If every beer were the same price

I would probably drink a lot more Belgian beer, that’s pretty much the main difference. Most of what I drink isn’t all that expensive, relatively speaking.

 

If every beer was priced the same, there might be two outcomes. One possibility, we would pay $20 a four pack of Bud and the same for a four pack of the local 10% barrel aged brew. This option my budget could tolerate since my consumption is fairly moderate these days. Or two, we would pay $10 a six pack and we would find craft brewers dropping like flies. My preferences are for fairly straightforward moderate alcohol beers. So I could also survive the second option. It might actually improve the availability of my preferred styles. By the way, are beers served at bars,, restaurants, and breweries included? That could cause some havoc.

 

I'd have to agree. When I attended my first Zwanze Day in 2018, I was greeted at check-in with a pour of Cuvée Armond & Gaston. I've been ruined ever since.

 

I would drink more barrel aged stouts and definitely fewer pilsners and lagers and probably fewer IPAs. I have not had pilsners or pagers that I consider worth $4/16 oz and I find plenty of really enjoyable IPAs for less than $4 per 16 oz, so if they suddenly had price inflation it would be a nonstarter for me

 

$4.00 for a barrel aged stout, I'm all in.....

 

it depends on if we are talking take home pricing or on site consumption pricing. Take home drinking, I would likely drink less beer and more bourbon, whereas on site consumption, it would probably not change much.

 

Yeah, I messed up on the math with this example.

 

I went back and re-read it, and you're right, the scenario does indicate that it's in your local distribution and readily available.

 

Hey, no problem, just move to Watou, Belgium or thereabouts, and pick up cases of Westy XII at the brewery (the abbey). I'm sure it would come to less than 4 Euros a bottle.

 

I don’t drink enough that I pay much, if any, attention to the price of a beer. I’d likely still just buy what I want to try and what I want to hoard in my ‘cellar.’

 

I think his stating hypothetical means throw all logic and reason for beer pricing out the window and that is just the way it is.
For me, not sure it would make much difference. I am mainly drinking $2 beers during the weekday, and I have a cellar full of $$ beers that I just can't find the right "moment" to drink. Finding now with weird work patterns not really drinking that much during the week anymore. Last Friday nite I realized I hadn't drank a beer all week, so I resolved that by having a Blithering Idiot, followed up by a Saint Arnolds BA Barley Wine, so pretty much got my weekday ABV total in one sitting.

 

Yeah cost isn't really the reason I don't drink certain beers.

Unless you're talking the cost of airfare to Europe and a week off of work.

 

It has turned out I drink one beer on most weekdays at the moment, and maybe another during the weekend days. $4-$8 per day is a bit pricey. Yes, when ordering from abroad I may reach $6 shipping included, and having an even more expensive Oktoberfest sixer coming from the US.

But the beers I get from the super market cost around an average of $2. They are mostly 11oz though, not 16, so the math gets complicated. Would have a bit more special IPAs I think though, currently glancing a bit at the price when choosing between the lager at $1 and a $4.

Think I might drink a little less cans/bottles with a fixed price of $4, but not by much.

 

I try to keep my beer purchases around $2 per beer. I balance 4 packs and 750s with cases of SN and German beers to stay around $2. $4 wouldn't work for me. I would drink more American sake.

 

I'm seeing a lot of Belgian beer in my future.

 

I've always figured life is too short to drink cheap beer, so I buy what I want and adjust the quantity accordingly. A $12 RIS pint kind of puts a damper on any other purchases for a while. So if everything was 4 bucks a pint, I'd be in a world of trouble.