BA Mexican Cake Release Thread

C.R.E.A.M.
The craft beer industry is no longer a big grassroots hippy lovefest. The sooner you realize this, the less f@cks you will give.

 

I've been saying it for years, breweries don't charge enough for their highly sought after and limited/rare beers. It would cut down on the fanboys, the hoarding, buying only to trade or resale at a markup, chaotic releases, etc. People bitched last year that the price per bottle went to $30. Guess what, it still sold out within hours (and it only took that long because of the weather). They could have increased the priced to $50 per bottle this year and people would have bitched, but guess what, it still would have sold out quickly.

If you don't like the fact a rare beer is being sold for $100+, you're mad at the wrong person. Don't be mad at the brewery for selling at that price. Be mad at the people that are willing to pay that price. The fact is, a year from now those bottles will have all sold out, especially given the reviews they gotten so far. Demand > Supply translates to an increased price. All of these breweries are businesses and businesses need to make money.

You can argue those prices on a bottle list will hurt their reputation and ultimately their sales numbers, but I honestly doubt that. There's just a handful of people bitching on the internet, most of whom don't live in their distro area and/or don't drink their year round stuff regularly anyways. I'll continue to drink the Gose religiously, because it's delicious, and I won't lose any sleep or think negatively of their business in anyway due to the fact I will probably never get to try Pappy Mexican Cake. The value simply is not there for me personally to spend that much on a beer, but plenty of people have already established the fact that the value is there for them.

I know a guy who just bought two bottles of Bourbon Cake for $60 each and a lot of people would say that he got a good deal (in terms of black market prices). Is it fair that some Charleston resident just made $60 off of Westbrook's product? That's not mentioning the other bottles he sold. The demand is there for these beers at a substantial markup, so I don't mind a brewery selling their own product at an increased price point.

 

In the 50+ trades I've managed to get done on this site, I've never had anyone bring up MBC or 'secondary price' when working through the trade.

Time to establish regular trade partners. If someone references MBC, I won't deal with them.

 

I'm honestly surprised that more breweries with highly sought after beer haven't tested the upper limits of the market yet.

 

Hill Farmstead tried this by charging $40 for a 375ml bottle of BA stout (yeah yeah some of that went to charity - as if more than a small fraction of people who bought those bottles cared). They still had people jumping out of moving cars to get in line at 8:30 in the morning.

 

If you think it's too expensive then don't buy it. /thread

 

I'm not. I'm in the "I don't care what WB charges" camp. However, I think there are many (not all) brewers that personally/ethically have a hard time charging huge amounts for their limited beers and that's why you don't see many breweries going along with the "onsite consumption only BA Cake" pricing method.

 

Not a fan of beer-related discourse?

 

Which one was this? I don't remember them ever charging that much for a BA stout.

 

Double-Barrel Damon was 37.50 or something like that I think, part of which was donated to a local charity.

 

Wow, ridiculous.

 

Exactly... the consumer dictates at the end of the day, and the consumer base is growing and diversifying. More demand...

Dead on.... BA Mexican Cake was $30 per bottle. Probably could have went to $40 and no one bats an eye-lash.

These two quotes marry up very well, because if we as the consumer want more (increased demand) we have to be prepared to deal with scarcity and price points that are trending upward. This way breweries like Westbrook can continue to grow (see the new building) and expand capacity in hopes of catching up with demand. Though, by it's nature, releases like BA Mexican Cake will always be limited, so there will always be some form of consternation.

Back on the topic.... Westbrook did an excellent job overall with the bottle release and managing the "uber" whalez.

 

I'm with you in the "i don't care what <Insert Brewery> charges" either.

We don't see this in bottles often simply because breweries can keg their product. We see tap room only beers all the time, and special beers are usually a buck or two more each. Which over the course of a sixtel/half-barrel adds up quickly.

 

I completely agree with this statement. I don't trade nearly as much as I used to, but I will say I come across the "well my beer sells for $x on the secondary market so I'm looking for a beer that sells for about the same in return" way more often than I used to. In fact when I started trading beer, which was only about 4-5 years ago, I never once heard/saw that or any reference to secondary market.

 

Congrats to WB for taking water and making it into such a profitable item. But fuck gree

Congrats to WB on being able to take water and make it into such a profitable item but, fuck greed maaaan, fuck greed.

 

Elasticity. Google it. It's unfortunate, but we help build this monster.

 

We all took Econ 101 but thanks anyway.

 

dont care what any brewery charges for their beer. But if they want to act like wal-mart dont be surprised when people treat them like wal-mart.

Also comparison between WB and HF are laughable. One is considered by many to one of the best brewers in the world and one puts hot sauce in beer and sells it for a premium.

 

Who are all of you and what do you keep doing to this thread? Thank you Westbrook for charging $33 dollars for BAMC, which is appropriate, the beer has been tried and it has been weighed and tested and it's fantastic; because of this, it holds a secondary value, irregardless if you want to purchase it initially at the release, in a bundle of six this year WITH PROXYs available or after the fact on a secondary market. They have been knocking this beer out of the park since at least 2013, as far as I know. The same goes for Hill Farmstead's releases, Cigar City's releases, Goose Island's releases and of course, the murderer of murderer's Toppling Goliath. Give the whining and point-making a rest and just let us know if Pappy or Double Barrel silent releases.