I was inspired by the "Getting crafty with the 'Craft Pack'". I can't really relate to the other thread because in MD, chains (i.e. grocery stores) can't sell alcohol. Mix Six places are far and few between here in MD. We have places that do the 10-15% off of a full mix six with no bottle limits, but everything is priced at these places so that it would be more expensive than just buying a normal pack of it and at these stores there is no section for it, you just pull the bottles straight out of the packs (Perfect Pour is the most egregious around here, $5+ for a bottle of GI The Illinois). Then, you have places like the Wine Source that have a specific section for singles, but it is very disorganized and pricing is never really up since stock is constantly shifting; however, you are allowed to pull singles out of any pack, but they want you to then take that pack over to mix six area. Also, there is the place that has a small selection but everything is placed into one of four price categories signified by a colored sticker. Finally, we have the places that have a singles aisle with everything priced so that singles are cheapest and there is no discount on a full mix six.
Generally, I am not a B1G fan of the mixed six pack. I prefer to buy quantities of the same beer to share with my family and friends.
I know a place where you can buy anything in the store as a single (Option 3), but don't really consider that a Mix-a-Six; it's just 'buying bottles of beer' (mainly because you can get any number of bottles). I like the Mix-a-Six rack with only certain beers at a discount price the best ($8.99 for a sixer, no matter what's on the rack), because occasionally there are nice things there that have gotten under my radar and it prompts me to pick some up. ETA: (I assume that is Option 4, so that's the one I'll vote for).
At my store theres a whole rack of single beers that sell single for 2.99 or a 6pk for 12.99 anything on the rack can be used for a 6. a great way to try new beers without the worry of not liking one and having 5 more sit in the fridge. Some great beers involved such as hop nosh, ccb , some founders
Wish I could choose a single of any beer from any six pack, but no place around me allows that. That would be my vote for sure. I am confused why anyone would choose Option #3 over Option #1, they seem like the same thing to me only Option #3 does not offer a discount?
There are a couple stores here that sell individually priced singles and I am more than OK with that. I bought two Westy 12s at one of these and gave one away as a gift to a friend recovering from a serious illness (that's gonna bounce him back for sure). There is one place that allows you to pick six (any six) off of a wall of selections that they refresh on a fairly regular basis. Although the latter may seem like a more self-centered approach, I go to this store with a buddy and we each choose six different brews according to our tastes, and then we do a tasting where we split a given bottle down the middle. Works well. He snags darker brews and I shoot for the hoppy stuff. Voila, 12 beers tasted and depending on the ABVs I am usually not too shittered.
One of the stores I frequent lets you mix anything up into a six pack and you pay the price of what would be the most expensive of those beers with an extra $1 tacked on for breaking up 6/4 packs. So if I make a mix-six pack with beers that would cost $9, 11, 12, 10, 11, and 9 for a sixer, the mix-six would cost me $13 (most expensive beer is the $12, plus another dollar thrown on).
I like having everything in the store available as a mix six, whether or not it is discounted is irrelevant. I have a few of my stores that do this. They basically just price tag every single bottle cap in the 6 pack aisle, and also have a 6 pack price. It's the best way to have a good selection to choose from, and the prices are still solid from what I would expect for singles. Most of my stores that do the 10-15% off a 6 have a piss poor selection and I rarely mix a 6 there.
