Drinking your way through a recession.

[Stu McKinlay]

I've come across my first real sign of a recession. My brother, a dedicated drinker of good beer (NZ craft beer and Belgians from Regionals mostly), has started buying Stella or Becks because he's on a budget. This is not an accasional "craft" beer drinker. This guy drinks good beer all the time, almost every day. If he was a bit tight in the past he'd drink Mac's at worst...

I think the next couple of years are going to be really hard for craft breweries. We're likely to lose a few. How's the recession going to affect your drinking habits?

[Reviled]

Im the same, the amount of beer I buy will stay the same as I cant afford to buy good beer all the time, recession or not... You definately wont see me buying a cheap dozen tho!

[nzbrewer]

the first thing that will happen, and there are signs of it already, is people will drink less at bars, and buy more from the supermarket/bottle shop for take home saving them money.

so this recession? is it in our heads? is it pumped up by the media? is there a depression in New Zealand? are there sheep on our farms?

inflation coming down? gas prices coming down? mortgage rates coming down?
still got a job? then you probably now have more disposable income than you had six months ago?

so why the tough times? get out there and drink as much expensive craft beer as you can

[Kempicus]

True but the prudent thing to do unless you think your job is rock solid safe is to save a bit of cash just in case

[nzbrewer]

Exactly, if everyone saves a little then there is less money in the system, and you cause the recession.

Rather than tax cuts, and interest rate reduction, they should use the media to talk it up. Stop reporting how bad it is. Tell people about the good things, and what they should be spending their money on.

[Greig McGill]

You'll have less disposable income when Mr. McGlashan sues your ass Luke! ;) Also, gas seems to be on the way up again.

But yes, joking and pedantry aside, I think the recession is happening. Whether it be because of genuine lack of credit, combined with the US dollar's effect on our import based economy, or just media hype and falling confidence feedback loops, it doesn't matter. The net result is unemployment, negative economic growth, and less confidence in the future for all while the market readjusts itself to "correct" valuation of goods and services again.

The good news is that in the aftermath, that pint might not cost so much! ;)

[Martin Bridges]

Gas prices coming down??? They did but they've gone back up 20 cents in the last week. Volatility is in the air and we ain't seen the last of it. In the IT industry I'm seeing a hiudeous slowdown, and it's inevitable that a reduction of money going into the economy will have an impact. I also don't think we're far away from the first big government bailout of a large NZ company. It'll all come crashing home then.

Mind you, I'm in the same boat as many others on here - buying beer is an extravagance anyway. I bought a fair amount over Christmas but that's because I fancied a good bit of variety and my home-brewed stocks were pretty low. Other than that it's a once-a-month purchase.

[Larry Kurth]

Yes Luke our bar is showing signs of a slowdown but this normal for us at this time of year, time will tell whether or not trade will pick up. However when I look around the beers being drunk in the bar, I see that my beers are being well supported. The punters have the choice of 7 of mine or Red Waikato or Speights and mine more than hold their own. In our bottle shop we are selling ours for a similar price to the mainstream beers, but to raise prices to the level of some expensive craft beer would defeat the purpose, our bar is in a working area and the punters are rather price concious.

[Reviled]

What bar is yours?

[Larry Kurth]

We are Brewers at Mt Maunganui, a Super Liquor at the front, the bar in the middle and the brewery at the back. I am the brewer not the owner.

[Reviled]

Nice! Ill keep an eye out for it next time im down those ways.. What sort of beers do you have? 7's a decent selection :o)

[Larry Kurth]

Well I do a Pils, Lager Draught Shaggy ale Old Dark, Terminator, creamy Stout and the odd special eg HoneyBeer.The batch size is only 500 lt so we are pretty much restricted to our own outlet, drop in anytime.

[vdog]

My habits won't change much - like a few of the other guys I brew my own because I like it, but still buy the good stuff fairly regularly either to try something different or just to remind myself how much I like it (Epic).

As far as craft breweries going under, I think it depends on their distribution model. If they're mostly in supermarkets and liquor stores like Epic etc I wouldn't think there will actually be a huge downturn in consumption. Those that are more heavily weighted towards selling through pubs might be under a little more pressure.