How does price affect the styles you buy?

I have the same philosophy concerning beer as I do with wine: There's enough good at reasonable prices to keep me from going overboard. That said; I'd love to test drive a Mercedes-Benz or Rolls Royce.

 

I usually don't pay more than $10 for a 6 pack, so it's either locals or Sierra Nevada/New Belgium etc stuff for me. Beer is plenty tasty, and I'm more of a grab a beer after work or a hot day kind of guy and put her down quickly, not a sit around a table with a bunch of dudes analyzing tiny sips of some rare bottle. I have no interest in "whalez" or expensive limited release beers, so I just stick with what works for me.

 

If I were to run into, say, St. Lamvinus on the shelf (which would be extremely unlikely to happen), it would retail for $30 if I was lucky. More likely $40-50. Fou Foune recently showed up on some shelf for $90 and it sold out practically instantly.

Hanssens Oude Gueuze is around $18-20 for a 750ml. Tilquin Oude Gueuze is around $20-22 for a 750ml. The only reasonable Gueuze styles are Lindemans Cuvee Rene and Oud Beersel, which can be gotten for around $10 for a 750ml. Domestic sours are variable between $10-30 and more for varying formats (sometimes four-packs, sometimes 375ml, sometimes 750ml). Berliners and goses tend to be cheaper and anything spontaneously fermented or "lambic style" of anything with fruit and the prices go up exponentially.

For comparison, regular good beers here are as low as $7-8 per six-pack. Sours are by far the most expensive styles on average, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that they're the hot thing and shops and breweries CAN charge that much and they'll still sell. Next in price are barrel-aged stouts/barleywines and saisons. Lager styles, porters, and pale ales are usually the cheapest.

 

I drink across the board, I am able to spend a little to buy a high priced beer every now and then, but mostly enjoy midrange priced beers. I reserve my funds for big beers knowing that I can enjoy over a longer period of time.

 

As some others have said, I go for a mix of quality and quantity. I'm relatively budget-conscious, so I'll occasionally "splurge" on a $15/6pk of Ballast Point, but for the most part, my 6pk purchases hover between $8 and $11, my 12pk purchases between $13 and $18.

 

Those are in AUD$ - so multiply by about 0.75 or so to get into USD