Elevating Premium Lager

I'm looking to see what higher price is minimally justified at the retail level for a 6-pack of a premium lager. Since grains and yeast are the same I'm going to estimate yeast at $5.00 and grains at $30 for a 5-gallon batch. Your hop prices above add up to $2.44 for an AAL, and $6.95 for your CAP. (No aroma hops for the AAL?) I may be out of touch for the yeast and malts, but I'm thinking they're close enough for this demonstration.

So adding the hops, malt and yeast for each style I get a total cost of $37.44 for the AAL, and $41.95 for the CAP. That's a difference of $4.51 or 12% if my math works. So a 6-pack of a 'craft' AAL might be $10 and a mathematically justified price for a CAP (premium lager) shouldn't be any more than that 12% difference, or $11.20.

@ramseye4 is $11.20 for a 6-pack of a premium lager in your budget if you can find one where the brewery, distributor, or retailer don't artificially mark up that beer just because it uses the word premium?

 

I would 100 percent pay 11.20 for a six pack as long as it’s good. I would not pay 13.99 for 4 16 ounce cans of it though.

 

Tom, is Upland Champagne Velvet available for sale in your area? If so, what does a six-pack cost? That would be an interesting comparison point.

This beer is not available for sale near me. I went to the Beer Menus website and used Bloomington, IL as the location and I got this 'hit':

"C.D. Discount Liquor

96.6 miles away · 344 Commons Drive, Bolingbrook, IL 60440

Beer Store · Menu Updated: 04/07/2023

12oz 6 Pack Cans $8.99"

It would appear that this beer can be priced at below 10 bucks. A worthy purchase?

Cheers!

 

Their website says mostly sours and specialty beers in Michigan but I haven't seen anything from them in the stores that I frequent. https://uplandbeer.com/distribution/ They are probably mostly available in the greater Detroit area.

You mentioned Short's Pontious Road Pilsner in your CAP definition, and I've had that beer and loved it, but it hasn't been brewed for regular distribution in 6-7 years (or more). (It was distributed in a pre-purchase arrangement this year, but you had to buy a case of it.) I think they priced it at their regular 6-pack prices.

 

Yeah, when writing my article I had a challenging time finding examples of craft brewed CAP beers and the whens & wheres aspects.

Another example that I just recalled was Jack's Abby Pre-Pro Pils:

https://jacksabby.com/beers/pre-pro-pils/

Apparently it was released last August and maybe only available for sale at the brewery?

Cheers!

 

Schells makes a BA Cave aged Dark lager most years . This is superb/premium Lager /Baltic Porter @ $15 , this i will pay for.

 

To me I don't see the American/Premium Lager style taking off for two reasons and two different populations of people:

1) The average American drinker: Price. You cant sell a Premium Lager at twice the price of a macro AAL for those that can't tell and don't mind the diffference and expect to stay in business. Economics.
2) To a craft beer drinker: It's an American Lager. No matter what you do to it, its a boring American lager. At the end of the day I'm going to pick a German, Czech Pils, a Helles, a Zwickel, a Kolsch, a Dortmunder, a Pale Euro Lager, or anything else that has more flavor and complexity.

That's my opinion on the American/Premium Lager style. Perhaps if you standardized the CAP (Classic American Pilsner) style that @JackHorzempa mentioned you could at least get some bragging rights and may start a trend for the style. But in terms of pale lagers in general, breweries have a whole lot of room to expand in some of the styles I listed above rather than the "Premium Lager".

 

Altes Original Detroit Lager is at Meijer for $15.99 a 12 pack. I prefer this over Champagne Velvet at the same price point.

 

I am unfamiliar with this beer but I found a video review of it (linked below). Sounds like an interesting beer and according to the reviewer it is 'moreish' than a typical contemporary AAL beer.

Does this beer have a limited distribution (e.g., just Southeastern MI)?

Cheers!

 

Some Cincinnati area breweries seem to have it figured out.

Braxton Garage Beer (mentioned in the article) is $15.99 a 15 pack and is the #1 selling craft lager in OH, KY, and IN (according to Jake Rouse of Braxton Brewing).

Madtree Legendary Lager (2022 World Beer Cup Silver Award winner) is $15.99 a 15 pack.

Rhinegeist Cheetah Lager is $14.99 a 12 pack.

All of these beers are good and sell very well.

 

Is any of those a particular favorite for you?

Cheers!

 

I've seen Altes somewhere, so I'll check my Meijer store.

You've seen the Champagne Velvet here in Michigan? And you're in the GR area, right?

 

Maybe most of these craft brewers don't know what some of the better AALs tasted like? Actually, Brooklyn Pilsner was originally a fine Pilsner style beer (proving they did understand premium beer flavors), but "reinvented" and reintroduced Pilsner, to my taste an unappealing adjunct lager (premium lager). Evidently, the better beer didn't sell well enough. Maybe what I (and some others) think of as attractive lager flavors just don't sell.

 

There is currently some Legendary Lager in my fridge. I kinda go back and forth between Cheetah and Legendary Lager depending on which packs are the freshest when I'm shopping. I tend to buy Garage Beer the least out of the 3.

 

Limited to Michigan in general is my understanding . I have bought it at several stores all in SW Mich.

 

I bought a couple if 12 pack cans (only option) at Sheel’s on 44th street in Wyoming Mich. Not always available, however.

 

Uh... Price check in the beer on aisle, please.

Acting as if consumers shopping for a [in the article author's own words] "... straight up, classic American Lager... " will ignore prices of similar products is ridiculous.

Agreed. This author has no idea what they talking about.

An argument could even be made that the adjunct corn is the only fully American ingredient in an American Lager, since corn historically was cultivated in the Americas and it's use in beer was an American invention.

Comparing costs of homebrewing to commercial brewing is an apples to oranges comparison. Home brewers aren't including costs like labor, packaging, distribution, marketing, QA/QC, property leases, electricity, water, heating, taxes, administration, investments, loans, and of course some profit margin. All of that far exceeds ingredient costs. (can someone help me out and post that old infographic of brewery costs? Maybe @jesskidden?) Besides, commercial brewers can also buy ingredients in bulk so the prices they pay are even comparable to home brewers. Furthermore, digging into costs of using one grain or hop vs another the difference to final beer price is pennies on a dollar, or a rounding error. Let's not forget that brewers don't really control the final price retailers set either.

 

Lager will struggle to be "elevated" because people seem to associate it with it being less complex or less worthy of analysis. American's seem to think it's ok for beers with more ingredients to cost more and to be analyzed to death. Said differently, beers with fewer ingredients should cost less and get less attention.

"Triple IPA with lactose, grapefruit peel, and mulch for $28 a four pack? Yes sir! Let's sip on it and talk about it for three hours at my house tonight"

"Pastry stout with Lucky Charms, creme brulee, Dr. Pepper, and, of course, cocoa nibs for $30 for a 750ml? Sign me up! I'm going to open it and discuss it in a 60 minute Facebook Live."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, $14 for a four pack of beer that uses just water, yeast, malt, and one maybe two hops? Hell no man, I just want a beer I can drink, not something I want to think about!"

 

Retail & distributor markup. Oy.