Has inflation impacted your beer budget?

It started before the current inflation, but I (somewhat inadvertently) lowered my beer budget a lot due to three things:

-I got tired of paying $17-20 for 4-packs of NEIPAs. Most aren't that great.
-I redeveloped a taste for old flagship IPAs, like Dogfish 60 Minute ($11 a six-pack!)
-Cheap German and Austrian 16oz lager 4-packs started showing up (Eggenberg $6.99!). That's what I mainly drink in the summer

 

Same here.

 

Definitely cut down my visits to beer bars as prices in New England have seemingly risen ~ 10% in the past 9 months. Also knocked off purchases of $17-20 4 packs of lame IPAs from breweries I’ve never heard of.

Otherwise I haven’t noticed much price increases from breweries I’ve loved for years & buy 12-packs.

 

Well, my post above and my posts about being “the wealthiest member of Beer Advocate” are mostly tongue-in-cheek.

But to answer your question, I have no clue what I spend on beer.

I take the approach below (minus the checking the date part, I always do that).

 

Well, that may be best from a prudence perspective!?!

But perhaps at some point you might want to track things. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cheers!

 

Just to come in a humorous bent from the far reaches of where this discussion mainly exists---- I used to drink so much that when Doc made me cut down (1 beer a month now all from cellar) it had the effect of giving me a no show part time job. Every time the price of beer goes up I get a raise.

 

No budget per se. But I have been cutting back on the $20+ four packs. I've been buying more local/regional breweries where I'm still able to find a six pack in the $10-$12 range. At least for now. If it feels like I've spent a bit too much I'll dial it back for a week or two.

 

Dave, are you able to conduct a thought experiment (Gedankenexperiment as Alfred Einstein would phrase it) here? If you weren’t compelled by health reasons here, how do you think you would manage this beer inflation issue? There is no lack of high quality craft breweries in the mid-Hudson area (e.g., Suarez and others) but those beers are not inexpensive. How would you manage expenditures here?

Cheers!

 

I can't imagine it would impact me in any way. I always found the money for my favorite hobbies and beer was a favorite hobby. In fact it had become a part of all the other hobbies. So those factors make me think no matter how expensive beer got I would have continued to find and spend the money to buy it. I might even have started homebrewing again to try and cut down costs. I mean, I always found a way to buy the beer I wanted, that's for sure. Still have a number of Suarez down below, and quite a few treats from other local breweries, so I am far from deprived. One a month is TONS better than none a month..

I do feel for folks who have to endure these price increases. Hang in there. But for this old hippy who wishes he hadn't had his monthly beer two day ago, it's like getting a raise

 

Not yet. The wife says I still buy too much...

 

My overall budget for alcohol has fallen drastically, but mainly because I quit drinking whiskey and other spirits. The beer I do buy has gone up a little, but buying 5 sixers per month and spending $2 more on each one isn't gonna break the bank. Especially when I've cut out $150 per month in delicious single malt Scotch

 

Bingo!

I will be homebrewing a batch of Belgian Dubbel in a couple of days!

Cheers!

 

My local chicken wing special is also gone, this is why we can't have noice things.

 

@steveh i have experienced this as well. The beers off the shelf are cold. I’ve gone into the back to pick up my cold beers and they have a huge cold storage area where the beers are as well as a ton of their produce.

 

I don't have a beer budget. Since I cut back drastically on the alcohol a couple of years ago for health reasons, it's been even less of a concern. The only real change for me has been retirement, which immediately turned into semi-retirement when I took a part-time job with the same company. I have a bunch of stuff in the cellar, so I'm good. OTOH, now that our Wine Club has started up again after a long shamdemic-related hiatus, I may be rethinking this budget thing sooner rather than later.

 

No never really had a beer budget, but due to work and other things I haven't been drinking that much at home. I am pretty happy now with a couple of six packs of local pilsner and Shiners 2 new IPAs in my fridge.... Along with a shitload of barrel aged stuff that I haven't gotten around to.. I do notice the $20 4 packs on the shelf and am glad that isn't really my thing.

 

I'll definitely be looking for more bargains especially 12 pack craft lagers.

 

This summer, I'm gonna be stocking up on the (relatively) cheap German lagers.

 

Makes me wish I hadn't given up whiskey 15 years ago, think of all the money I'd be saving.

Oh, wait...