Great Notion

its 12oz, and its pretty damn close to in line with what everybody else charges. I got a 10oz goblet of Armored Fist for $5.50 over the weekend and 12oz of Hop venom for $5. I just dont see how a 12oz of double IPA for $6 is so insane. hell, Hair of the Dog charges $12 for 12oz pours of barrel aged beer all the time and if it wasnt good, people wouldnt buy it. Cascade charges a lot for any of their beers. the difference is that you (we) believe that their "process" is worth it and justifies the price, while you are not convinced GN is doing anything to warrant their pricing. But from my few visits to GN, the patrons seem pretty happy with the product and are not put off by a very slight uptick in price (if at all depending on what beer you want to compare it to)

This is also the beauty of the free market. if people decide its not worth it, they can pay maybe a dollar less and get a few ounces more beer at one of the 357 other options in town. i dont see this as some sort of earthshaking trend.

Now for the Crowler and Growler pricing, i am taking a wait and see approach. Right now the prices are ridiculous, but I am guessing that because they are so small, they need to maximize profits on every ounce of beer sold. They just cant produce enough in mass quantities to make cost cutting on those sizes effective. If they are successful and continue to grow, i would be suprised if they keep the current pricing structure. if not, I can say that I will pretty much never pay $15 for a crowler of double IPA other than maybe once a year

 

If consumers prove that they will pay a given price for a given good, where is the incentive for the business to reduce the price, even if their cost to produce is lowered?

 

well right now they are new. as people get more used to them and the "novelty" wears off, I doubt people will continue to pay $28 for a Growler of IPA. I know I sure wont. But, given that they are already running out of their signature beers, Im guessing they are offering growlers and crowlers for those that REALLY want to take some to-go as a convenience, but they would be happy just selling everything by the glass. Once they have the volume, that becomes the incentive to knock prices down and move beer out the door before it goes stale.

 

Right. But, if, say, it costs them $3 to produce a 10oz glass, and they can't keep it on tap when they charge $6 for it, why lower the price when the cost to produce is down to $2? Maybe I'm just a cynical, skeptical old bastard, and when the hype-train comes along with the next new, shiny toy, they'll have to lower prices. But I doubt it.

 

I think you guys are overestimating how much people are hemming and hawing over $1. the price for their stout and blueberry sour are right in line with those styles of beer (so no issue there i think??). so we are really only talking about Juice Box here. $6 over $5 literally makes no difference to most people, especially if you only have one. From my last 2 visits, it appears plenty of people (judging by the packed bar) are willing to pay this premium for a beer that doesnt taste like every other IPA from every other brewery in town. Lots of people dont crave piney resinous hop bombs and want something new.

Again, the Crowler and Growler pricing is way out of bounds and I would expect that to change with the volume they produce unless they are content encouraging people to just buy their stuff by the glass forever.

 

It's because once the prices go up, they never come down. I mean, if they came down, back in 2007 when there was a dual hop and malt shortage and prices went up, you'd think once the shortage was over they'd come back down. Nope, didn't happen.

 

Which kind of begs the question: If people don't want bitter, why do they want IPAs in the first place?

Kind of reminds me of those people who won't drink coffee unless it's been rendered nearly unrecognizable by massive doses of cream and sugar, but I digress.

 

Because they want to be seen as hip, trendy, knowledgeable, and into the scene, yet want to drink something that reminds them of watching TV after school, before Mom and Dad got home?

 

If their prices are higher than costs dictate and their popularity continues, expect competition to soon appear. Right now they are new and unique. But if their unique (to the NW) style continues to sell fast at a premium, then others will follow. Making non wild or non barrel aged beers is not magic. Brew a decent stout, throw a bunch of extracts and adjuncts in the tank and you're in business. Make a decent IPA, skip the filtering or cold crashing into tank, add all your hops late, and a new milkshake is born.

 

Not new or unique if you're purging an already trendy style. Call it bandwagon brewing. Let's toast those brewers not in the cloning business. Have they attempted a non hazy-juicy ipa? When I was their it seemed the menu consisted of said ipas (ripe was beyond words great), a nitro and two sugary spiced options. On the other hand my wife who turns her nose up at any ipa really enjoyed jukebox, so they have kudos their. Expand the beer menu which I'm sure they will do once they catch up brewing the India Pulp Ales.

 

Not even the sharpest BA economist can put a price on 'world class'.

 

how about people just want to taste different things once in a while? I think this is one of the reasons I enjoy beer so much. Once I get tired of a style, its so easy just to move to something else for a bit

 

Hey Guys, this is Paul from Great Notion and I just want everyone to know that we have normalized our draft pricing strategy to be $5 per beer across the board. However, as many of you know, the glass size will differ depending on the beer you order similar to many of your other favorite breweries. So to clarify, Juice Box and Double Stack are now only $5 in-house just like our other beers! Our crowlers are $12 and $15 depending on the beer. On a side note, we have some new 15 bbl fermenters being installed soon so expect us to have more beers on tap regularly. Thanks for your support, everyone!

 

Thanks for the info you guys are doing a killer job, Your IPAs are awesome but that blueberry muffin. Dadamn!

 

I definitely appreciate when brewers are THIS transparent (also Jacob at Modern Times, etc.) ... as an out of towner visiting PDX for the first time this weekend, Great Notion will be one of the first places I visit after I take my foot-selfie picture with the #pdxcarpet

 

$15 for a crowler is definitely on the high end for OR, but transparency is appreciated. I loved my crowler of Juice Box, and as much as I'd like to say the price should be lower, the experience was worth it. Smart move to normalize pricing across the bar.