Anyone else have this problem? $$$

I have drove the same car for 14 years in large part because I have a monthly beer budget of $150-200. I keep telling myself that if I stopped drinking great craft beer so often I could afford a new car. God I love my old car.

 

There is no price on a hobby!!

 

I thought everyone on here made over $120k

 

I had this issue just last week. Was planning on buying a Lagunitas bomber, so like $5, or maybe one of the big German bottles (Celebrator, etc). Ended up getting Expedition and Louie's Reserve, spent 4x as much as I was planning.

 

$20-30 weekly budget here, so they are usually researched and pre-meditated purchases. Anything over $40 a week and my opportunity costs are far too great, e.g. groceries, clothes, gas, etc.

 

I do not drink a ton of beer. I would say only about 3 a week. When one of my son's visit it will be 6 to 10 over the weekend between us. I also drink a bit at home brew meetings but this does not matter for this discussion. I home brew and give over half of it away (again usually to my sons or for some party). My spending is probably about 50 a month. This encompasses about 30 dollars for commercial and 20 for home brewing. I usually buy a 6 a 4 and then one of something special for when the kids visit. I could spend a lot more on special stuff but refuse. I have a limit of 15 per bomber. And that better be some damn special beer. More likely it will be 5 to 8 for a bomber. I refuse to spend a lot of money just to try something hyped up. I can enjoy beer as a hobby without spending on the latest release. If I tripled my spending I do not think I would enjoy the hobby much more if at all.

 

I feel this pain....this month alone has been brutal....rare barrel membership $300....oh hey upland secret barrel society $250....congrats u won the upland lottery(twice) $250....o hey bruery memberships go on sale next week.....never ends lol

 

For some reason I always end up with about $40 of beer. I don't add the prices or anything, I just grab what I want, and it almost always ends up in the $40 range.

 

When I was in Tulsa in June, the guy at Whiskey Business said he would sell me a case of Wine Barrel Noir for $200. Not gonna lie..I thought about it..

 

This probably has something to do with the limitations of only having two arms. Try shopping while holding a water bottle next time and see if you spend less.

 

Every time I got to Jester King I spend like $400

 

I agree that would be true, But I usually set beer down on the counter while I continue to look and pick out what I want. I usually need a box to carry all the beer I get because 2 hands aren't enough haha.

 

I have exactly the same problem. Obviously being from Northern Ireland it is different beers that get me parting with my hard earned cash but it is an expensive hobby we have. Like you seem to I just set and budget and then fail to stick to it...

 

I'll buy a 24 oz Coors Light to spite my budget.

 

I've scaled back and don't miss it. If I buy a sixer of something good I'll save a bottle or two for a friend who does the same. I can get 16oz growler fills from the local beer distributor and try draft only stuff for about $5. And I do bottle shares so I don't have to get every rare release.

By saving on this stuff I can limit my big purchases to things I'm buying with the intention of aging or having when its no longer available. So far this strategy has worked for me and my budget.

 

Homebrewing has really helped me not buy much beer any more. After some initial up front costs for equipment I only spend $15-20 per 5gallons and generally have 3 taps going at the same time. Sure there's more time involved but I enjoy the hobby more than just buying some over hyped beer that I'm generally disappointed with. Now I can build a beer to my tastes instead of caring what other brewers are doing so much.

Maybe a more helpful suggestion would be to give up on the idea of "what if I never get to try this beer again? or what if they never make it again?". First of all, really who cares? You will live. Life goes on. You'll never try every cool beer. Also, if it's that good they almost always make it again. And lastly, you will only ever try the beers you were meant to try.

 

I chuckle at the comments of this being an expensive hobby. Very few things exist where you can enjoy the pinnacle of a style and in general be very affordable. Sure--anyone can find crazy ways to spend money in this hobby but I counter that readily available are things like Roch 10, Westmalle Tripel, phenomenal IPAs all over and other often overlooked styles for reasonable amounts. Roch 10 may not be cheap but to have something that amazing, from that far away for less than a Bud light at a football game--come on man. And just about anything from Lagunitas--cheap.

If all that makes folks happy is Cantillion and super rare barrel aged wonders--well I would argue those folks aren't as much of a true BA as they think they are.

 

Yes, I have OP's problem. It probably wasn't as bad because so few really great beers are distributed in Oklahoma, but then I discovered trading.

What's almost as bad is the miles I drive to get my favorite local growlers...

 

Things have been tight for me money wise for the last year and I've often had to question the amount of money I spend on beer. A little over a month ago I decided to quit smoking and it's been the best decision I've ever made both for my health and my wallet. I still spend the same amount of money on beer and don't feel nearly as bad about it now that I'm not spending almost $200 a month on cigarettes. For all you BAs who are smokers I am not casting judgement or trying to persuade anyone to quit, just saying it was the right move for me at this point in my life and I hope I've kicked them for good this time.