Price of lagers

I am not a beer industry expert but I will take a crack at this.

“How do companies keep the price of their lagers so cheap?” I would suggest that this due to a combination of economy of scale and market conditions. The breweries who make ‘cheap’ American Adjunct Lagers are sophisticated factories where every technology is utilized to produce beer in an efficient (cost wise) manner. The market also demands that price be relatively cheap. The BMC type beer drinkers ‘demand’ that the price of the beers they drink not be expensive. There is a lot of competition for the AAL market between the big guys (BudMillerCoors) plus good sized Regional Breweries (e.g., Genesee, Yuengling, etc.).

“Similarly, why aren't ales 1/4 the price of lagers.” The majority of ales being produced today (majority as in brands; not necessarily in barrels of beer) are produced by craft breweries. Most craft breweries are small (compared to BMC breweries, large Regional Breweries) and they don’t have all of the technological efficiencies. Also, craft beer consumers are willing to pay more for a product they perceive to be of higher quality (when compared to AAL beers).

Cheers!

 

It's a good question, and I'm not really sure the answer.

Let's not include the big brewers; let's take Full Sail, their Session lagers are cheaper than the regular Ale lineup, even though it is likely more costly to produce the Session lagers.

Perhaps it's just customers expectations, (spurred on by the big brewers) that a regular old drinkin' lager should cost less than a full flavored ale???

 

Not true here, Session is in 11oz stubbies that sells for about $11/ a 12 pack, I can get Inversion or Black Butte or Mirror Pond in 12Oz 12 packs for $13. Oz per oz about the same price. (And I'm very glad for it as all of them are quite good)

 

That math might work if the only cost involved with getting the beers on the shelf was fermenting and lagering time and tank space.

Instead, there are others factors like excise taxes, packaging, labor, equipment, ingredients, etc., (all more or less equal for ales or lagers). Those others things make up the largest percentage of the brewer's cost, so that the extra time involved is nowhere close to making the lagers 4 times as expensive to brew and market as the ales.

 

Different breweries, Session = Full Sail, Black Butte/Mirror Pond = Deschutes.

 

I think when you compare lagers and ales that have equal abv and availability the prices aren't much different. Now if an ale/lager has a really high ABV (more ingrdients) or is very rare or difficult to produce then the cost could shoot up. But if they are relatively equal in abv, availability, and difficulty to brew then I would think the price point would be similar.

 

the largest breweries, in addition to having economy of scale, are producing lagers with not alot of fermentable and not alot of hops either. so raw ingredients cost is not quite like that for a craft brewer producing an ale.

even further, large brewers ferment high gravity beer and literally water it down. so there brewery can produce more capacity for less money.

if we compare craft lagers and craft ales, the cost differences are not there.
Cheers.

 

i think most craft brewers are in agreement.
was a time not too long ago when craft lager was very rare.

 

This was where my thinking took me as well. For example, I see Great Lakes beers all priced similarly, whether it's their Ales or Lagers.

 

To add to the first reply, it's why Sierra Nevada can sell their ales for less than the other smaller craft brewers. It's basic economics and the economies of scale. If a small craft brewery screws up a batch to the point it cannot be sold, it will have more of an effect than if SN screwed up a batch - even though the SN batch will be much larger, they have more capacity and will be able to recover more quickly. Likewise, when a company can buy in bulk, they get better prices.

 

Oops, same thing for Fullsail though, all their line runs about the same price except for the reserve series.

 

That's pretty much it; and the savings due to the high gravity brewing process are huge in both the production and the distribution ends. We're not talking 'artisinal' lagers, naturally.

The bottom line, though, is that if you make a beer with very broad appeal, and move a lot of it, then you can start to take advantage of these economies of scale, even as a smaller brewer. Brewing in a 30 bbl system requires pretty much the same amount of labor as in a 10 bbl system, so at that point you do save plenty per barrel. The trick is to have your brewhouse operating at peak capacity whether you are making ales or lagers.

 

I think another thing that could be brought up is, how do we know that some of these larger breweries are necessarily lagering their beers as long as they should?

Let's face it, lots of incredibly large breweries cut some corners on their beer in order to maximize profit. Using cheaper adjuncts in brewing, using fining agents to clarify beer, brewing a stronger beer and then watering it down - who is to say that they are actually lagering their beers as long as they necessarily should be?

I'm going to remain skeptical on this claim until evidence is brought up, but it IS possible that some breweries might be lagering their beer half as long as they should and force-carbonating as opposed to naturally conditioning their beers.

 

yet brewers always cite storage time for the reason why sours are so expensive...

 

time isn't the only variable that effects price. 4x as long to make doesn't equate to 4x as expensive.

 

>I think another thing that could be brought up is, how do we know that some of these larger breweries are necessarily lagering their beers as long as they should?<

They aren't. People in here seem to be thinking that they are lagering for 8-10 odd weeks, which they don't. They use a lot of chemicals in the brewing process to bump out lagers in 1-2 weeks. Once primary is done, that's kind of the end of it.

Over here in Australia, Foster's did a marketing campaign to say that Crown Lager was lagered for 2-3 weeks to give it that perfect taste. 3 weeks is laughable for a good lager.