Complaining about Prices

It's been probably 4 years since I've been to Lost Nation but I remember pints there cost in $4.00 range. Is that still the case? Loved it there and thought the food was great.

 

Friend went, and relayed everything was mediocre but the sour was great. FWIW.

 

Came here to stump for The Pour House too - right in the heart of things and you can routinely get a burger, fries, and a pint for $12-15, and on half-price nights you can get the same for $8-9

 

$12 for 12 oz of Trillium Fort Point at Smole Shop Seaport. Right next to $8 for 16oz of Fiddlehead IPA.

 

I’m going to say that your friend doesn’t know much about sours then.

 

I don't know, except for what I've heard. My friend is a giant Hill Farmstead fan, as well as enthusiast for many hyped up breweries.

 

My main complaint about prices is simply that every new brewery that opens around here, or that newly lands in my local store, thinks I'm going to pay Tree House prices for a beer I've never had, that is very unlikely to reach that level of quality. $15/4pk is not a price I'm willing to pay unless I know the beer is superb, but it seems like that's what every new entrant to the market is trying to charge. If new brewers want me to take a flyer on their product, they should price it more reasonably. I can buy good beer for reasonable prices from Jack's Abbey, Wachusset, Fort Hill, etc. Or I can buy better beer for more money from Tree House, Lawson's, etc. I'm not going to pay that second price level for something whose quality is more likely to be similar to the beers in the first group.

 

That's a good point. If you aren't delivering on quality, you are going to either not garner those prices or see a dip in sales. Given some of the sentiment in this sub-forum, I wonder how much people are cutting back on trying to have everything and buying stuff they enjoy for repeat purchase or from breweries that actually deliver on quality. I think a lot of us want the businesses we like to do well, but at the same time, we as consumers do have power to move the needle. We need to realize that.

Since I moved to VA, I've stuck my toes into what some of these hop factories are doing and have come away a bit unimpressed (I'm in NoVA so I'm not getting like Veil/Triple Crossing cans). I've basically got a default beer that I enjoy drinking (a pilsner) and I go to the store knowing I am going to enjoy it 8 times out of 10 over whatever hoppy beer is in vogue and available. I don't need to try the one hop change in an ever evolving and only alright series of IPAs from Commonwealth, ya know?

I think if I was in MA, I'd be feeling the same, sticking with the JA/Notch/Idle Hands/CBC mix, with Tree House whenever I could swing a trip. That's just my state right now.

 

I would put Jacks Abby in the first group.

 

Many new breweries rely on mobile canning services because they need the flexibility, often have space constraints, and generally aren't capitalized well enough to afford their own canning line right out of the gate. This jacks up the price to consumers by a few bucks a pack, which I agree tends to put them out of the reasonable price range.

 

ditto on this

Also, I just continue to be surprised at the sheer number of breweries that can get away with $15 4-packs of 16 oz cans at retail. I certainly dont buy them, I buy from a handful of breweries that I know are high quality, mostly from the source.

 

Maybe I should have read page 2 before replying haha

 

You could have said the same thing 10-15 years ago, except it would have been bombers instead of 4pks. Every brewery's first beer was a $8 hit-or-miss bomber.

 

At least it’s a better deal now.

 

The point has mostly been made already, but I am on the gripe train about brewery prices. How can a 12 oz pour be $8 at my local bar and $8 at the brewery? How is a 4 pack $15 at my local packy, but then $15 at the brewery? You are cutting out multiple layers of people who need to to make a profit, can't you cut the consumer a break for coming straight to the source? Now I am not saying it should be $2-$3 a pour or $8 a 4 pack, but can't it be like $6 for that pour and $12 for that 4 pack? You are still making a profit!

 

Heck, it's not hard to find packies/bars that undercut breweries on pricing. Total Wine in Natick, for example, is something like 20% cheaper than Jack's Abby, and they're just 3 miles apart.

I think breweries have (correctly, IMO) assessed that people don't drive miles out of their way to visit to save 10% on beer. They visit for an "experience" and to try beers that are difficult to find. And if customers don't care about price, breweries might as well charge as much as they think their customers can stomach.

 

Agree - while I understand the complaint that breweries should offer their beer cheaper because of no middle man - we need to collectively remind ourselves that pricing is primarily a psychological game (in most industries). There's a psychological value people place on drinking beers from the source - something stores can't offer. Breweries recognize that and price accordingly to mirror that value.