Prices

[Steve]

Hi all,

Just wondering...what sort of margins do the big breweries / bottle stores / supermarkets get on beer? I see alot of 500ml bottles for $6 and up...Emersons up there at $9 or so. What are they paying for these beers? How many people are paying these amounts for single bottles?

Thanks!

[JR]

Grain to about 5% and a few hops plus the tax gets you to about $2 a litre, but then you have a few other costs like plant / electricity / wages / rent / freight / marketing / margin for the shops / GST  etc.. and if you are making good beer you could double the ingredients cost.

I dont know how many people pay $6 - $12 a bottle for craft beer, but I buy a couple a week to suppliment homebrew and inspire future brews.

At those prices though it makes for good value drinking when you can find it on tap at a good bar, its almost the same price as the supermarket.

[Stu McKinlay]

Retailers seem to put about 35-45% on top of the price we sell to them.

 

From what I hear, the only money in beer (for supermarkets) is in craft beer sales. 12-packs are so driven by price and promotion, so they are hoping you'll buy exhorbitantly marked up chippies while you're in there getting your box of cheap piss.

 

The only one making much money off beer is the government. They make about 55-64c excise PLUS 72-91c GST on every 330ml bottle of Yeastie Boys sold. I sometimes wish I could get into that business... 

[Adam Barnes]

Ha, and yet today I spent about $50 on bottled craft beer at the supermarket but got a great deal on chips, 3 bags for $4!!

[Prajna M]

I regularly pay upwards of $9 for a bottle of craft beer. I certainly wish the beers were cheaper, but as Stu's comments show, I don't think the brewers are living the high life, even at the prices charged.

In any event, I can think of few things I'd rather spend that sum on than a bottle of well crafted beer from Yeastie Boys, Dale's, 8Wired, Epic, Emerson's, Liberty (bit more than $9 though!), Twisted Hop, Townsends etc!

PS Steve, you're paying a bit too much for your Emerson's. The standard range should be in the $7-8 range I think. And, I see you're in Welly. Regional Wines has a great "fill your own" range of beer, which works out to considerably less than $8-9 per 500ml.

[Steve]

Thanks guys. I actually buy the single 500ml bottles of the German beer, which I love. I know the Hoff Brau and Schneider Weiss are the most pricey (around $7/bottle) and famous, however I quite like the Schofferhofer which is cheaper at around $4.50/bottle. This is just my preference of course.

Strange that a German beer with more freight costs etc are cheaper than Kiwi brewed. Maybe it is just because the German breweries are bigger and do it cheaper through economies of scale..

I'm trying to get a great beer into NZ from Bavaria, Germany...it is all natural, non-pasteurised, and gold medal winner in the DLG beer awards - famous in Germany! Flavour is amazing. It's famous in Bavaria, but obviously not known here at all. 

[Hugh Grierson]

Just as long as your German beer is not a style that the great dudes at DB invented and own..

(yes I am still angry).

[Dave W]

Still surprised I never got a cease and desist letter from those arseholes????
Ah well as I've gotten out of the importing game not really a problem now I guess.

But I'll certainly see what I can do to chip in some cash if Hallertau wish to take on DB over the Porter Noir wankery that they are now trying on

http://philcook.net/beerdiary/2012/07/26/porter-noir/

As far as pricing goes I can't speak for the local producers, but as small scale importer the government made roughly 12 times what I did per bottle and the supermarkets about 8-9 times my margin.

As I wasn't importing full container loads (just 4-5 mixed pallets of kegs and bottles at a time) there was no way to compete on price, the only saving grace for me was the original purchase price in Germany was insanely low compared to NZ due to the lack of taxes.

[Steve]

Sorry I don't understand what you mean Hugh? DB invented and own what? Sorry, maybe I am a bit slow!!

[Kelly Milligan]

You're opening a can of worms Steve ;P Take a looksie at the 'Radler' debacle 

[TBone]

I'm pretty torn on some of the craft beer prices per bottle that I see. I was really excited to hear Hop Zombie was released again... but when I saw a bottle selling for around $12 I just couldn't do it, and it wasn't from a lack of funds. I'm just not willing to pay that much for a single bottle of beer. 

The up side is that its inspired me to start brewing again, and my mash tun cooler just arrived today. Should be brewing within a week or so if everything works out!

[Tilt]

Funny how acceptable price points are calibrated isn't it.  The equivalent price for a 750ml bottle of wine would be $18.  Thats a cheap to mid price wine at the supermarket - which most people wouldn't baulk at paying.  Considering the expertise, ingredients and creativity that goes into making good beer, I'm happy to pay the equivalent to a reasonable bottle of wine for a damn good botte of beer.  The hop zombie I had on Saturday was worth every cent IMO.

[Kelly Milligan]

Seconded, I regularly pick up some new beers or favourites from The Village Winery and feel like they're worth every dollar. As with everything, you get what you pay for...