Maybe he has the marketing chops that some craft brewers lack, but it came off as a bit condescending to me, as did the idea that beer’s health benefits are something new. Maybe to the non-beer drinking public, but I am sure Lisa Morrison could disagree.

Ironically, the site mentions Mayfield’s past incarnation was a Steam beer supplier. Definitely not a barrel-aged beer.

Fittingly, I write this as I look at the last bits of a fallen Steam soldier in my glass.

“Just as physicists labored to decipher the perfection of a Stradivarius violin, the Mayfield Brewmaster has sought to unlock the genius of brewing traditions during Europe’s Golden Age of Brewing.”

I’d be interested in what other brewers think of the price point and market stance for a brewery that seems to have had product on the shelves for seven weeks.

We’ve had this discussion for a while, Stan, but “worth” and “value” have to take into account all factors that go into a decision to purchase and that has to take into account snob appeal, advertising, the desire to upmarket, relative scarcity, apparent scarcity and other oligopolistic pressures. As Andy indicates, if you spend 43 buck on this bottle you are missing maybe 4 to 8 eight other experiences. The unwise may make their determination in light of that differently than the wise. To quote Mr. Barnum, there is fool born every minute.

In my former private practice, the term for such value was often called “jerk tax”.

As the name of the segment suggests, Hopinions, we each have an opinion and we have a go at it.

To clarify, yes, these were 750mL bottles.

Thanks again to everyone who’s contributing to the discussion.

But my point in commenting on the discussion in Mario’s blog is that ultimately what matters is not the production cost but the value of the end product. Costs will vary from country to country, and even region of the country to region, and they do matter but a brewer doesn’t deserve my business only because he spends more on ingredients and time. He earns it based on the quality of the beer in the glass.

By the way, we’re back on top again!

From my point of view, I can’t quite say whether craft beer is over or under-priced in the United States compared to the costs involved in production and distribution. I go back and forth on it. But the European/import scene throws us a curveball as we see great beers, such as Abbaye de Rocs, available for 8 or 9 bucks per 750 here (cheaper sometimes than in Belgium) while much lesser quality American craft beers often double that price. And I know that consumers have choices and don’t buy it if you don’t like the price but those asides miss a larger point. There is such great fluidity in the pricing models of beers available in the states that it is difficult if not impossible to explain them. So to answer the questions raised in the original post, I don’t frankly care whether the beer is worth $43 because there is such great value available at a fraction of the cost that it doesn’t really even cross my mind to reach for it.

Cheers,

Andy

I write rhetorically, of course, merely to point out that there are a lot of factors that figure into beer price.

Let me start over. I’ve been looking into getting a few used scotch casks from Scotland. It would run me about $500 for each cask when said and done. If I brewed 55gal of RIS to fill it it would cost around $250…maybe!

Thats $750 for that bit.

You’ll get about 280 750ml bottles but lets say I’m a mook and only get 250 b/c I screwed something up. That adds about $2 per bottle for packaging and such = $500

So for the cask, beer and total package costs Im talking about $1250 for 250 bottles. That is about $5 a bottle. Let say gas is expensive and it costs a ton to deliever making it about $7 per bottle to put on the shelf. Then we sticker it $43 which is only a markup of ~600%. I’m not a mathalogist or a businistician but how does this possibly make sense for anyone, let alone a brewery that has no proven chops?