Sticker Shock at Beer Bars

Indeed. When you check in on Foursquare or Untappd, your avatar/mug shows up within about a minute on the top right of the screen, running ticker of tweets about them on the upper left, on deck stuff on the lower left, and upcoming events on the lower right. It's the 21st century. Who uses chalk?

 

Hah, well I suppose there's some truth to that. I guess these days most of the time when I'm at my local beer bar it's happy hour, and conversation with the bartenders isn't really practical.

Then again, at least here in the US, we have an unusual number of social hangups about money for a supposedly capitalistic society, and it definitely seems odd, if not necessarily wrong, when you're at a bar to ask the price of several different drinks and use that information to pick one.

 

I ordered up a pint glass of the "Old Curmudgeon" and the tender had the courtesy to inform me that it was a $9. pint. After a quick "thank you but no thanks" [i settled on the $4. Racer 5] I recognize that the "Big Beer" sessions are most affordably held at home.

 

I wouldn't exactly say that not posting prices is sticker shock. Sticker shock to me is walking into Monk's Kettle in SF and seeing how much they charge for their beers. A f*cking joke.

 

I don't buy a beer without knowing its price, and I tend to not frequent places that seem to want to keep their prices secret. My "home pub" lists all its tap beer on a hand-written chalk board, listing brewer, brand, abv, pour size, and price. For bottles, they have a complete price list. Never any doubt about what you're getting in to.

 

This is one of my biggest complaints about the craft beer scene. Along the same lines I hate it when stores do not label beer with prices.

 

I always order an Abita Amber at local bars around here. From that price I can guess their prices on everything else.

 

monk'ss kettle in SF is the biggest rip off ever. for example, $25 for a one year old Ale Smith Speedway Stout. and the one time i went there -- that was the only thing i could stomach buying from them. other markups were even more ludicrous.

granted, that stout is a great deal at $12 for a 750ml bottle. but that markup -- F6 you!

 

me too. beer is awesome

 

If they don't clearly display a price list, they're breaking UK law.

 

Now that's a great law.

In this country if you ask a price of a beer before ordering, it is tantamount to admitting you aren't rich enough not to care. Appearance is everything here in the U.S. God forbid a suds hauler in a beer joint, or the person next to you at the bar, looks down on you for inquiring how much it is you need to pay to get the product you want to buy. 'Oh no, now that stranger realizes my last name isn't Vanderbilt, I am so humiliated!'

 

After a work Christmas party there was an after party at some swank rooftop "ultra lounge" on the rooftop of the hotel just outside of DC we were staying at. They had no craft, just BMC, they posted no prices and a bottle of Miller Lite I ordered was $9.

I could have asked beforehand but the patrons there apparently had no regard for money, so asking such a question would have made me look like a cheap ass. So my solution? Sip that ML like a man has never sipped before and didn't order anymore.

 

I go into a beer bar expecting to pay out the ass for just about anything so I don't dwell on it very much personally.

 

For a beer that's $12-$15 new, how is $25 for an aged bottle at a restaurant a bad deal? It's at most a 100% markup, and that's not even accounting for the aging. That's quite reasonable.

 

For me, I've been drinking craft for about 4-5 months. And I've gone to restaurants that serve good craft less than 5 times. I don't really know the price ranges, and different restaurants have different markups depending on the part of town they're in.

 

look - i go to all the bay area's spots and visit the breweries, beer rev, magnolia, 21st ammendment, trappist, toronado, commonwealth, cato's, jupiter/triple rock, drakes, lagunitas, russian river and bear republic -- whenever possible -- and i have a fine time at all of them and get a great 'bang for the buck' at each.

but i felt bent over and ripped off at MK. sure.... you can justify ANYTHING. but that place is a rip-off compared to all of the above - i cited only the least ghastly example of their price-gouging. it is geared towards VERY upwardly mobile 20-somethings with money to burn and baby, that just ain't my scene. they cooked up a nice cut of meat ok -- but it too was overpriced. sorry man -- never gonna be a fan. just assume hit a good taqueria in the mission and head over to the toronado for a couple AND pay cab fair and end up feeling like my money had been well spent.

 

If a bar can have a list of beer names and ABV/Brewery/City/State they can post the price. If I get any flak from a bartender/wench I just won't return.

 

One of the best examples of how to avoid all of the problems listed above is in place at The Playground in Santa Ana, CA.

Draught pricing is $5 per beer across the board. Proper glassware is used and while the price remains the same, the pour size varies according to style and alcohol content. This means that Taps Cream Ale will arrive in a beautiful 15 ounce glass while the 10.5% Stone Double Bastard from Stone has its own 7 ounce snifter. Brilliant! (Not only is it easy to keep track of the tab, it regulates the size of higher ABV offerings)

 

Again, great prices as a result of offering all local. The highest price ($5) isn't a double-digit figure and they even show how much is left in the keg, well played Bailey's Taproom! I'm jealous, wish my local watering hole would do this!