The Bruery pricing

The Bruery is always worth the price. That said, I won't buy every beer they make

 

I really don't like their pricing, but people will pay (including myself) so we can't really blame them. They had an archive sale for Chocolate Rain a couple weeks back for $40 limit one, and I'm sure hundreds of Society members spent it.

 

I'm a hoarder and while some of their beer can exceed my price range, I believe you get what you pay for. Am I going to buy an archive bottle of Papier for 80$? no. But I maxed on how many bottles of Black Tuesday I could buy because I know it's worth it.

With the weekday stouts and anniversary beers the ABV is so high anyways that I split it up over 2-4 days depending on my mood.

But no matter what I say, haters be hatin' and trollers be trollin'.

 

1.bruerys quality has gone WAY down in the last couple of years.
2.the best beers are members only which you have to pay extra for.
3.in order to obtain the "best" beers from them you really need to buy a lot of beer you probably won't enjoy.

I've been a reserve society member for the last few years and only buy the beers I enjoy. But I have always wanted the hoarder beers. Well that is not achievable by just buying X amount of beers. I have talked to many hoarders and they all say the same thing. In order to get into hoarders you have to max out on all allocations. To me this is just stupid. Lederacola and smoking wood are terrible beers. Among many other "experimental" brews they come out with. Last year sour in the rye with pineapple and coconut was one of the best beers. They released a small batch this year. Tap only no growler fills. It's just stupid. No be razzled. Society only growler fills but with regular beers. Not to mention 30$+ for bottles after you pay membership. The merch you get is cheap and or defective. I just have not been happy with them lately and did not renew my membership. Degarde puts out AMAZING beers some bottle are 6$!!!!!!!! Think their most expensive is 18$!!! All 750ml. I'll be spending my money elsewhere this coming year!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

at least they aren't ballast point charging the same price for their best and worst beers. everything i have had from the bruery has been good, so while i personally can't afford to buy their beer on a regular basis i can't hate on them for charging a lot when the beer is all good. do i think it's any better than numerous cheaper alternatives? not really. but when their beer really is very good i feel the solution is just don't buy it if it costs too much, as opposed to something like BP where we have a more reasonable complaint when it comes to pricing.

 

HS member chiming in. Their price structure has zero to do with whether a beer is good or not, it is based on grain/hop bill, whether it required a barrel + warehouse (for aging) and finally whether they added extras (fruit, coffee, cocoa nibs etc). In the past the format generally falls into 4 brackets: $10 (saison rue, mischief etc) $20 (SitR, Oude Tart, etc), $30 (Annys, BT) and $40 (CR, GM, MW, wineification etc). I believe this year they kicked a few offerings up ~$2-3, likely to account for inflation/adjuncts (can't brew the same beer at the same cost forever).

All that said, they want people to join their societies. By doing so you can knock 15-20% off these prices. Black Tuesday for $24... yes please (and zero truck chasing which is worth a lot to me). At the end of the day, it is expensive to be a member but often that is just a lack of self control for most. I don't think I'll be maxing my 12x bottles of BT this month but I am sure some will. One of my favorite beers they offer is Hottenroth & after discount it is sub $7.

 

I think the pricing is fine for society members, however, people forget that once it heads to the secondary retail market there's always a markup. That's not really The Bruery's issue as opposed to independent retailer issue. Honestly, if you think that's expensive think about Pappy Van Winkle: 23 Year is supposed to be $249 but retailers sell it for $2500. It comes down to simple supply and demand and the lower the supply the higher is the amount charged. All of us know craft beer is not exactly an inexpensive indulgence, the more exotic and/or higher ABV for a limited beer the greater the premium. You either pay to play, find a greater available craft beer alternative, or stick to drinking piss-water Bud Light.

 

Hottenroth was the first Berliner I tried, and it is still my favorite. I should really get some more. <checks website> Damn it!

 

I believe once Terreux opened Hottenroth was supposed to be a year round offering. In the past (2 years ago) I ran into a similar situation and just emailed them to ask if it was still available b/c it was on the shelf at the tasting room. On that occasion, they just accidentally dropped it from the webpage b/c the inventory didn't get updated. Always worth an exploratory email.

 

I didn't max out on all my allocations at all, I bought what I liked and I still got invited to Hoarders Society. I know people that have spent 2000$+ on Bruery beer and didn't get an invite to HS.

 

Mischief, the cheapest Bruery beer I've seen, usually runs around $9/bottle at my shop across the bridge in Ohio. Tart of Darkness and Sour in the Rye on the other hand are ~$22/bottle. They're all great beers, and worth picking up at least once, in my opinion. I don't buy them often, though.

 

Similar to DFH, many of the Bruery "big" beers push ABV into the 13-20% range on many and are bigger than most other national distribution options of the same style. So yes you pay more, but you really have to share those beers, so it works out not to be as bad as the price seems. And the quality baseline is at a respectable level for most all their brews.

 

Saison Rue 750 for $10.99 is priced well.

 

yeah, but remember that, it may be that it's worth it but you cant afford it . like a corvette.

 

I love The Bruery, they make a quality product. Not all of their beers are home runs, but they cover a broad range and there is something for everyone. It does pay to be a society member, you can pick and choose the beers want at a discount.

 

I think their sour program is, for the most part, really very weak. Two exceptions come to mind: Sans Pagaie and Tart of Darkness. But Oude Tart, Sour in the Rye... I find really very weak. Vinegary, unbalanced, not nearly enough funk.

I think their barrel aged dark beers, strong ales, and barleywines, are for the most part excellent. The anniversary beers are fantastic, the 'black tuesday' series and spinoffs are great, White Chocolate is great. I am really looking forward to Winification III.

Their most available, regular releases are really inconsistent: I don't care for Mischief, Saison Rue is really a very weak brett saison, Trade Winds is meh, Hotten is quite good... but generally I'm not impressed.

I do think that some of their beers are insanely overpriced. I paid 33 dollars for Sans Pagaie, Sour in the Rye is a whooping 22. My take on their stuff is that they should do less beers, but more focused ones. Way too many misses, and few successes. I think they are exploiting the natural curiosity of craft beer lovers, putting out all these beers people will want to try, selling lots of them at high prices. But there are way too many mediocre ones coming out.

 

Yikes! You sir got price gouged.