Let's Compare Craft Beer Prices in 2012

Sam Adams and Dogfish Head have gone up $1 in Texas. $8.99/9.99 is now the base price at most retailers.

Sierra Nevada packs (SNPA/Torpedo/Seasonal) 12-packs have actually gotten cheaper! Now theyre usually $13.99 instead of $15.99.

 

MA is just overpriced. As a store manager I know that some stores do gouge but many work on a similiar mark up. The price of ingredients go up nationwide but the price of beer goes up exponentially in MA. Chalk it up to MA taxes? Distributor? Not sure. MA has possibly the best (most) selection of beer in the country but the accessibility is strained. The beer is just plain overpriced and compared to other metro cities I've vistited (looking at you Seattle, Austin), liqour laws can also be difficult. Meh... another reason to move to Alaska.

 

I have often wondered why beer costs so much more here in Massachusetts than on the West Coast. If anyone knows, please say. Our excise taxes are among the lowest in the country, so it's not that.

 

Ahh I love these threads.... Really makes you appreciate where ya live, all NG, CW, Ale Asylum, Tyranena, SN under 8 a six. Two hearted is the most expensive thing I buy regularly at 8.50.... I LOVE WISCONSIN!

 

There seems to be much more supply than demand out in Pa nowadays.

To the OP I don't like it one bit..I would love to be able to get reasonably priced craft beer regularily but it doesn't look like it is going to happen anytime soon. I too dream on 3-5$ bombers.

 

Totalwine has gone up on many items but Sam Adams is holding at 6.50 a six pack of the lager, ale, cream ale, porter.
Belgian stuff has gone through the roof which is weird, and one assume gas prices are the cause, but the euro is way down...SN has gone up some, anchor went up a whole dollar a sixer this year. No big deal I set limits once they go over I am done. I can live with homebrew and cheap bluemoon, which is Still 12.99 a 12 pack. At Least Dupont Saison has only gone up a buck the last year at 7.50 a 750ml I still buy one about once a month.

 

At least you don't have to buy it by the case now though, huh!

 

While I identify with the theme of your statement, if you are looking to move to Alaska to reap cheap prices...I suggest you keep looking. Everything is more expensive than 90% of the country.

 

IIRC Sam Adams six packs are now $8.49 - $8.99 in most shops in MA, its home state. Why is beer so expensive in Massachusetts?

 

markup of course. I bet its costs Boston beer about 25-50 cents a bottle to make this beer.

TAXes One assumes is the main reason. Back in the day when Jack black was 9.99 in Texas in the navy oversea duty free the same bottle was $1.75. fed tax is bad enough but state taxes are insane in some states

 

Whose markup? The distributor's? The shop's? Why are markups higher here than elsewhere? Is overhead that much higher than in San Diego?

Also, prices seem very uniform in Massachusetts. There seems to be hardly any competition.

 

I edited my statement. Why I have NO IDEA! I wish I knew the break downs. Still I bet its tax differences now that I had my 3rd cup of coffee and thought about it. One assumes you have a higher tax in Mass than Florida. I always noticed the further north you go on the east coast the higher the taxes are.

 

Good guess, but that isn't the reason. The excise tax in Florida is four times the excise tax in Massachusetts.
http://taxfoundation.org:81/blog/monday-map-state-beer-excise-tax-rates-0

 

humm ok well ask the distro then, seems weird but not surprised Florida has lots of hidden Taxes. Well if its not taxes then I have no clue. Some one is making some EXTRA profit and its not BBC...

oh in most grocery stores BBC stuff is like 8 to 9 here. TW is discounting allot of stuff. My walmart does not even sell most craft. We have 1 Whole paycheck and they are about the same as most grocery stores, sometimes higher, but more craft of course.

 

MA has a high cost of living. Not sure how it compares to the rest of the country but around Boston everything is expensive, not just beer. Have you noticed the price of a small ice cream now-a-days!?

 

I know AK is stupid expensive, just feeling like grizzly man these days and throwing my cell phone in the river and moving to the woods. That map is awesome. I assumed MA would tax the shit out of beer as they seem to do on all other things. Now I need to know the reason! If I can't blame the man, whould do I blame? The cost of living in greater Boston is super inflated but the high pricing (relative to other parts of the country) extends beyond that area into the rest of the state. It seems like of NE in general is over priced. Someone, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Why don't people understand inflation? A low, stable level of inflation if a GOOD thing, and you should expect prices to rise slowly with time. Plus there have been chronic supply problems with many beer ingredients (it seems like it's barley one year, hops the next), which filter into prices less than you'd expect. And place-to-place differences are largely determined by local tax and shipping concerns.

This is all a non-issue.

 

I know I miss out on a ton of really good beer, but, I just can't pull the trigger on bombers $10 and up. The math per oz just kills me.

 

The answer is easy, they are charging what they can get away with - and in the Boston area full of craftbeer fans and not much strong base of local beers that offer value, the consumer has gotten used to it, so its a self perpetuating circumstance. Same issue with food in the area too.

 

As someone who runs a brewery all I can say is ... poor you. Have you ever considered there is a reason that most new breweries put out single serve, larger format bottles instead of 4/6/12 cases? hmm

It's very very very simple. Most new breweries typically can afford a small, 4-6 head bottling machine because these have been widely used over the years. It's not new technology so it's less expensive to buy new than a 12oz bottling line. They've been around a while an there are used units out there that are even more affordable. 12/22oz cases do not require a brewery to design and print cardboard carriers like 6pks do.

With all that being said, the cost of producing beer for a smaller brewery is typically going to be higher. Grain, bottles, labels, etc... all cost more when you do not buy truckloads at a time.