Doing Our Part to Bring Down Prices

Well... I already gave up one kidney (stupid brother!), I guess I could convince my wife to have another kid.

Nah, I'm just going to post rants on the CorvetteFan.com about how Chevy is price gouging!

 

Yeah, I say that to myself too, and then when I see something like Barrel Aged Raspy for $20 for 16oz, I think 'it is just 4 bucks, I don't care about an extra 4 bucks'...

I always find myself breaking any personal rule I set as soon as something I really want comes along

 

Damn. Got my badges mixed up. I'd take that C3, but I'm talking the C7 ZR1, not ZL1 (I'd take the Camaro ZL1, though, i'm not picky). Just like i'd take a Huna, but i'd "settle" for a Mexican Cake. <--- Probably will never even see both.

 

Man, in 1969 they made like 2 or 3 ZL1's - that's it. 427 big block and 500 horsepower - it was the most powerful Corvette ever built (at least as a production model) and remained as such for 30 years more or less... If someone promises to fit it with hand controls you can take my damn legs off to put one in the garage

 

I wish that was a mistake I could make regularly! Not kidding, there are 2 or 3 ZL1's ever from '69 - I don't know if one has ever come up for auction, but I don't imagine it would sell for less than 1 or 1.5 million...

So.... if you have one in a barn somewhere - PM me?

 

Glad to know that that was worth the price. At $35 it is the most expensive bottle I have.

 

Yeah, Re: Cantillon. I paid $25 for a 375 Rose on the shelf. Also paid $50 for LPK. But I won't go much higher than that. I left CSG on the shelf for $100.

 

As long as Jackie O's keeps bottling barrel aged happiness in 375s, I will keep paying the $12 asking price.

 

Yep, all true, but even during the worst of the gas prices, some people were still buying giant SUVs and gas guzzling V8 cars because they didn't care about how much gas cost - it wasn't an issue for them and could afford it.

Sure, less people bought gas guzzling cars when it as $4 a gallon, but Cadillac was still selling a fair few Escalades and tons of people bought V8 F-150's. You could get a hybrid Escalade or a V6 F-150, but lots of people didn't because they wanted the bigger engine even knowing it would cost them more to run.

Beer is the same way. The high priced end of craft beer can sell out in minutes on release, so it doesn't really matter what 90% of us do, what matters is if the 10% who don't care about price still keep buying.

 

Honestly, unless you really set a price point beyond whatever the people have agreed upon as "illegal" or "unethical to the degree of illegality" (although I'm not sure whether the Wuchergeschäft has an Anglo-american/Anglosaxon legal equivalent) I don't really think "ridiculous prices" exist beyond a person's utility. Which is pretty much what it boils down to and honestly, I've had very lengthy discussions about this and often the arguments against a certain group of people or certain prices break down at some point (some people really like to rage against people with higher expendable incomes in that regard and think of them as superficial but people with lower expendable income as less superficial when you can't make blanket statement's about the utility someone is going to derive from sth. in general).

Personally haven't spend a ridiculous amount on anything yet but that may just have to do with the fact because I haven't had anything that would warrant it. I think the most expensive thing I've bought so far was at 5-6€/0.33l

 

Too hard to answer because it depends on the beer. Also depends on a lot of other factors. $30 is usually where I would draw the line but a lot more thought goes into it than that.

 

I would say lower than what I picked.. But I did buy a few Deal with the Devils so I can't talk. haha.

 

Sure, there's always a little wiggle room. But as a guide line, $1/oz works well for me. Last fall a local brewery came out with a bourbon barrel ImpStout, nice label, cork and cage, $25/750. I had a few on tap (I actually drank 5 in a row, and killed the last keg of it), enjoyed it well enough, but in my mind, it wasn't a $1/oz beer. I sort of wanted a couple bottles to cellar, but I couldn't pull the trigger.

 

If I can ask, which college town? I was born in Indy, lived in Lafayette for a bit, grew up in South Bend, graduated from IU-Bloomington (where our beer of choice was Old Milwaukee Light - $3.99/case of cans at Big Red Liquors), moved back to South Bend, lived in Mishawaka then Noblesville before moving to Minnie in 1999. Between growing up and traveling to see family, college road trips, and selling in the state for 14 years, I would wager a case of Abrasive that I've been in 75% of the cities/towns in Indiana. Mrs. O and I still get back a couple of times a year for visits.

