Beer will get more expensive, right?

I can say with great confidence that there is a good chance that beer may possibly increase in price in the future, maybe.

 

Yes.

 

I remember the good old days when we would take the 8 mile drive to Moscow (idaho) and pick up a couple of kegs of lucky lager for 35 bucks apiece (sadly it wasn't that long ago...15 years, ok that's pretty long). I feel for the kids in Pullman.

 

I think that the price of beer will continually fall until it is free or maybe we will just get paid to drink it.

 

I'm capping out at about $50 per. Bottle count better be pretty low and it better taste pretty spectacular for that though.

 

There are a lot of differences between the two:
- Grains are cheaper than grapes.
- Homebrewing beer is more common than making wine at home.
- People don't usually drink several bottles of wine in one day, or a bottle of wine every day of the week.
- Most importantly, many people are willing to pay $30 for a good bottle of wine instead of $3 for the cheap stuff. It is hard to convince a lot of beer drinkers to pay an extra dollar a bottle for a fancy beer. This might change, but probably not quickly.

 

I hope not!

 

It's already plenty expensive.

 

This is a really good question you are asking and one I have not seen this brought up lately. Personally, I hope it does not get more expensive. Because for the most part, Im oaky with a majority of the prices beers are marked up at. However, I do think Maine Beer Co. and The Bruery are so overpriced it makes me sick. They make fantastic beers, but I just can't bring myself to buy them on a regular basis. Those guys charge more than any other brewry I have come across. I could be wrong, but that's my experience. On that note, I hope this does not happen with more breweries.

 

I think the biggest "danger" to beer getting more expensive is additional taxes. That said, there will always be people willing to pay more - and in some cases much more - for "super premium" products be it beer, wine or spirits. Since a market exists, producers will continue to exploit the market until it either reaches saturation or they hit unsustainable price points. Personally I think with regards to beer that there is still room for growth on both counts.

 

Well depending on ingredient shortages (e.g. Water, Hops), beer could become more expensive. Since beer is looked upon as a luxury item and not an essential "food" product. Commercial brewers can charge whatever they feel they should to make compensation for the expense of said limited ingredient. As the world goes on and the cost of living goes up, naturally everything else goes up in price.

 

I found pricing for Maine Beer Company's offerings higher than average but I watched the people building the beer and saw the kind of production that went into making it. Between ingredients, preparation and the care of the employees...I found pricing to be fairly commensurate to the effort and ingredients for the quality of the brew.

Then again, I have no qualms about occasionally dropping $25 for a bottle of Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon either. The key word is occasionally. I think of and purchase these high-end boutique brews as occasional enjoyment or affordable luxury item.

 

No. The finest barley, hops, and yeast are only marginally more expensive, while the finest grapes to produce wine are exponentially more expensive with quality. For instance, you probably don't pay $100 per bottle for Welch's grape juice at the supermarket. In fact, I stopped all winemaking attempts and focus solely on brewing simply because I can make amazing beer for $1 per bottle but can't make anything as good as a good bottle of wine at Costco prices. The most expensive beers are typically something oak-cask-aged or with some other special take, but they would still be cheaper than a good bottle of wine regardless.
Vr,

 

There is a market at this ultra-premium price point, $50+ per bottle, if a brewery has the means, it would be foolish for them not to accommodate those willing to part with that type of money for a bottle. There are already several breweries moving in this direction with certain releases. You are going to see people up in arms about high priced beer, we just need to realize that breweries are not taking anything away from us, they are just providing new products to fill the demand that exists at this higher price.

With that being said, the overwhelming majority of beer will remain a very affordable luxury. Beer is thriving and will survive based on its current price point. It simply does not fit into many breweries business models to focus on such labor intensive, resource heavy products that would justify this price.

 

Beers that people lust after, that are limited (for various reasons) will always become more expensive with each new release. Fear not, there are tons of under-appreciated great beers for the discriminating buyer. I trust this will always be true.

 

There will always be a place for expensive products in any market place. The size of that niche will vary, according to multiple variables, including the economy.

Personally, I see this goldrush in premium-priced craft brewing as a recipe for disaster for many of these brewers. I visited a small, newly-opened brewery in southern maine several weeks ago while on vacation. where the 4-5 beers were each priced @ $10 for a 32oz growler. At home (SW CT), I'm more than happy to pay this same price point over and over again for a quality product...NEBCO is 10min from my house. Unfortunately, I thought the beers @ this Maine brewery were fairly mediocre. The problem is that, at their pricing, I'm not likely to give them a 2nd chance....espec when I know I can get consistently good beer from a number of other brewers in the area.

 

I'm not convinced all the Beuery stuff is overpriced. Let's day you buy a bottle of Chocolate Rain. It's 19.2% ABV. That's 5% higher than a good Cab, and it's. $37 or so. You probably can't drink as big a glass as you would with some Cab, so you can reasonably get 6 or 7 glasses for your dinner party out of it. It's essentially 7 or. 8 beers, ABV and Oz. wise. And it's significantly harder to find than a $37 Cab.

Same goes for other stuff like Sucre, Smoking Wood (13% but much cheaper at $22), other BT variants. Things like Sour in the Rye are $21-$22 here, which seems about on par with an excellent sour in that bottle size.

 

That's like $3.25/beer. Cheaper than Bud Light at a lot of bars.

 

I'm talking at-home consumption. When you start having kids, the bar scene often goes away