U.S Beer - What would you pay?

[Daniel Parker]

Hi,

We have been working on getting some U.S Beers for a while, and now that I have some numbers I need to figure out what the market would pay.. So, Here are three beers that I am interested to see what you would be prepared to pay per bottle..

1) Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA 330ml - http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/dogfish-head-90-minute-imperial-ipa/10...

2) AleSmith YuleSmith (Summer) India Pale Ale 750ml - http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/alesmith-yulesmith-40summer41-india-pa...

3) Rogue Ales Dead Guy Ale 750ml - http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/rogue-dead-guy-ale/589/

What would you pay for each of these?

Regards
Daniel
The Beer Store

[colin m]

Hi Daniel,

I would be keen in adding to any shipment you arrange- means that we could cut shipping costs if we were to split it. let me know your thoughts.

cheers

Colin
Malthouse

[Stu McKinlay]

I'd happily pay $10 for a 330ml and $20 for a 750ml.
These are prices I'd buy a few of each for. I'd go higher just to get a taste of them.

[Kempicus]

Oh that's a tricky question, we quote to much and we'll be shooting ourselves in the foot....to little and you won't bother importing...

I'd maybe compare it to Belgiums of the same size and alc%....
Being reasonable...
Dogfish head i'd pay $8-$10 no problem
Alesmith probably $15-$20
Dead guy probably $12-$14

I've had dead guy and i didn't think it was that great to be honest
Having said that though we'd probably pay a lot more (i certainly would, i once paid over $80 for two bottles of alesmith) but i guess then you've got to think of repeat custom and making them accessable....

[Mike Neilson]

Well I Just payed $32Aus for Rogue XS, 6 bottles $230NZD.So thats a good indication In what I would Pay! In all honesty I would pay a fair and resnoble amount for any beer. Pliny the elder retails for $4.5us a bottle, but you cant get it, it sells out with in days of stores getting it in. So in fact if you could get it in, it is worth what someone is willing to pay and I would pay alot.

[JoKing]

I'm with the other guys on this.

I would be willing to pay what the beers are worth. I would hope that the margins weren't to high on these beers - as there would be only a small core of people buying them at first. Put it this way: if I saw any of these bottles (bar Dogfish Head... I'll get to that soon), and they were OTT in price - I'd buy it once for a taste of nostelgia. However if the prices were realistic, I would repeat custom often.

Now, to the beer selection. Rogue Ales are pretty good, however they are overpriced: even in the States. They market their beers as "Boutique" over there and as such have the "Boutique" price tag. Same as Dogfish Head. I would be looking at the core of the West Coast Breweries for these beer styles: Russian River and Stone Brewery for example. These are FANTASTIC VALUE beers that blow most of the "Boutique" beers out of the water. You can get these beers into NZ for a realistic price.

Now to Dogfish Head. They are one of the most boutique breweries there are. Gimmicky and Overpriced. To be honest, I wouldn't pay anything for their beers in NZ. I'm not trying to be a beer snob - but if you want West Coast Styles... get west coast beer. They try to put an East Coast twist to the style: and it doesn't work for me. I mean you could happily buy Beers like Armageddon, Maximus Humulus Lupulus, Twisted Hop IPA and Stuntman and get more satisfaction than what you would Dogfish Head.

Thats just my speil. Thanks for looking into this and look into Pliny The Elder from Russian River, and Ruination from Stone Brewing Co. You'd make way more profit from me if you did!

Thanks again

BTW Alesmith is easily worth $20 a bottle.

[Kempicus]

Nice point, didn't realise that about dogfish head....alesmith is a different story though!!!

[Nolen Smith]

I agree with everything in Joking's treatise above. I'd happily pay between $10 - $20 for most mentioned (except Dogfish Head... I might buy one for shits and giggles, but wouldn't repeat).

[JoKing]

Thanks guys. I think it is really important for Daniel to get it right first time. Repeat custom for this style of beer depends on the selection of beer.

Dogfish head and others are a "representation" of the style: just like the NZ IPAs.

Yulesmith, Stone, Russian River ARE the style so is Rogue to a certain extent.

I would be buying Ruination a 6 pack at a time: and I would subscribe to Pliny over Sky TV any day!

[Kempicus]

So what your saying to put it in NZ context...

NZ craft breweries in general brew outstanding Pilsners

When importing from the US It's a good idea to not do the equivalent of importing a Monteiths pilsner as a NZ Pilsner style beer?

[JoKing]

Spot on. Good use of contextualisation Kempicus.

Those West coast IPA's really are unique - the closest I've had so far in NZ have been Armageddon and Twisted Hop IPA. Steve and Luke went to San Diego Last year - what do you guys think?

[Kempicus]

Yep definitely, and Skull buggery....To be honest i liked Armageddon and TWISTED HOP IPA better than ruination and bear republic racer 5...;0)

[JoKing]

Show off.