Jump to content

Beer Prices


Horn_Spanker

Recommended Posts

How much are you willing to pay?

I was standing in my open HEB today staring at the beer, when a distributor with a Thirsty Goat sweatshirt asked if he could help me:

ME:  No, I'm just amazed at these prices

HIM:  They're only going up!

ME:  You guys are going to price yourself out of business.

HIM:  HA HA, people will not stop buying their beer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wasn't the initial price jump on cans mostly due to the raw cost of aluminum?

I drink pretty cheap beer for the most part -- canned Shiner Bock.  I'm not proud.  I'll buy local ales and IPAs now and again.  Their prices seem to have jumped, and it's hard to find a 6 for less than $10, but the generic stuff seems to not have suffered as much?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Horn_Spanker said:

How much are you willing to pay?

I was standing in my open HEB today staring at the beer, when a distributor with a Thirsty Goat sweatshirt asked if he could help me:

ME:  No, I'm just amazed at these prices

HIM:  They're only going up!

ME:  You guys are going to price yourself out of business.

HIM:  HA HA, people will not stop buying their beer.

he's right  though

Link to comment
Share on other sites

as someone who makes and sells beer at a small brewery, believe me when i say no one is getting rich on $10 six packs. it’s incredibly expensive to operate a craft brewery. we make good beer and charge a fair price. at our scale raw ingredients, cans, labels, etc are expensive and seemingly increasing every goddamned quarter.

  • Hook 'Em 5
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

image.thumb.jpeg.c61c123b235dab3567e47ab61dd41ca9.jpeg

12 packs of SNPA still $17 around here, and that's up from $15--16 in 2019.

But yes, profit on beer is measured in pennies per ounce.

Spoke to a friend who owns a brewery about the cost of raw materials.  He said he hadn't notice a huge jump, but emphasized that they have some good long term hop contracts in place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are we still also calling them "microbrews", or is it exclusively "craft beer" now? 

What about microcraft beers?  Or nanobrews?  From breweries so small, you can't even see 'em.

I do feel bad for the market squeeze being put on these folks who make an excellent product and are barely making ends meet.  People will never stop buying beer, but they will absolutely not pay more for premium and ultra-premium brands.  I'm biased towards "Big Beer" because I worked for a Coors Distributor in college and made great money with free beer.  But I enjoy a locally brewed beer that you can tell was made with pride, and am willing to pay for it.  However, in economic times like these, I buy cheap beer and spend the difference on wine and bourbon (at my age, I can drink cheap beer all day long, but I can't drink cheap bourbon).  

I'm sure to make up for our economic shortfall, the state will raise excise taxes on in-state breweries and further fuck those guys over. 

Edited by Lobo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a bifurcated beer drinker.  I go to my local breweries and drink there, or drink their offerings when I go to a bar.  When I go buy beer at the store, I buy quantity beer and quality beer.  

For instance, I'll get a case of YellerBellies/John Elways and 2 6ers of a craft brew that I like.  

Or, and I hesitate to give up my state secrets in hopes that they don't go away from selling it this cheap, I'll go to Dollar General and buy 3 or 4 8-packs of 16oz Coors Lights for $7.95/e.  Found that deal during the pandemic shutdowns (it was actually $6.95/e then) and haven't looked back.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, patrickdrinksbeer said:

as someone who makes and sells beer at a small brewery, believe me when i say no one is getting rich on $10 six packs. it’s incredibly expensive to operate a craft brewery. we make good beer and charge a fair price. at our scale raw ingredients, cans, labels, etc are expensive and seemingly increasing every goddamned quarter.

Jimmy gave some background as well (aluminum prices) but one of the things that has really driven the market is hop prices.   It was already bad 10 years ago and it's only getting worse.   The big boys have volume purchasing ability or outright ownership of some hop fields.   They can also afford to forecast out for a longer time period than the smaller breweries.   And they ARE not afraid to over buy in order to screw others out of contracts.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I try to stay local when I deviate from the general get-the-job-done stuff.  Real Ale, St. Arnold's, etc.  I can't keep up with who has been bought by the big boys and who hasn't.

That said, I still say Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the tits.  I assume they are still independent.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I try to stay local when I deviate from the general get-the-job-done stuff.  Real Ale, St. Arnold's, etc.  I can't keep up with who has been bought by the big boys and who hasn't.

That said, I still say Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the tits.  I assume they are still independent.

Still love Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  It's what got me started down the road of truly appreciating different beers when I was about 22.  

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not that it really makes a difference when buying, but I have noticed HEB and Kroger have both tacked on $0.50 to $1.00 on their six-packs within the last 3 months, after basically 5 straight years of a standard $8.99 full price (usually on sale/loyalty card price of $8.49 or $7.99). $9.99 is now the full price and the markdowns are less frequent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I try to stay local when I deviate from the general get-the-job-done stuff.  Real Ale, St. Arnold's, etc.  I can't keep up with who has been bought by the big boys and who hasn't.

That said, I still say Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the tits.  I assume they are still independent.

generally i think you can trust the independent craft logo to not be one of the big boys.  maybe @patrickdrinksbeer knows different

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, elfenix said:

https://www.wired.com/2015/10/the-biggest-beer-deal-ever-could-threaten-real-craft-brews/

 

stop buying karbach, goose island, and other macro "craft"

Sierra Nevada still is independently owned.

Miller/Coors bought Revolver several years ago as well. 

Heineken owns a majority share of Lagunitas.

The list goes on

https://www.themadfermentationist.com/2018/07/craft-beer-connections-brewery.html

 

Brewery+Ownership+with+Percents+-+Poster

Edited by dcbc
  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...