So, it's fairly obvious that different bars charge different prices for beer. But over the past few years this divide has seemed to widen. In the Burlington, Vermont area some of the new "craft" bars charge $8 for a 10 ounce pour of a nice IPA or Stout whereas a sports bar right down the road charges about half as much. (I recently was poured a 23 ounce Maine Beer Co. Lunch for $8). My question is this... are the craft spots overcharging or are the sports bars undercharging or is it somewhere in the middle?
Craft bar is pricing based on what they need to make off the beer perhaps, while the sports bar sees more profit in food, AND can create more food sales by attracting people FROM the craft bar. I'd be good with a thinner beer margin if it all but guaranteed me a food sale.
A lot of stouts, particuarlly imperial ones, are 10 ounce pours at bars in DC. I'd be more shocked to see a Maine Beer Co. Lunch 23 ounce for $8 than the first two things you list.
I drink mostly at Tap Rooms or Breweries, and there are two bars i frequent. Unfortunately one gets Pliny Regularly and i have to pay too much for it
I've noticed this phenomenon as well, as a result, I don't drink at a lot of craft oriented bars with significantly higher prices. I have no doubt that there are going to be some bar managers of craft bars who will come and complain that customers only show up for special releases and never darken the door the rest of the year. Not sure if these places do better with a higher margin and less volume, but it keeps me away.
Here in Minneapolis there is a 3% downtown liquor tax to pay for the Vikings Stadium, plus higher rents which jacks the prices up for beer and craft beer tends to take a special hit. A mile or two out of downtown the prices get more reasonable.
The determining factors usually come down to four things: The freshness, variety, and quality of the beer being consistent and a priority (The reason that craft bars or ale houses may charge more usually results from equipment and cleaning costs to provide fresh beer, as well as the fact that an order may consist of a single sixth keg. Smaller orders mean less of a profit margin.) The location of the property (AKA rent, being in Manhattan, this is a real pain in the ass) The overall profitability of the bar (The reason that sports bars can charge less for a craft brew is usually the result of profit coming in from other items. Bars that sell a lot of food can charge less for beers. The wider the profit source, the lower the cost across the board) The number of customers (That's pretty obvious, but still important. A more selective draught list means fewer heads walking in the door, which means they have to charge more per beer)
Sports bars definitely follow a much different business model which allows them to do seemingly absurd things when compared to a craft bar. All they have to do is show a game and the place is packed with a high volume of binge drinkers and more lined up outside.
@alex_delany briefly touched on it, but it's worth expanding on the fact that there's a big price difference between 1/6bbls and larger sizes from the same brand. The cost per ounce can be as much as 30% higher if you're buying in smaller sizes, which will obviously result in a higher price for the customer if the bar is using a standard mark up for everything. Hypothetical example: A 1/2bbl of XYZ's IPA costs $.09/ounce, which works out to $1.44/pint cost for the bar. Lots of places simply triple the cost, which brings us to $4.32. No one in their right mind is going to put an odd number like that on the menu, so you round up and sell it for $4.50 (or maybe $5) per pint. A 1/6bbl of XYZ's IPA costs $.14/ounce, leading to a $2.24 per pint cost. Multiply that by 3 and you end up with $6.72. which will probably get rounded up to $7/pint on the menu. Same beer, same mark up, but drastically different prices.
As others have noted, sports bars and beer bars have different business models. Food is a big money maker for the sports bar which leads to less focus on booze/beer sales. Conversely, the beer bar has only the beer primarily to profit from so they charge accordingly. Sports bars also may get a discount for the beer if they buy more of it unlike a beer bar which, in most the ones I've been to, they buy one or two at a time for a specific beer (hence the ever changing tap lists) compared to five or more. There are other small differences of course (all the different glassware for example) and in all honesty I haven't experienced a huge discrepancy from bar to bar for the same beer (+/- $1 or $2) so maybe these are a couple outliers. Interesting observation though.
