Fifth Hammer Brewing

For some reason I think I originally visualized a 12oz can when reading 8oz - and thought the price was reasonable based on that. I would never ever ever pay $4 for an 8oz can. And to echo guinness77 8oz isn't enough beer.

 

You can just open two... but that might make you feel like more of an alcoholic.

 

I bought the coffee Ambassador from Interboro a few weeks ago on reputation alone, certainly not price (I spurlged), and I drank one on New Year's Eve and, although it is a great beer worthy of its praise, I couldn't help but think that extra 4oz would be nice. I didn't want to drink half my purchase in one night, so I didn't open another one.

 

Is that another 8oz beer? I'm just out of the loop with this format.

 

Yes. First I'd ever seen and now maybe becoming a trend?

 

I guess we'll see. I'm also guessing it's simply a way for brewers to charge more per oz (not that I'm suggesting that they are doing so to greedily increase profits, but rather, make an attractive product at the price they want to charge).

Maybe you'll remember 21st Amendment's Lower De Boom barley wine? That was a 8.4(?) oz can, and it actually felt like a satisfying size for that beer.

 

Interboro is the brewery I was thinking about when I made my post earlier in this thread about how Fifth Hammer prices are "reasonable."

BA Ambassador cans were $28 (!) for a 4-pack of 8-oz cans.

 

Very thoughtfully put and great point and you’re dead right about conditioning.

Any brewers out there - it would appear that iron lotus is not BA’d or flavoured (I’m guessing salted caramel is just a descriptor vs something added, although it’s hard to tell - can’t find much on the beer). So what’s the cost difference in making something like iron lotus (10.5% abv imperial porter) vs sometime like DDH AGE (10.5% abv ddh dipa)? Is the extra $10 the consumer is paying for 64oz of the former vs the latter, due to some sort of ingredient/production cost difference or just breweries capitalizing on conditioning (since we’re more likely / used to bending over for high priced imperial stouts)?

 

As a comparison in price for Imperial Stouts (regular, no BA) vs DDH DIPAs/TIPAs -

Imperial Stouts require a longer time to condition in tanks, effectively tieing one or more tanks up for a prolonged period of time (months) for which the brewery loses money not being able to produce other batches of beer. They do use a good amount of hops in a Imp stout but nothing close to what you would use in a beer like AGE. Another factor is the specialty malts needed for an Imp Stout cost a lot more per lb than something like 2-row pale.

The price for DDH AGE is high because the extreme amount of hops added. A beer like AGE goes from kettle to can in about 2-3 weeks, so the tanks arent held up on one beer.

That’s basically it.

 

Consumers are fixated on ingredient cost (fashionable hops, barley vs corn, maple syrup and habanero peppers) because they are more tangible and marketable differentiators (along with alcohol), I would expect things like rent, insurance, debt, production time, and employees to make a bigger impact (which might be harder to compare). Of course brewers are also paying attention to their competitors and the value that specific things have, but that's always part of the reality. I'm starting to feel guilty about posting in this thread and muddying it rather than focusing on the beers (and of course I'm just a spitballer).

 

I'm also glad I'm not the only one. Don't get the two 8 oz can pricing schemes we've seen in NYC recently as they don't represent a good value purchase to me. Not that value dictates everything (I see you CBS), but if my first reaction is surprise at the price, I'm not likely to go to the brewery to pick some up.

 

I think consumers are fixated on the because breweries want us to be to justify the purpose. I've had conversations with brewers where they talk about the cost of such ingredients/boutique hops as driving the selling price up. I understand this, but does every beer that has these kinds of additions drive the per-beer cost up $1/beer?

I tend to think that sometimes these costs may add pennies per pour and we're conditioned to pay $1 or more per pour.

I tend to feel less price pain with barrel aging because of the physical and labor costs plus the time a beer has to sit on the floor in inventory without being sold.

I don't know how true any of this is, but I do know that lately I've been watching the price creep and have been buying less of these kinds of beers. 2017 was an expensive year in beer for me!

 

Well don't forget about price increasing with demand.

If people are going to line up hours before a release and the beers sell out while people are still on line a price increase from $18 to $20 makes sense for the brewery. If they sell out every time anyway what's the difference?

 

Great spot! I’ve been several times. Does anyone have anything to say about their visit to the brewery/taproom? It seems everyone went off on a price of beer tangent.

 

I work nearby so did manage a visit a couple of weeks ago, and I'd probably go again if it wasn't so damn cold lately . It's pretty good- not quite there yet, but shows potential. Plenty of elbow room, and the bartenders were friendly. As to the beers:

The unfiltered Pils had a slight astringency on the finish, which I hope they correct soon. Other than that I might tweak the bitterness and dryness up (all of their beers had a tinge of sugary sweetness to them), but there was good character there and the tiniest amount of DMS, which I take as a plus as long as they can keep in check.

The Unforgivable IPA also could be more bitter, but they are going for that smooth mouthfeel here, so I guess I see where they are coming from. It's not a full on haze job, however, and had some nice clean flavors. Just needed more vibrancy, imo. And less sweetness .

The Saison was the nicest of the lot- made with elegance and restraint, even though there are supposedly added peppercorns and lemon peel. I like that they don't hit you over the head with that stuff. They really nailed the feel, and it was a pleasure to drink.

 

If anyone happens upon their newest DIPA, Troublesome Jellyfish, pick it up!

 

Second this. Their best beer by far and available in cans throughout the city.

 

Went in yesterday. Pils and saison were fair, barleywine and Llama Drama were delicious. Server was a bit of a jerk.

Regular atmosphere with nothing that realy stood out.

Cool bowling alley with a good beer list right next door, Rockaway and a new Sweet Chick a block away.

 

The LIC area has changed quite a bit in the last four years. It's still quite commercially driven, but a great number of awesome restaurants, bars, and breweries have popped up in the last several years. And I can't recommend Sweet Chick enough.