Price v. Distance

Last year when i was in north CA i paid more for SNPA than i do in NJ.

 

Overall you're not going to find much correlation between price and distance from the brewery, price has more to do with local supply and demand than anything else.

 

Sam Adams Boston Lager is usually cheaper in AZ than in Boston.

Taxes & how much the middle man marks up are the key differences, not shipping.

 

Most times beer is more expensive at the actual brewery, so they don't compete with their retailers.

 

which I think is crap. Thats no incentive to visit the brewery. If I can buy their beer cheaper elsewhere, ill go elsewhere. Fullsteam here in Durham sells their beer cheaper than anywhere Ive seen at regular price.

I refuse to fill a growler at Great Lakes. Anything worthy of a growler is around $20. Seriously? one off growlers down here are like $15 at the brewery. Just seems like im getting screwed for visiting the brewery and covering their shipping cost myself.

 

Sierra Nevada is one of the cheaper craft beers here in SC, as is Sam Adams, Stoudts, and Lagunitas --- we're talking their regular releases, of course.

I think it has more to do with the specifics of a brewery's financial situation, e.g. scale of brewing, overhead, price points yadayadayada.

 

I live less than 45 minutes away from Founders, less than 5 minutes from Bell's and it is not uncommon at all to see people several states away paying less for these beers than I am.

Individual distributors and retailers play a much larger roll than any other factor. The wholesale price from a brewery to a distributor is usually pretty set and pretty standard.

 

I liked this post but...if I go to a brewery, I'm going to check out brews that aren't packaged and can be sold in stores. To me, it doesn't make any sense to go to a brewery and get something widely available...

 

and I never do. But I also dont believe that it costs $20-$25 for a growler of non-distributed stuff from a brewery the size of Great Lakes when I can get something of the same quality for around $15 here in Durham. hell the smaller brewery even barrel aged and Great Lakes wasnt.

cost should always be cheaper at the brewery. They dont have to pay to distribute it.

 

Sorry, I've never come across $20 to $25 Growlers at any of the breweries I've visited and at price, it would have to be something really special for me to fork out that amount of money. I've done it for 750s so a Growler wouldn't be out of the question. And yeah, I guess the best prices should be at the brewery itself, in a perfect world.

 

You missed the whole "so they don't compete with their retailers" aspect of it. Yes, it's a disincentive for visiting the brewery, but (especially for a brewery the size of Great Lakes) only a minuscule percentage of their total sales can even possibly happen at the brewery itself. They are 99% producer, 1% (maybe) retailer. As such, they depend on their retailers for the vast majority of their revenue, and therefore don't want to upset anyone by undercutting prices and essentially acting as competition.

Yes, it's annoying to know that the brewery is charging you way more than they must be charging their distributors, but guess what? You, an individual consumer, don't buy quite as much beer as a distributor does. Bulk discounts and all that. If you absolutely want the cheapest price possible, simply visit a beer store in addition to taking the brewery tour.

 

Rogue here in Newport has occasional back-door sales where you can pick up cases for half price or better (mislabeled stuff and such) And their draft pours at the brewery and public house are on par with everything else.

 

Within the US it does seem that taxes and markups affect price more than shipping distance alone. That said, my understanding is that Russian River -tions are about $12 in NorCal and more like $18 in Philly.

You can really see the difference internationally, though. A 375ml bottle of 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze costs less than $5 at the brewery, and will generally be at least double that stateside. Same for pretty much every Belgian beer I can think of.

 

I do quite often, but when I go to the brewery, I would much rather grab hoppy beers there since theyre usually fresher. but at $25 for a double IPA? thats $6 a pint without a huge tip, glasses, cleaning, transportation, and marketing. Just seems like im being screwed. I get the economic part, but it sucks.

 

Oh, I'll entirely agree with you that $25 for a growler of a DIPA is an absolute ripoff, and I'm in no way defending that specific pricing decision.

To use a different analogy, my local brewery (NEBCO) sells growlers of their DIPA, Gandhi-Bot, for $15 - $.234/ounce. The same beer retails for an MSRP or $11/4-pack of 12oz cans - $.229/ounce.

Despite not having to pay for shipping, packaging, or wholesaler/retailer markups, the price is still slightly higher at the brewery. Why? Not because they're out to screw their customers, but because they don't want to screw their retailers. This doesn't strike me as unfair in the least, but of course I'd disagree if they were asking for an extra $10/growler...

 

A few people here said taxes affect the prices in different regions, and that's part of it--taxes on all aspects of distribution and retailing. Also those of you in high-cost-of-living areas are paying a premium based upon the cost of floor space and labor.

 

Breweries do not grow and prosper because of how much they sell in house, they do so because of everyone selling their beer for them.

I assume you do not work in any sort of retail environment?

Incentive to visit a brewery should be unique offerings, not cheap core lineup.

 

As usual, all we have is anecdotal evedence. It pisses me off that a six-pack of Sam Adams Boston Lager is a dollar less in Washington State than it is here in Boston.

 

no i do not.