Infinite Demand Breweries?

SARA, Alchemist, de Guarde, Lawson's Finest Liquids

 

HF does it for me too. It hink there is a point where the price would become a deal breaker. It hasn't gotten there, but there is a ceiling.

 

I think that point is going to be different for everyone. There was some pushback on the ART price by some people. I didn't flinch either.

 

Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, H.ertie, Jester King, Alpine, Toppling Goliath

 

This is sort of related to a discussion point that's been bandied about before -- sure, a brewery with that sort of pedigree and momentum can charge, more or less, whatever they want at this point. The question is whether they could continue to do that over time. At those prices, expectations will be even higher than they are now, and if you don't deliver, you won't be able to charge as high a price the next go 'round because your reputation will have suffered. The counter to this is that if you only produce one-off beers, you can appeal to the tickers and pass off misfires by saying, "Well, we'll never brew that again."

Hill Farmstead is probably one of the strongest cases for infinite demand, because their track record is so golden. There are other breweries where I'm not so sure. My example lately has been Prairie, whose prices in CA are, IMHO, fairly outrageous. And, I'm not convinced the quality is there to back it up (on a consistent basis, anyway. They occasionally hit one out of the park, which is what keeps people coming back, as I referenced above.) Whether their path is sustainable...I guess we'll find out.

 

Drie Fonteinen alone is an expensive pleasure of mine. My wallet screams everytime I see a bottle. No regrets when I pop that cork though.

 

Yet to the OP 3Floyds comes to my mind.

 

Hill Farmstead is probably the only one for me (where I would buy blindly, and irrespective of cost [based on what they've charged historically; I, like everyone, have a limit])

But a big factor there, is if I'm buying bottles/growlers of HF beer, then I'm doing so at the brewery, which is a 6-8 hour drive from my apartment. So I'm unlikely to go up there and say "hmm if it was only a couple dollars less I'd probably buy that"

Nobody else comes to mind though

 

I think it would be interesting to do the experiment. If every beer were readily available I am guessing that pricing would be a determinate factor. As good as HF and the Alchemist are, if they were readily available I believe they would not command the price they do. Edited to say the Alchemist has never charged that much for their beers so I am assuming for this discussion it is as if they did raise there prices.

 

There are several others I'd buy anything from, but I think the easiest answers are Cantillon, 3F, Russian River, and Hill Farmstead.

 

The only brewery that comes to my mind is Hill Farmstead.

For those of you who are homebrewers you might be able to come close by brewing a clone? I have a clone of Hill Farmstead Everett that I just bottled last evening. I will not even claim for a variety of reasons that this is the same as the Hill Farmstead Everett but I didn't have to drive 8+ hours to get it so even if I am just a little bit close it will be worth it.

Cheers!

 

Does any brewery with a brewing and distro capacity well beyond HF's pass muster with this question?

 

HF is actually there with me, as I consider the travel time, line time, gas, inconvenience, etc as part of the "cost." I generally try to plan visits around vacations (or vice versa), and while it's still my favorite brewery, all of these factors have gotten to outweigh my enjoyment of their beer. The scale tips at different points for different people, though. I think my threshold for dealing the non-monetary costs is much lower than most people, I suspect (I am quite impatient).

 

I doubt any brewery could pass this criteria. Would anyone buy a bottle of rice lager made by Westvleteren that cost $8 trillion?

 

Absolutely not at all.

 

There is always a price or inconvience point I will balk at. There is so much great beer readily available to me for relatively cheap that I don't feel any desire to pay extremely high prices, take special vacations, trading, muling, etc. If anything I take more satisfaction in discovering an unknown gem of a beer flying under the radar.

 

I can't think of a single brewery in the world I would give that kind of carte blanche to.

 

At this point, HF and Toppling Goliath..if for no other reason than I have to drive like 5+ hours to IA or fly out to VT or ME, drive awhile, and Im not going to say "man, if it were just a few dollars cheaper than I would". If you make that effort, you pretty much have to go all in.

I think Three Floyds used to have that aura around here in Chicago, however given the number of breweries that have blown up around here in the last few years, the fact that you can find most three floyds at most decent stores/bars, I just think that barrel aged pipeworks is just as good at half the price now.