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Author Topic: Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs  (Read 1589 times)

Offline HoosierBrew

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Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs
« on: October 10, 2015, 08:08:25 am »
Jon H.

Offline Stevie

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Re: Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2015, 08:42:30 am »
I dunno. I felt it was a lot of fluff and butt kissing to come to the point that $60 is a fair price for a beer that is rare, resource intensive, use a fancy hand made bottle, and has years of built up hype behind it.

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2015, 08:53:53 am »
Yeah, he's clearly connected to Goose. No way I'd pay that. Thought it was pretty decent overall.
Jon H.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2015, 09:22:10 am »
I guess fair price is whatever the market will bear. For me that tops out at about $25 for a 750ml, but it better be from a pretty special non-macro brewery. Then for $25 the beer will need to be recommended by someone special, be a heck of a learning experience, and/or have a recent WBC gold win.

Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2015, 09:23:01 am »
Completely a sales pitch justifying GI's pricing.

The arguments about the low end of the market aren't entirely false but when it gets to talking about the higher end pricing the arguments drop off. The author opines that higher end beers are typically lower margin beers but I don't believe that is at all true. The margins on higher end beers are much greater. That's why breweries grab the low hanging fruit by making barrel aged stouts and (often kettle soured) sour beers where they can sell a small run of product at a huge markup because there's support in the market for that kind of pricing for quality beers in those styles.

Let's call $60 Rare what it is. Trying to price out a beer at the top of the market so it's exclusivity drives celebrity status and rareness. I'm not saying that a beer could never be legitimately worth $60 but this article's explanation doesn't give good justification in this case. A false argument about why the brewery deserves to charge more to get more profit based on margins and a bad argument that the brewery deserves more money just because they brew exotic beers just doesn't cut it.
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Offline pete b

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Re: Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2015, 06:46:15 am »
I pay a lot extra for certain food items if I have specific reasons. I pay a lot more for meats because I only get them from local farms because supermarket meat comes from horrendous factory farms and has no flavor. I think that's good reason to pay many times the price. Likewise I won't think twice about paying $17 for a 4 pack of Spencer Abbey or $16 for a 750 mil of a good local. I will think twice about $20+ for a 750ml but occasionally I'll go for it. I just don't have a good enough reason to shell out $60 for one bottle of beer just because its rare.
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Offline jimmykx250

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Re: Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2015, 07:35:29 am »
I think goose is testing the ceiling in my opinion. Some would legitimately call this gouging as well. But they have done a stellar job of spending the money on advertising on it and it will sell out like it always has. I wont be one of the guys in line.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2015, 07:49:41 am by jimmykx250 »
Jimmykx250

Offline pete b

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Re: Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2015, 08:30:48 am »
If other breweries go this route will it be called the "G.I. Tract"?
Don't let the bastards cheer you up.

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs
« Reply #8 on: October 11, 2015, 08:32:08 am »
 ;)
Jon H.

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2015, 09:49:11 am »
Sorry. I would never pay $60 for one bottle of beer. That said in 100 years it can be average price.

Just because it is in custom mold bottle and that someone thought about it for 25 years does not make a better beer.
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Offline BrewingRover

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Re: Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs
« Reply #10 on: October 11, 2015, 10:25:32 am »
Jeff Alworth has an interesting reaction to this piece here
http://beervana.blogspot.com/2015/10/michael-kiser-has-provocative-post-at.html

Kiser seems to assume consumers aren't sensitive to price and will gladly pay whatever a brewer charges, simply because it's that brewer. My anecdotal evidence would say that's not the case -- I'd never pay that much!
It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.

Offline curtism1234

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Re: Critical Drinking - What Beer Costs
« Reply #11 on: October 13, 2015, 10:34:05 am »
My price ceiling for beer is about $ 12-13 bomber and $15-16 for a champagne bottle of beer. Likewise, I try be in that range for wine as well.
You get 2-3 glasses for that price --- that's all that I'm willing to pay because it's getting expensive for my budget.

Where I (hesitantly) agree with the writer is the fact that $15 beer is be approaching best in class quality status. A 15 dollar bottle of wine, while very drinkable, is nearer to the lower 50%.
What is not taken into consideration though is the wine has more overhead associated with it.

Example: While the regular Goose Island Bourbon County Stout comes out next month for about $24 a 4 pack, we have to keep in mind that's really the equivalent of 2 bottles of wine. It's expensive relative to all the other beer we buy, but in the liquor industry as a whole --- it's really a bargain.