Why are "session" IPAs the same price as regular IPAs?

Honestly I do'nt know, but from a brewing perspective isn't each increasing % increasingly more difficult beyond a point?

 

Dry hopping, materials, labor, demand.

 

Not sure why people complain about this.

Guess all they care about is the buzz.... As long as there is great flavor I don't care how strong something is.

 

Demand mainly, but I imagine hop costs are a big part of it too. It's not that much cheaper for me to homebrew a session ipa than it is for me to homebrew a normal one. The hops are the expensive ingredient.

 

They charge the same price for session IPAs and regular IPAs because they can. People will pay the same price for them, even though they are maybe the same, but definitely different.

 

well, in America. Isn't this part of the reason UK beers are historically lower ABV?

 

This is true.

 

Fucking brilliant Marquis. Well said.

 

I've also noticed that whole milk is the same price as skim. Go figure.

 

After reading a particular comment, I feel like tagging @Scott17taylor in every session IPA thread I read.

 

I paid $15.99 for a 15 pack of all day IPA last summer and last time I bought a 12 pack of Terrapin Recreationale it was $14.99. It is lower if you find a big enough brewery that pumps them out in quantity.

Also, a local liquor store was advertising last week All Day IPA growler fills for $7.99. That's not bad at all.

On the other hand a local craft bar charges $5 for a pint of all day and I about fell over when I saw Green Flash Citra session IPA for $5.75 a pint at the same place. Certain bars seem to take advantage of the consumer on some things.

You just have to pick your spots when to load up on All Day at a good price or other larger breweries versions.

 

This is a legit question - was surprised to see some of the responses as to why the pricing is "obvious" to be the same for session IPAs and single IPAs.

If the argument is "materials are a fraction of the cost" then why are double IPAs more expensive than singles, and triple IPAs more expensive than doubles? After all, if all of the costs are tied up in labor, utilities, distribution, and packaging, and materials are just a small fraction of the expense load, then this whole argument is blown to pieces. Triple IPAs should be the same as single IPAs, but clearly they are not.

Yes, this is definitely a factor. Its a hot style right now. When it falls out of favor (and its not a question of "if" it is a question of "when") you will see the price drop.

Materials are not as "tiny" as a portion of the expenses as you'd think IF you are a craft brewer that relentlessly sources the best hops, malt, spices, yeast, and other brewing cultures to make your beer. Some big brewers buy hops and grain at incredibly cheap prices, simply because they are looking for fermentable sugar and alpha acid at the lowest possible price. So if you are brewing with high-fructose corn syrup and hop extract, perhaps materials are basically negligible for you....

One tangible reason here that no one has mentioned yet is session IPAs actually use just about the same amount of materials as regular IPAs. So all else being equal (packaging, distribution, labor, etc.) you have to use just about the same amount of hops in a session IPA (the most expensive spice in the beer), at least for a good one with a ton of hop flavor and aroma, as you would in a regular IPA. The marginal difference of 4-5% vs 6-7% in ABV does not register that much for grain savings, at least not enough to drop the price of a 6pack by a few bucks.

Unless you take a game theory approach, where if you have a top beer and its $1-5 cheaper than everyone else's, you will clean up. Consumers respect brewers who pass the savings onto them, instead of keeping everything for themselves.

Would you pay $15 for a 6pack of Session IPA? Better blow your mind at that price point.

And if it did blow your mind, would it be better than the one that wowed you at $9.99?

 

Why do 8% malt liquors cost less than some brewers' 5% light lagers?
Why do many 4.3% "light beers" cost more than some brewers' 5.5% "ice" beers?
Why do "under 0.5%" near beers cost about the same as some brewers' popular-priced beers?

You can't "leave out" marketing - the final decision on suggested retail price by the brewer, after all the costs above are taken into account, is a marketing one.

 

that's an excellent point, taking into account demographics definitely affects price (if the sample size is big enough)

 

Since Session IPA's are selling so well maybe the question should be why don't they cost more than IPA's?

 

They're popular and your buying them right? So why would they lower the price when it's already moving well?

 

I was in my local beer store yesterday and noticed that Ballast Point Even Keel Session IPA 6pk was $4.00 cheaper than Ballast Point Sculpin 6pk.

 

Because you'll pay for it

 

Based on this graphic from Huffington Post. If you assume it's fairly accurate, then you are way off. Based on this, Ingredients are 10%, and packaging + labor + shipping is 20%.

So only a 2:1 ratio. The other 70% is overhead/profit at the 3 tiers and then taxes.