When does price become a factor for you?

Constantly. While not exactly beer, but beer related, today I was at the homebrew store with a friend and we were both looking at the chalkboard tap handles they had. I really want a couple, but at $50 a piece I could make an entire batch of homebrew for that price.

 

Venue's always will charge outrageous prices in most cases.
For me price becomes a factor, or rather crosses the line in the two most common occurrences for me:

1. Hoppin Frog is on the label.
2. Its some beer that's probably over-hyped and isnt worth half the price to begin with.

Back to your scenario. Ive been to shows where I've just been in the spending mood and just wanted to enjoy a beer, but there's been times where I've opted out of drinking to conserve money.

 

Hard to pick an exact amount but in actual practice I've always refused at sporting facilities here in AZ where most options seemed to be $10+, even though they had a little more volume. Not all event places are extreme though - just recently at Disney in California I had Karl Strauss for $7 and no tipping, and I thought that wasn't too excessive for such a place. Epcot in Florida had prices a little higher but they were larger volumes, and there were decent options in the German neighborhood as well as British neighborhood.

Decent craft bars are getting away with $7-8 pints of quality IPA's, regardless of rarity. I figure that if I pay $7 for a pint of Sculpin, then I'm a clown for refusing a $15 sixpack of fresh dated Sculpin... so sixpacks have a way to go before I'll refrain. This point is often rightfully put in the face of people who complain about sixpack prices yet go out to bars all the time, and that $7 pint is really $8 if tipping one at a time, or $8.40+ if running up a tab.

 

I try to be realistic, and know that before I go to any major venue (concert, sporting event, etc.), that its inevitable that most, if not all of the beer being sold there is going to be outrageously priced. I don't know of anyone that attends any types of these venues expecting otherwise.

 

Ouch!!! But as long as you had a great time!

 

I used to go to Univ. of Arizona baseball games with my buddies and they had a 64oz. draft beer for $7.50. We found a small concession stand that had SNPA for the same price because they had no idea. Same happened at an Old Chicago(R) bar had Stone Enjoy By for $6 in a large Weizen glass and had no idea what they were doing. Knowing just a little bit about beer can actually save you some money!

 

Price is always a factor.

 

no beer seems too expensive after buying a Utopias. Not even Bruery anniversaries

 

I try to keep all my expenditures within what I consider reasonable, and beer is no exception. I know it's luxury item, but I guess I'm a little frugal. I rarely go out to get drink, but I'll pay a fair amount for a good offering when I do. Can't recall the most I've paid for a beer, I'm certain it was in the $12 range though. For my store purchases I tend to normally purchase the more common six packs that get good distribution in the area since that keeps the cost reasonable. With some 4 packs mixed in and an occasional bomber/750. I still have yet to pay more than $15 for the large format, although I may have to relent soon with the direction those prices are going.

I enjoy good beer and still feel fulfilled by my purchases, but keeping within limitations helps me continue to enjoy it. I know this may not be exactly what this thread was looking to have for replies, but thought I'd share.

 

I have bought at those prices. Don't feel good about it, but a beer was what I wanted. Substandard AAL,but that is what was available. meh

I will be at Pirates game soon, so I am mapping out best beer buys in the stadium. Sounds like Mullens and Beer bar outside are a good starting point, then buy a few Victory inside is best plan?

 

Totally supply and demand. If it's "regular" stuff I can get all the time - wait for a sale. If it's a seasonal, I will pay "regular" price but not over $9 or $10/6 pack. If I'm on the road and find something I can't get back home, I will pay more on a one time deal.

However, I am always amazed at sporting events. At the Reds ballpark, mega-swill is $8.50 a glass. Several booths sell craft beer for about $9 or $9.50 - still outrageous but I am amazed at how many people won't spend an extra 50 cents or $1 for actual TASTE.

 

I believe it's true but it has nothing to do with being noble. It's a liability thing. They find the sweet spot where people will buy a few beers but not So many that they get wasted and cost the place money.

 

Vanilla ice cream shake stout from Mikkeller 12 oz bottle for $11.00....... No sir

 

I look at it like this. $15 for sculpin 6pk. thats $5 each for 3 bombers (2 cans = 1 bomber) or Hopslam $20 a 6pk thats $6 and some change each for 3 bombers. Not bad at all when you break it down.

 

I pay all my bills on time, live debt free, save a little bit, and then all the rest of the income is expendable....aka beer money.

 

Sorry, can't disagree more--except with the doubt to the validity of the argument. When the sheeple stops paying those prices, they will stop charging them. The trouble is, there's enough alcoholics in the stands that there will always be a market, no matter what the price. And there are easy way to prevent people from overdrinking at closed venues, e.g., limit the number of drinks one can get at any given time--it's one thing to get two beers claiming one is for a friend, it's quite another when the friend has to be standing next to you so that you can have two beers; close the taps early, as most baseball stadiums do--Fenway has a 2.5 hours, 7 innings or when management decides enough is enough; limit total number of drinks one can get--give two tokens to each patron that will allow him/her to buy a drink so no more drinks when you run out of tokens. These are just simple ways that I came up with at the spur of the moment--brainstorming might give a lot more options. None of them involve price gouging. At least, with sin taxes one could argue that the extra you pay may go toward something worthwhile--no such argument can be made in this case.

I was at Fenway once this summer. All BMC are $7--Smithwicks and Guinness $9. And it's watered down--the Smithwicks I tried (was not initially intended for me or I would not have got it) was watery and corny. Even the crappy snackfood is not as overpriced as the beer.

 

Price becomes a factor when I get poorer.

 

Its always a factor for me. Every now and then I see something that I have to have, but still, I look as beer prices very closely and think about better uses for the money if they seem too high

like home-brewing equipment and ingredients.

 

When I'm broke.

 

So you mean to tell me, you've never spent $6.11 for a bomber of beer? Because thats how much hopslam would cost if you divided up that twenty dollar 6 pack and portioned out 22oz bombers.