When does price become a factor for you?

All of a sudden it's good to be a pirates fan. PNC has good beer and they have a great team. Meanwhile us Yankee fans have to deal with bad beer and inflated ticket prices.

 

I completely agree with you,i have come across the same situation several times in my life.

 

A crappy beer with my friends diminishes the enjoyment of being with my friends. Bad beer is not better than no beer.

As the saying goes on this site: Drink less, drink better.

 

95% of the beer I drink is cask ale in a pub.I can often buy the same brew in bottle for about half the price but as it's less than half as good I rarely bother.

 

That last sentence has a lot of wisdom in it.

As for price limits, I usually don't drink at public venues because of the usually crappy selection and the prices. In a store, it is driven by: 1) Is it a style I really enjoy - IPA, Stout, something Bourbon-Barrel Aged? and 2) How soon and how large is my next paycheck?

 

I buy about 3 bombers a year....so price per ounce, as you may have guessed, is paramount.

 

I try to use that rationale on myself when I am looking at an $11.99 4pack. I know it would be like paying $6 for a bomber, but for some reason, it's just different. I pretty much avoid bombers anyway, but I see your point.

 

It is getting less common to just see BMC at events (at least the ones I go to) so I will usually overpay for something like Fat Tire before I will pay $8+ for a Coors Light or something. Don't get me wrong, I do drink BMC but I do my damndest to not overpay for it or pay the same I would for craft.

 

I don't like sweet beer, being that hopslam's claim to fame is that it's brewed with honey...that sounds gross to me. I know I don't like two hearted, so I'm pretty sure if I did pony up for it I would be pissed I paid that much for something I didn't like. I have my go to's, that I like, that are reasonably priced. There is no reason for me to pay that much for beer. I do buy a bomber from time to time...but not that often.

 

If a BMC is the only thing available AND it's overpriced...I don't need to have a beer that bad. After all, I drink beer for the taste, mouthfeel, etc. and not the sensation (although sometimes that's not an unwanted side effect). Luckily for me however, Tampa area venues are usually loaded with Cigar City taps!

 

Price becomes a factor when I stop and think about my other expenses (mortgage, college fund for kids, etc.). So if I spend a bunch over a given week, I try to make sure I'm somewhat frugal with beer purchases for the follwing week.

I won't toally deprive myself, though. I've actually been buying more bombers than I usually do simply because some stuff I've been interested in has been relatively affordable, though is still much less economical compared to 6-packs. (I'm looking at you, Stone Brewing Co., and the seemingly endless barrage of bombers you're throwing at me, thus forcing me to empty my wallet.)

 

I feel that price becomes an issue/factor when the product in the bottle is not of a known good. Sites like this have a habit of pushing some decent beer into unwanted and sometimes undeserved obscurity, and making some seem like trade fodder, the whale bottle to chase, or something and 'real craft beer drinker' should have in the cellar. I have paid $20 for a seasonal 22oz or 750ml, but not a whole lot more than that for a domestic one. I have hunted gueuze and sours/ belgian styles for a while now and there are some things in the cellar that I am rather not proud of the price but I am quite happy with th find. It all becomes relative to your budget or the value having that beer to drink or cellar.

 

Responses like this are what frightens me about craft beer and pricing. People think nothing about dropping $10 on bombers of beer and then turn around and tell you it is "worth every penny".

Anyway, at a concert venue I fully expect a beer to run me anywhere from $8 to $10, so I usually don't end up having more than 2, maybe 3 if I'm having an extraordinary time. For home consumption, I try to stay under the $10/six pack range, Belgian big bottles try to stay under $12/750ml.

 

Welcome to concert / game pricing. Actually, it's more like stadium / arena pricing.
OF course it's going to cost more than to go to the beer store to buy it - way more overhead involved. Same at a restaurant. That 12-oz beer you ordered would cost a couple bucks or so at the store, the restaurant charges $6.
Generally I don't balk too much at arena / stadium pricing, because I don't go to them that often. I did go to a NE Patriots game a couple weeks ago and I was more annoyed by the $40 parking charge than the $12 I spent for a 22 oz beer (craft; they have a pretty good selection at Gillette Stadium)
I could have gotten the same bomber of beer at a store for $6 - $8 bucks a pop, but it's not like I was slamming them down. 2 beers lasted me the whole game.

 

I'm from this same line of thought. If I would already be paying say $8 for a Bud or I could spend another $1 or $1.50 to get something like a Brooklyn lager, I go for it, either way, the $10 spot in my hand is gone, may as well get a little bit more flavor for my money.

 

I paid $19 for a 12oz bottle of Drie Fonteinen. It was really good but I'll can get a lot more beer for that price.

 

I saw a 4 pack of stone for $17.99. That's when it becomes a factor. And dogfish head burton baton right behind that at $15.99.

 

Pregame. Pregame. Pregame.


For sports, tailgate.


I still don't mind paying for one or two, even at inflated prices.

 

It depends on the beer. I'm about to pay $16/500 ml bottle of Atrial Rubicite at Jester King this weekend. Fortunately, I rarely drink more than 1-2 beers at a time, so I can justify spending more on certain bottles since my money goes a little farther.

 

I've paid way too high prices for 'Limited Edition' bombers from several brewers that shall remain unnamed. I, however, did not feel that it was worth every penny. I was hoping to take an empty bottle back for a refund, the store said no...