Justifying bottle shop prices

I don't compare to a bar price or anything, I just think is it worth $12 for 375ml? If I really like the brewery and previous offerings from them that is a factor. Another would be if I like the style or not. I generally try to stay below $10 if at all possible when dealing with 22oz or less. Bigger 750ml bottles I usually keep it around $15/16 or so.

 

I don't justify my purchases. I honestly don't feel like I have to. If I have the money and I want something I buy it. If I don't have the money, it stays on the shelf. If I may have the money but I am not sure, I think about what I will have to give up, and which I would prefer to have.

 

In 2010 I bought a bottle of The Abyss at a local grocery store on sale for $9... the most I had ever spent on a single beer and put it in the back of the fridge and had it late one night after I had already had a couple 'regular' beers. Once I knew beer could taste like that $ became less and less an issue. Been here on BA for a little over 2 months and have made 10 trades. Now I have a 'FedEx' problem.

 

No. Not weird.

In fact, I really started getting into craft beer in 2012 when I made this realization. Being married with kids, I don't get out to bars very often. My wife would have "girl's nights out", but I prefer to use my free time playing soccer or biking rather than a "guy's night out". So, when I realized that buying bombers or expensive craft beer from a bottle shop is no different than going to a bar and paying equivalent or more, I was on my way...

 

I work in a bottleshop/bar in Cincinnati. What we do here, and the way it should be everywhere, is take the price on the invoice, multiply by 1.25 and that gives us the standard retail price. I have seen some shady venues that up charge on special releases, which is awful! We sold KBS at $6.04 a bottle, which is the correct retail pricing. It's a shame that some of these ass clowns bump up the price so high. Ugh!

 

I remind myself of bar prices mostly when I balk at paying $4-5 for a 12oz can of Ten Fidy or something like that. For the $10+ like Prairie Bomb I remind myself that just one of those by itself will get me most of the way to my happy spot because its much higher octane.

 

Yesterday I justified buying a bottle of Props for $50 at a hole in the wall shop. In the end it came down to my time vs. the extra 25 bucks above retail. The last 2 years I waited in line for countless hours in the cold, traveled all across town, researched, etc to land as many bottles as I could. Yesterday I thought my work pays me X an hour, I wasted Y amount of time to get 1 bottle on avg. It was a no brainier, the only thing I regret is not going back and getting another.

As I type this I realize the only reason I buy BC Variants is because of trade value. Oddly enough BC Bomber's are cheaper on draft then MSRP in Chicago and pop up enough where you can get your fill as I have. So sadly this scenario doesn't fit into this post as well as I originally thought, or maybe it does because most at one point played this game and "justified" paying more because of Hype or Trade Value.

As far as Bomb, as I sip on one once again fresh in Chicago. I'll be spending my 30 bills on a 12 pack of Victory at Sea over 3 Bomb from now on.

 

If I get something from the bottleshop it will be to sample a beer I wanted to drink but havent yet. I don't get anything I've had before from a bottleshop so it's the curious ticker in me that justify the price. I rarely leave with a 6 pack. Normally a bottle or two and this is not on the reg.

 

I kind of do the opposite. I won't buy something at a bar that I can get in a bottle, unless it happens to be similarly priced, and typically when that is the case it's a rare or limited release beer, so I'd likely be getting it regardless.

 

We all do it. Or buy Miller Lite.

 

I use Jim lahey economics $2300 for beer and 200 for food ratio

 

Not weird at all but only if you live in an inner city.

 

I have a set limit for a max-per-bottle price, and right now it's $8 per bottle. (That limit slowly creeps up with the general pricing of craft beer.) The $8 limit is set at that price because that's what I can get a certain bottle (Arcadia's Shipwreck Porter) that really maximizes my appreciation for a beer of any kind/style, and any beer that is priced higher than that is only causing me to pay extra for its hype, which I refuse to do.

 

I see where you're coming from and of course you're right about there being those different cost structures. I think that for many of us, the drinking experience is roughly close to the same for a variety of reasons, including of course the main component which is the pure enjoyment of a flavorful beer. So, compare a $2 pour of Union Jack at home vs. around $8+ at a bar that includes tax and tip. I'm sorry but for many of us there just isn't enough about a pub atmosphere and such that somehow justifies such an exponential price difference for what is roughly the same experience. I realize that for some people they think it is. Fine. For the rest of us who think that beer tastes the same at home as in the pub, it is a very helpful reminder to note to ourselves how outrageous pub pricing is... as a factor for justifying various bottle purchases for home consumption.

 

You and me both

 

I think I have a harder time justifying what I am paying in a bar/restaurant. Went somewhere last nite (one of the nicest/most expensive restaurants in Houston) and paid $10 for Brooklyn Sorachi Ace Saison. The whole time thinking man my ass hurts. that is like a 400% markup on beer. I can get a six pack of it for like $10. Only one word I can think of. Butthurt