Finding a Happy Medium

I'm confused. On the one hand, higher-priced craft 4-packs are a problem because they make craft beer less "egalitarian," but lower-priced 15/18/20/24-packs are also bad because they blur the line between craft beer and macro and confuse consumers? And the solution is to find some sort of "happy medium" which the author does not bother to define?

But that's one of the great things about craft beer. If I want, I can get brewery-only releases for $15-20/4-pack. Or I can opt for "budget" packs of Sierra Nevada/Sam Adams/New Belgium/etc. Or I can pick up 4- and 6-packs in the $10-15 range. More choices = better, and there's clearly a healthy market for a variety of pricing and formats in craft beer.

 

I too have noticed the steady creep upwards. I was shopping at a favorite bottle shop recently and ended up putting back a 12 dollar 4-pack because I just couldn't justify the spending. I have also noticed some of our local breweries filling that 'happy medium' price point by offering some very solid beers for between 7 and 9 bucks a 6-pack.

 

As long as people are frothing at the mouth and lining up for beer for hours on end, the prices will go higher.

 

I just buy beer I feel ill enjoy enough to justify the price. I have no problem buying $10-25 bombers if it's a brewery I like, or gets tons of hype. I also buy tons of cheap 12 or 15 packs, I've been drinking a local session IPA that is always $13-15 a 12. They all have their place. I do hate $10+ a bomber or can IPAs, hoppy stuff shouldn't be super expensive, it doesn't bother me nearly as much to pay a lot for a stout or sour.

 

I moved on the beginning of his year. Craft just got too expensive. I went back to AAL for quite a while. I now find the deals that are out there. I won't pay much more than $1 a can/bottle. I have been able to buy Core beers from victory , Yards, neshaminy creek, Sky fox Alesmith ballast point and more for under $1 to $1.25. I buy AAL for much less and over time I end up at close to 80.$ per.

I will still grab a case of Bigfoot and Narwal and maybe one or two other bigger beers but that's it.

I was paying $12-16 a four pack, mix a six for $12 and many large formats plus $50 and up cases weekly. Most were good but not worth the price to me. I am saving over $3k a year and not missing anything.

Enjoy

 

The happy medium is pricing beer to make as much profit as possible but low enough to gain/retain customers.

This applies to every product ever.

Words.

 

I’d be interested in seeing how there isn’t parity in the cost of doing business.. my first instinct is rent.

Does rent really cost the same in Boston as it does in say... Erie, PA? That’d be crazy if it were remotely true.

 

Rent for sure. Payroll is another easy one. The vast majority of the employees in the hospitality industry are working minimum wage positions so if your business resides in a state with a "tipped wage" you can basically take two dollars off the cost of every pint. Exaggeration...kinda.

 

My opinion is around $10 a six pack is a happy medium for most standard beers, maybe a buck or two more for brews with more/more limited ingredients (thinking primarily hop variety/quantities here) and maybe a buck or two less for run of the mill, but quality stuff. But this shit where 4 packs of reasonably standard beers are starting to push 15-20 bucks a pop is a dead end street IMO. Hype continues to work in lots of spaces, but the ever expanding options out there are going to make it harder and harder to push the pricing envelope IMO. Barrel aged beers and sours are another thing, the best ones will always demand a premium (especially when quantity is limited, intentionally or not), but I'm glad there might be a bit of pushback on charging whatever.

 

My happy medium this year has been a lot of Sierra Nevada, great beers with a great value I wish I could their IPAs fresher.

 

To me, anything under $3/bottle is great for a BA Stout, which I prefer. For a non-BA Stout, anything under $2 is decent. Anything under $8 is decent for a bomber.

 

This is why I homebrew. I can make some of the new styles of beer, even oaked aged stuff at 50 cents to a dollar a pint. You look at the crowler prices or keg prices and you think this is absurb. That keeps me out of the breweries these days. It’s getting ridiculous and eventually people will wise up. I thought $12 per growler was peak beer pricing, now I’m seeing $35 growlers. People need to stop buying that stuff. Overhead for growlers is pretty low so, breweries, throw us a bone on the growlers at least.

I’m thinking about a sticker series that shows how ridiculous a $6 pint at a brewery is. $6 pint = $744 dollar keg

 

I recently went to a local brewery taproom where I had previously bought crowlers for $8, ordered a crowler of a new beer, and it rang up as $16. I pointed out that I had only wanted one - but they said that higher ABV beers are double. That math doesn't work for me since higher ABV beers should not cost much - if anything - more to make. I understand that when pricing taps that folks drink less of higher ABV beers, so the taproom charges more, but with the crowler I'm buying 32oz whether high or low ABV.

