Beer Prices

[Baulz]

I just don't understand the price of some beers. Is it the brewery thinking they can charge more? In-efficient production? Volume?

A point was made in the IPA thread about the price of Founders vs. Propeller. The beer that jumps out at me is Church-Key, both their ales are $13.75 for a 6 pack. There are so many cheaper and better options, I try to support a local brewery but why should I? Liberty Ale is $1 less, with much higher shipping cost in that price. I think Spearhead is the only 6 pack that costs more.

Bombers are even worse except for a few rare examples like Double Hop Head and the Great Lakes seasonals. I do really like Muskoka Harvest, but have cut back on those and rarely bother buying the others.

With my venting over I should admit to buying a 4 pack of Green Flash today, expensive but had to try it again.

[markaberrant]

Time to get off the grid.

Start homebrewing.

[cratez]

I find it fairly easy to make cost-conscious decisions with my craft beer purhcases but there's definitely some "head scratchers" on the shelves that I simply avoid. Pretty much all of the IPA sixers are decently priced - in the $12.85 to $13.60 range - and $5.50-6.50 bombers of Bridge Burner, Rogue, etc are no-brainers when compared to some of the Ontario stuff ($9 for Lake of Bays?). Also picked up a few tall cans of Hacker Pschorr Munich Gold at $2.10 a pop yesterday. There's plenty of value to be had providing you don't waste money on big spendy bottles of unproven/subpar products.

[Baulz]

I do homebrew, but also like variety. Can't just drink from the same 4 kegs all the time.

Who does buy those Lake of Bays bombers? Will we be seeing the overpriced breweries go out of business? I can't see the LCBO re-ordering beer that just sits on the shelf collecting dust.

[Kel Varnsen]

A point was made in the IPA thread about the price of Founders vs. Propeller. The beer that jumps out at me is Church-Key, both their ales are $13.75 for a 6 pack. There are so many cheaper and better options, I try to support a local brewery but why should I? Liberty Ale is $1 less, with much higher shipping cost in that price. I think Spearhead is the only 6 pack that costs more.

It was me who brought up the point in the other thread and I really wonder how these retail prices are determined. I mean do breweries look at the other similar products on the market? Or do they just figure out how much it cost for them to make a 6 pack of beer and apply the percentage of profit they want. Because to follow up with Propeller, I wonder how they fell about the fact that Founders or Hop Circle or Mad Tom or Boneshaker are all cheaper. And Tree Hop Head is the exact same price as Propeller. So unless someone wanted to try every IPA in the LCBO or they are a big fan of Propeller, how are they going to entice people to try their product. Especially when you have a new product that people don't have much loyalty to.

[iguenard]

Its pretty simple really... you charge what people are ready to pay for a beer. If it sells out too quick and you cant produce enough to satisfy demand... raise prices.

Capitalism. Balancing demand vs offer.

If you cant sell your beer at a given price point, its an indication that either your price point is too high (retailers dont get their 10-20%), or competition has a better seller, at a lower price point/hiogher quality.

I've discussed this a long time with brewers at a high price point. There are very diverse opinions on the subject. Some sell to go for direct competition, but at the end of the day, if you manage to sell out a beer at a high price point... some argue... why would anyone wishing well on their business sell any lower?

[toweringpine]

In the past Greg posted the details from the LCBO on submissions for consideration for the seasonal releases. There was usually a line in these saying they were looking for products in a specific price range. I seem to recall reading that $3 and under was the target often mentioned. I wonder if with the boom in craft beer and the clear evidence that people are willing to pay a premium price for better beer if that guideline has been removed.

[BrewNerd]

A really good point was brought up... If people are buying it at that price, then you are telling them that it is priced correctly..


to play the devils advocate here... I am sure their costs all vary widely.. Shipping costs, supplier costs, staffing, etc etc. I think its hard to make blanket statements.

[Baulz]

A really good point was brought up... If people are buying it at that price, then you are telling them that it is priced correctly..


to play the devils advocate here... I am sure their costs all vary widely.. Shipping costs, supplier costs, staffing, etc etc. I think its hard to make blanket statements.

I would expect an IPA made 1000's of miles away to cost more than a Pale made less than 100 miles away, but that's not the case with Church-Key.

I do understand that there are a lot of fixed costs that go into each batch of beer, but how can 2 different 6 packs from the same brewery sell for the same price when one will have higher ingredient costs than the other (Flying Monkeys Hoptical Illusion vs. Smashbomb)

[MatttthewGeorge]

I would expect an IPA made 1000's of miles away to cost more than a Pale made less than 100 miles away, but that's not the case with Church-Key.

What size kettle does Green Flash have compared to Church Key?

It takes us roughly the same amount of hours to brew MacLean's Pale Ale on our 20HL system as it does for Charles to brew the exact same beer on his 1HL system. Even with the increased input costs on our larger system, it costs us WAY less per litre than it does for Charles.

Another good example is Nickelbrook: They have a 10HL system. They do 3 brews a day, 24 hour brewing, 5 days a week. When they move up to their 30HL system they'll be able to brew the same amount of beer in 8 hours a day, a savings of 16 hours per day. That will certainly being thier cost per litre down drastically.

[JerCraigs]

As Matthew notes above me, transportation is only one factor in pricing. I suspect that the LCBO is shipping way more product from BC than NS, so its conceivable that it is actually cheaper to ship.

[markaberrant]

Lots of factors go into a retail price. If you don't like the price, don't buy it. As already said, there are lots of other options.

It's called free enterprise and consumer choice.

Get over it.

[Baulz]

Lots of factors go into a retail price. If you don't like the price, don't buy it. As already said, there are lots of other options.

It's called free enterprise and consumer choice.

Get over it.

Woah nothing to get over here. Just asking questions, having a discussion, and trying to learn a bit.

Relax and have a homebrew.

[markaberrant]

My apologies if you were truly seeking to understand the whys. I'm a little jaded at times, and make assumptions of others intent/knowledge on a topic.

Not directed at you, but I'll say this:

People used to bitch that craft beer wasn't popular. Now that it is popular, there is a high demand, so prices go up. Now people bitch that craft beer is expensive.

Makes me wanna gouge my eyes out...

[Baulz]

I think a lot of craft beer is really good value, some prices are not much different from some from the big 3. Even the recent IPA release is priced well, I would pay more for some of them, however others I will only buy once to try. But my original point is that some prices just make no sense to me, and those are usualy beers I avoid buying.