).

 

But we don't have comparable data from Germany so its hard to identify where that differential comes from.

Edit: I was just looking at the table of taxes posted by @marquis for the UK. Notice that the taxes paid on Belgian beer in the UK are approximatly double those paid on German beer in the UK. So we may well be looking at a similar differential in the US on those beers.

 

Chimay's all good, although when choice/availability permits then the blue is my go-to.
Indeed, it was one of those 'beers I'd replace my blood with if it were feasible' ... until I discovered Cantillon gueuze.

 

And aren't you glad now you stocked up on Cantillon before your return. :-)

Do you happen to have some sort of comparable experiences with buying German beer in Germany or did all that happen through the PX.?

 

I would think that Cantillon is going to be an outlier in any comparisons and any markups that are unusual about those specific beers are a discussion for another thread. Around here, Chimay is available in US supermarkets.

There must be regional price differences in Belgium just as we have here in the US because the prices I saw in Brussels are nothing like what I am seeing reported in this thread.

 

I have seen posts from @einhorn where he provide store brochures where German beer that was 'on sale' (i.e., a promotional sales price) where listed. Those prices indicated something like 10 Euros for a crate of beer (20 0.5 liter bottle).

I don't know how to apply that price here since these represent promotional pricing for a quantity buy.

Maybe Douglas can provide 'better' guidance/insight here for comparing 6-pack prices.

Cheers!

 

I made the mistake of stocking up on stuff in the city center of Brussels and Bruges before. Tourist bottle shops with high prices. Get outside the city and the prices are much cheaper or even hit a supermarket in those towns.

 

I already posted: "I would guess Cantillon is more ‘premium’ priced due to rarity."

Cheers!

 

Do you have a guess for a 'representative' price for a 6-pack of Jever in Germany?

Cheers!

 

The Delhaize in Bruges was our stop to buy beer. The Bottle Shop close to the square was more expensive by at least a factor of 2, but had some rare finds.

This was 16 years ago now.

 

Damn skippy!!

If there was a beer desert in Germany, Rhineland Pfalz was it. Germans drink local for the most part which is good and bad. Good for fresh local stuff, bad for diversity. The main brewery in my area was Karlsberg. They made a good pils, a really good seasonal bock and their biggest seller was a pils/cola mix. According to the brewery the Karlsberg Mixery was the biggest selling pre mixed pils/cola beer in the country. I could get the bigger beers from Bavaria such as Paulaner and Weihenstephaner. Bitburger was big along with Park, Bischoff, Oettinger and Schwaben Brau.

Pricing was cheap. I believe Germany taxes beer as food. The Lidl in my town would run sales occasionally on Weihenstephaner beers for 14.99e for 20 pack of 500ml bottles. Before I left the Globus in Kaiserslautern was selling racks of 330ml Bitburger for BOGO at 14.99e. Oettinger is just flat out cheap. Cases of 500ml bottles under 10.00e. Most of the time on six packs it is less thatn 5.00 euro. Certain beers I would buy on base as it was cheaper paying in dollars. When I lived there most of the time it was $1.35-$1.40 for 1.00e.

At the Globus they had a craft cooler. They would have some German "craft" along with Brooklyn, Firestone Walker, Boon and others at a high price. 2.49e per bottle and up. I would buy a few things and the people checking me out were shocked why I would spend so much money on beer.

Just yesterday I bought a sixer of Gaffel Kolsch here in Dover. In Germany I lived two hours from Koln and couldn't buy this beer.

 

I know. I am just a crotchety old bastard.

 

I can't help with Jever but I can with Rothhaus. Six packs of 330ml bottles for $4.50e.

 

I think that would probably run between €4,00 to €6,00 or so. I didn't buy much Jever in Germany, but if I had to guess I'd say a 500 ml bottle from a supermarket (and not on sale) would be in the €0,80 to €0,95 range. I've purchased 6ers of Rothaus Tannenzäpfle (330 ml) and IIRC they were just a little over €4,00.

Chimay was hard for me to find but I remember a 330 ml bottle being around €1,50 or so, but I could be getting it confused with Westmalle. They were certainly more expensive than Jever, but not to the ridiculous degree that you see here in the US. Some of the "more expensive" Trappists that I could find were a little over €2,00. Cantillon was not readily available in Germany, but I did know of one place in Stuttgart that sold select Cantillon 750's for about €11,00.

I've had the same sticker shock that @CoverMePorkins has had when I see 4 packs of Chimay here that are north of $20.00. I love Chimay, but when I see them in my beer store I usually just stare at them sadly for 5 minutes and then walk on by...