New Breweries - Big Bottles

because next week they will have a different release...for a couple bucks more. And there are many other new breweries with the same large formats.

With all of the options now there has to be a line drawn at some point to be able to make a purchase. Sure at one point, being a new brewery and selling in large format bottles worked great (the Bruery), however, that strategy is quickly not working as the market has dramatically grown and changed.

 

I see your point about advocacy and I may agree if there's no other option to try said beer other than the expensive bottle. However, with it being a local brewery, the chances are, I can either go to the brewery itself or a beer bar to try this beer on tap at a lower price. Does it still make sense to set the msrp at a price higher than the competition? Maybe I'm just arguing about some change here and there, but it makes a difference for penny pinchers like myself.

 

Your argument works better without the hyperbole. A brewery doesn't release a beer every week. Especially for a small outfit, the truth is quite the opposite. Every release takes substantial time and investment, and the small brewer doesn't have the purchasing power to exert any high degree of control on his costs.

But obviously there comes a point where the cost is objectively too high. If a beer reaches a price you're uncomfortable with or can't afford, you don't pay it. But in some small way we're all supporting an art, and paying a few extra bucks to support the local guy is something I'm proud of. It's a philosophical thing I guess.

 

Most of the small new NC breweries are in 750 mL bottles. I want 12 oz bottles since I dont normally share or have people to share with.

 

This is the part I've never really understood—buying local for the sake of buying local. Now I buy local beer, produce, whatever because it's generally fresher, burns less fossil fuel to get to me, good for the local economy etc. But I don't look at it as "supporting" something the same way I support public radio or a nonprofit organization or what have you.

Supporting the local guy just because he's local is kind of like rooting for your local sports team—it's kind of meaningless at its core, especially given that most of the players for the local team come from somewhere else and live in gated communities you'll never visit (analogy falls apart toward the end of this sentence, so take it very loosely).

Maybe it is a philosophical thing, and maybe it does "feel good" to buy local, which is kind of an intangible value. But I believe more strongly in supporting quality, no matter where it comes from.

 

true a brewery is not releasing a new beer every week. I worded that wrong. What I was meaning to say is that between all of the new breweries (both local and new to your market) there are typically new beers every week. This does not include well established breweries that are releasing their new releases/seasonals/special release, etc.

I think the main difference in view is I am not saying a price is too high for people to afford, I am saying they (the brewery) are out pricing the themselves. As i mentioned in a thread earlier today, I believe people (and most things) work on a path of least resistance, especially in a market overwhelmed with options (like the craft beer market). When given a high number of options you need to start looking at reasons to eliminate things, cost is an easy criteria to start eliminating options with.

This is similar to resumes with a job opening. For a given highly desired job they may receive 100s of resumes. They cannot look deeply into each one, so they need to start making a reason to cut resumes out. This could be formatting is weird, they went over the page limit, not enough previous experience, simple typo/spelling/grammar error. Does this mean they are choosing the best applicants, maybe not, but they have to start somewhere.

 

That saison is worth it.

 

Same thing is happening here in the Boston area - if some startup around here was actually capitalized enough to produce six and 12 packs, they could differentiate themeselves from the overcrowded big bottle format market.

For these new breweries who bottle in .5 liter, 750's, and bombers - its one and done for me (if I like the style to begin with) - just to check them out. Can't afford to drink them on the regular. Based on my experience so far, their loss, not mine.

 

This is why I buy more Hop Stoopid, Racer 5, and Hop Rod!!!

CHEERS!

 

Isn't it crazy that Manzanita charges premium prices for their mediocre beer? It's hilarious. Manzanita Chaotic - $7. Stone Ruination - $5. One is well made and consistent, one is not.

 

No doubt. A $4 Racer 5 is higher quality and better tasting than most $8 wanna-be me-too IPAs out there...

 

I was thinking the same thing...I'm not saying I dont agree with the OP, I actually do, but if you guys saw what a bomber usually goes for in NY you would shit the bed, lol. I can literally count on one hand the amount of bombers I could get for $5.99-8.99 range.

 

This thread just makes me even more proud of our local brewery here, New England Brewing. Not only are their regular six packs $9.99, they come in cans! And they also offer some of their special brews in 4-pack cans for $10.99, and it's some of the best beer out there (though quite a few liquor stores around here mark them up because of the demand, but that's a different topic). They do one or two 500/750 bottles though. Hoping in the future they release more of their special brews in cans (Gold Stock anyone?!)

 

People say we're in a craft beer bubble, I think it's more of a craft beer ticking bubble.
These mediocre beer at premium price breweries are the ones that will fold when the ticking bubble pops.

A lot of new craft drinkers are pretty much willing to buy any beer at any price just to try it, these breweries have been relying on that constant flow of new craft drinkers for the last 5 years or so to survive.

 

This theory would hold if there were many breweries out there that make only mediocre beer. I'm sure there are a few, but in my area at least I think most breweries make at least one or two solid beers that I'll drink again and again, local go-to beers. Yes, I am on a mission to try everything once. But through that process I'm gradually building a list of favorites, both year-round and seasonal, that I'll come back to again and again. That list is made up of beers from halfway around the world to just down the street.

So I don't see a "bubble burst" type collapse like what you describe, more of a gradual culling away of the weaker breweries and expansion of the stronger ones. Basically an evolutionary process.

 

You're right, definitely more gradual than bubble burst type of situation, I think how long these breweries will last is dependent upon on how long the constant influx new craft drinkers lasts.

The types of local brewers that are being discussed here; sure, they make a decent Pale Ale or IPA, but at $6 a bomber, sorry, it's a one and done unless they go to six packs and start competing price-wise with SNPA, Drifter, Mirror Pond or Dogtown.

 

Large formats are a waste of money. Sometimes I don't even finish the bottle. Then what do I do? Down the sink.

There's so many breweries out there that arent even worth buying a 12 oz. from (if they offered it). I'm wondering who buys this stuff. *cough* cody brewing *cough*

 

I know I am in the minority, but I enjoy the 22oz and 750ml varieties. I try as many beers as I can, and I rarely rebuy a beer again. So for my one time experience I prefer a bigger format. Pour a glass...and if it's awesome I have some more or seal it and have some later.

 

I don't know about you but, I'll take the $10 sixer over the $10 22 everytime. If it's a new beer and I like it, I've bought 72oz for my ten bucks. If it's a new beer, and I don't like it after trying a couple, on separate occasions, I can let other folks try the other bottles. There have been plenty of beers that I've liked and my friends haven't, and vice versa, so having a few extra bottles around isn't that big of deal. Death to the large bottle format.