And the craze over ZD flummoxes me. Folks that don't know "craft beer" know that they should seek out ZD, which is cool, but they get all freaky deaky over the stuff. Is it good? Absolutely. Is it great? I think so. Is it the best beer I've ever had? No. But I can usually get my hands on it relatively easily through a couple of contacts that live in the general vicinity of 3F's, and I have no doubt I could start an "Underground ZD Railroad."

That's kinda weird, IMHO, because at the end of the day, it's just beer. One anecdote - our whole family was in South Bend at the beginning of the month. Mrs. O had been there a couple of days, Little O and I flew in on a Thursday and hadn't eaten, so we wanted to go eat and have a couple of beers (he's a budding beer nerd @ 24). 3 different friends that knew I was in The Bend told me we had to go to The Galley because THEY HAVE ZOMBIE DUST ON TAP!!!???!!!

So we went, and Little O had ZD (he hadn't had any for a while). I had Lagunitas Fusion 26, Burn 'Em Brewing Gawd Loves Fuggly, and Boulder Beer Shake Chocolate Porter. When my friends inquired if we went to The Galley ("Yes") and if I had ZD ("No"), the responses I received led me to believe I had committed an abomination against nature.

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE ZD???!!!???!!!???!!!???!!!???"

"No, but Little O did. He said it was great - really fresh."

"But, but, but, but, but, but, but ..... how could you not have ZOMBIE DUST?"

"Well, they had stuff I don't have easy access to (except the Shake - that I can get easily, I just wanted a good desert beer, and it fit the bill), so I had those beers instead. They were great, especially the Lagunitas."

Shocked silence.

"Yeah, but you could've had ZOMBIE DUST."

"Maybe next time."

Shocked silence.

"Yeah, but you could've had ZOMBIE DUST TODAY!!!"

Aaaaaannnnnnnnnd disengage.

It's just beer. Good beer - shoot, great beer. But just beer. It was a bigger deal to me to have a couple of new beers and, more importantly, hang out with my son whilst we enjoyed our beers, because I don't get to see him very often.

But he certainly enjoyed the shiznit out of his pint of ZD.

 

I'll pay as high as $10-15 for a ~12oz or similar size. To get in that range it'd need to have some good endorsements. Higher than that it has to have rave reviews and a long track record for me to spend more. Similar criteria apply for bombers, I'll go as high as $20, but to go any higher it better be magic. Alternatively if its a brewery that has a stellar reputation and a track record of producing high quality but expensive beers (like The Bruery), I may give the benefit of a doubt to them and fork the cash over.

I don't buy a lot of super pricey beer in part because there's no lack of really good stuff in the more affordable range. Do whats right for you, if something is super pricey try to get a taster for a few bucks at a bar or the taproom (when applicable).

 

I did pay almost $20 for a bomber while on vacation last month but I was on vacation and under the influence of a few pints of very high abv drafts so that doesn't really count. Every once in a while I'll drop $10 on Three Philosophers, under normal circumstances that's about my limit. Obviously, I prefer the craft beer or I wouldn't be here on BA and I am willing to pay a little more for Southern Tier and Sierra Nevada compared to BMC but I do have reasonable limits. There does come a point where it's just beer.

That $20 bomber was very good btw, I am glad I got it. It went very nicely with the hand rolled Churchills we bought in Ybor earlier in the day.

 

Hahahaha... That's funny.

I'm in Muncie (Ball State). The kids around here go nuts for it, but probably have never tried something as standard as a Stone IPA or SN Pale (not that they're equivalents per say). I'll buy a couple bottles MAYBE once every couple months. That's a hard maybe. It's funny to see the craze ("Hey, bro, got any Zombie Dust?!?"), but I guess we're a little spoiled with having a Top 10 beer so available.

I don't want to detract from the beer, though... because it IS a very, very good beer.

^^^^^^^^^^^
Because first world problems.

 

I think that, for the most part, beers are priced reasonably. If it is a beer I really want to try, price doesn't even go into effect when I buy it. For example, I didn't bat an eye when Blushing Monk came out. That being said, price does play a role when I'm on the fence about picking it up. And of course, I would never spend 35 bucks for Guinness The 1759. I chuckle every time I see it.

 

Sigh... words cannot express - I ache for it... Oh well