 

Dear lord, who is serving up a $35 growler and what size is it??

I was under the impression that high ABV beers use more ingredients in the mash resulting in a higher cost. For example, the quantity of malt contents that go into an imperial stout vs. a pilsner are very, very different. Perhaps I've misheard though. I'd be curious for a home brewer to chime in on this. Regardless, charging double for a higher ABV crowler doesn't seem warranted.

 

It is such a small cost of the finished beer https://www.brewersfriend.com/2008/08/31/cost-breakdown-of-beer-home-brewing-vs-commercial/. If you are a home brewer, then yes that beer cost you twice as much to make, but if you are commercial it is such a small percentage. It is a standard marketing ploy

 

Dang. I did not know that. That's a great representation of the costs associated with my beer. Thanks for sharing!

 

$16-$20 4 packs seems insane to me for most beers. I've paid that in a few instances, but it better be something extra special that costs more time and/or money to make to justify that price--something barrel aged or a sour. If that is the standard price for a flagship release, you can count me out. Bombers, I will sometimes justify spending more for if its limited or barrel aged, but again I am finding myself increasingly turning to lower priced bombers that offer similar quality. And I drank a lot of Yuengling Summer Wheat this summer, both because its a great brew, and because of the affordability. Quality is great, value is great, but products that offer both are even better. I will still splurge from time to time, but I'm increasingly reaching for products that offer both quality and value. I also don't mind paying a little extra for something that is high ABV, but doubling the cost is gouging unless there are again extra efforts and ingredients that go into the beer, beyond just upping the ABV. If you present me with a shelf full of quality options of six packs, I'm much more likely to go for something that is $10 or less as opposed to something more, unless there is something I am really clamoring to try. And when money is tight, I've found myself increasingly reaching for a 6 pack of 16 oz cans of Hamm's, which is a bargain for $3 or $4 a sixer, and is actually a pretty decent brew for an AAL. I do think that the idea of a "happy medium," though ill-defined in the article, is something I am increasingly going for with more frequency. That $10 seems like a happy medium, would have seemed crazy to my younger self, but its where we are at.

 

The price creep has been noticeable and it has impacted my buying habits - much less likely to just pick up a few bottles now when I inevitably drift into the bottle shop during our weekly grocery excursions. When I do purchase, I find myself being much more selective, tending to stick to the beers I know I enjoy. Also picky about new beers - like to know something about them now versus just randomly picking. Sometimes I don't worry much about price, but cost is certainly becoming more of a factor if not in terms of what, but in terms of how much I buy. So I will spend the same $20 - sometimes that's two bottles, sometimes that is 15 bottles depending on a lot of factors.

I recall a gent who posted here when I first joined who argued that prices were too low, especially on the "limited releases", and that when the price reached a high enough point we'd no longer see campers lining up for release days. Always thought that might actually be correct in that circumstance, but didn't think it so applicable to "every day" drinkers.

My company did a study on "premium price differential" as part of a good/better/best idea. and basically found there was a well-defined price difference that people would pay for "premium". The price gap between a "best" product and a good product can only be so great before people no longer see the value and switch. I think cars are a good example - my wife's ride is a Lexus. The first time around there was nothing truly comparable (at a lower cost) and it was well worth the premium. Now - she drives less, and other cars have closed the gap on features, so we're questioning the value proposition.

Looks to me, with zero head for business, that there are a lot of tipping points converging here. Highly fragmented market, oversupply of beer/breweries, cost (to consumer and brewers) and probably a bunch of other factors. Also looks to me like this might become advantageous to the larger breweries with solid distribution and reasonable pricing. I recall a conversation with a large local brewer who basically sticks to their knitting - they do a range of styles that are pretty basic, make certain high volume products for markets they know well, and a few "one offs". Their position is hold their price point, stick to what they do well, and essentially "they'll be back". Meaning when people tire of chasing trends, price becomes painful, and people just want a good beer at a good price, they are already there.

 

When Lagunitas dropped their High Westified 6-packs for $12.99, it crushed everything else out there, and it changed my perception in a big way. I'm just not willing to fork out $15-20 for a BA bomber anymore.

I know they sold out, but Lagunitas is the one premium brewery that seems to not be squeezing every dime out of its customers.