Exhibit 'A' Brewing Company

Not quite sure what all of the fuss is about, those prices look fine to me, if fact they look better than some of the newer brewery/tap rooms around here. Wish they we closer, I'd visit.

 

You must be new here.

 

"C'mon" is the correct take here. How much of a stink to do really need to make over a pint being priced $1 too high?

This brings me to my next question...

 

His prices are certainly in line with the rest of craft beer so let's just ignore the fact that it's Magnanimous' time of the month and carry on...

I stopped by on Friday. Had the porter, Cat's Meow and the DIPA. Really enjoyed the porter. It was interesting to learn that Mayflower still uses Matt's recipe, I like theirs a lot too.

As for the IPAs... Cat's Meow was tasty but nothing that I could see myself coming back for. Just personal preference. I did however enjoy the DIPA, I could see myself picking more of that up more often if I didn't have to all the way to Framingham for it

 

I expect it to be like this. As a retailer, why would I carry the product of any brewery in my area that was going to undercut me on price. Essentially taking from my business. Most breweries keep their prices high because they sell a lot more beer in retail, and want to keep everyone happy.

 

I understand the annoyance of a brewery undercutting their accounts, but it's interesting how quickly that logic goes out the window if it's a very popular release. Retailers mark it up as far as the they think they can take it. Sometimes they are reselling beer they bought at the brewery. Even something not rare like Trillium where you can walk out with cases all for less $$$ than I sometimes see in stores. I understand everyone is out to make money but why is it important for a brewery to play fair and then their retailer turns around and makes a bigger profit?

 

Because you're more convenient. That's the basis for pretty much all non-proprietary retail outlets. Stop at the store because it's on your way home rather than going out of your way to buy from the source. You pay a premium for convenience.

 

That makes no sense. That implies people have a constant 1 to 1 choice of buying at the brewery for x price or retail for y price. It's much more complex than that. If a brewery sends a beer to 10 stores across the state, they suddenly have 10 points of sale for their product.

Obviously if the demand at their brewery is sufficient to sell all their product, there's no point in sending it to retail. But you're not undercutting your retailers it's a mutually beneficial relationship.

 

Who's the one who made the argument that their beer was "worth every penny" and necessitated a high price because of buying a canning line and because they threw in a crap load of hops? Was that me?

I never argued anything was "made wrong" I'm calling out a questionable argument, which is that the beer NEEDS to be so expensive. It's quite bold to declare your beer "worth every penny" of a premium price when so much nearby world-class beer is priced comparably or cheaper. Time will tell.

 

ya, I agree with this. I always respect breweries that cut retailers out of the loop for price gouging their limited beers after being nice enough in the first place to allow them to sell them.

 

This is true if its a rare release or a super hard to get beer.. but as more and more real good beer has entered the retail market, this has changed. Take a growing brewery like Jacks Abby for example. If they started selling their beers for 30% less than what retail pays for it (which they could and still make a nice profit), I don't think a single store in the greater Framingham are would sell their beer. Shelf space is a premium. You would not give your competition shelf space in your store

 

Not sure you get it. Few breweries at startup can sell everything they want to make without distribution, why else would they distribute? Take the few examples like Trillium and Tree House that in the former's case can sell almost everything on their own and in the latter entirely and have therefore stopped distributing out of the equation and most breweries need to make a living by distributing part of their yield. This is the exact same in the wine business. Go to a vineyard, find a bottle, realize it's the same price as it is in a store, and then you can either moan about it and accuse the vineyard of gouging or realize that if the vineyard started selling at their shop for the same price they sold to their distributor that the distributor would come back and say, thanks but no thanks. Dude, go to a farmers' market, find some guy selling his cucumbers, do you think that price will be the same as the price he gives to Big Y?

In your last paragraph your first sentence makes total sense. Not sure what you are trying to say in the second.

Back to Exhibit A Brewing -- can't wait to try their beers.

Interesting choice of a handle too...

 

Not sure why quoting another professional brewer adds to this other than pointing out John's opinion. I certainly respect John and The Alchemist, but we are different company's doing different things. I was just asserting that we spend a ton of money on ingredients, thus reflecting the cost of our beer. I do many formulas to get our prices to a point that makes sense for our business model.

 

While I always appreciate a good mention, every brewery has its own math in determining pricing, and it goes a lot further than average rent in a given town. One cannot assume any parity in costs between ingredients, labor, equipment, etc, between breweries. We have different economies of scale, different business plans, different investors with different expectations. The prices we pay for hops depending on our contracts (or lack thereof) with primary vs secondary suppliers can alone be a huge influence on cost. In our relatively small corner of the industry, the market will bear considerable variations in price, particularly when the "value" of the product is hugely subjective.

Exhibit A may be a new brewery, but Matt is obviously far from being a new brewer. He is understandably proud of making an excellent Kölsch, a style that remains somewhat uncommon, and not always brewed particularly well, and Continental examples of which often hit the US market in a distressed state. I think it's certainly worth your $0.3402 or whatever cents per ounce, if you're into that style of beer!

 

Lol to everyone saying "new brewer." Quick Google search is all it takes, fellas.

 

re: Trillium - A bunch of people in this forum complained about diacetyl with the first Launch release.

 

I'm literally astonished what I'm hearing. Your wine example is a non-starter since we're talking beer. My whole life beer has been cheaper at the brewery than it is at a bar or at retail.

I could list so many examples, but people are selling bottles, 4-packs, 6-packs, and cases at their brewery for wholesale price in many cases. The beer didn't get delivered anywhere. It costs less at the brewery than it does at retail.

The retailer has to mark up the wholesale price to make their margin. The brewery does not.

Does anyone have an example where Trillium cost the same at retail as the brewery?

 

Since I happened to be at Julio's Liquors today:

Day & Night: $11.99 (brewery price $12)
Deciduous: $16.99 (brewery price $17)

 

Redstone's has Trillium at the same price as at the brewery. It is very common. Allagash's beers are the same price (sometimes more) at the brewery than at retail. Like it has been pointed out, it is so the brewery doesn't undercut the retail store. It's a common practice and makes sense if you think about it.

 

Another example - Nightshift $14/4-pk at the brewery, 11.99 retail.