Has the price of specialty beers gotten out of control? And Mondavi can SAD

jShort said:
This seriously makes no sense at all. I'm pretty sure everyone who read that is a little dumber. 🙂
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Oy! hadn't even broken into the bourbon.....

there are 2 semesters of economics in there, and at least one of marketing....

craft beer is not the new wine. there are very few beers that age well (relatively) Every high end wine is meant to age/collect to impress.
craft beer is attempting to enter the drink-now wine market. They are moving to a 750 format, and are meant
for smaller pours and sharing. their complexity rivals better serve-now wines. serve to impress.

people are willing to pay for a unique experience - beer, wine, concert, heliski, happy ending massage in flemington.....
this was my point.

Where is that bourbon....????
 
Barley Wines are really good aged. They should get more attention. NorthCoast Old Stock, I wasn't the first to drink it but I can say I was there early.
 
fidodie said:
Back to the original idea..

update from neshaminy creek.

http://neshaminycreekbrewing.com/2015/12/15/a-good-problem-to-have-wrapup/

i didn't realize they were less than 1% the size of Victory....
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Frankly I'm not sure why NCB is so worried about interrupting the supply of their year round beers. They aren't that good. Would anyone really be that heartbroken if J.A.W.N. or Pilsener was off the shelves for a few weeks? They should concentrate more resources on these specialty brews.
 
J-Dro said:
Frankly I'm not sure why NCB is so worried about interrupting the supply of their year round beers. They aren't that good. Would anyone really be that heartbroken if J.A.W.N. or Pilsener was off the shelves for a few weeks? They should concentrate more resources on these specialty brews.
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I read on one of their blogs that they can't do the specialty relases year round because of the hop distributor agreements.

I agree 100%. Their usual lineup is very mediocre.
 
I’m pretty sure I didn’t give this thread its current name. Unless these beers are really kicking in?
 
soundz said:
www.cnn.com

American craft brewers were already in trouble. Then came coronavirus

America's craft brewers were headed for a rocky spell before the coronavirus pandemic. Now, many are worried their livelihoods could be doomed.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com

I think we don't notice as much because we focus on the ones that are top shelf.
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I think that craft brews, the entire micro-brew thing that's been happening over the last 10yrs is a bubble ready to burst, even before COVID. Between shifting trends and competition, I think that times will get tough for a lot of brewers. Used to be that barrel aged stouts and porters were the biggest thing. You had to be at the liquor store when the truck delivered the KBS to get some, and there was always a 1-2 bottle limit. Now I know of a few places where they've had the cases out on the floor for a couple of months. Same with double/triple IPAs. Used to be a time when you had to follow the Heady Topper truck up in VT, on Fridays when it was delivered, to get a 4-pack. There was always a limit, so you had to hit a few different spots and get lucky. When they opened the bigger facility in Stowe, people used to drive hundreds of miles with their coolers, camp outside, wait on-line to get their allocation. Repeat the next day. People used to beg me to Smurf them cases of the stuff, but I only had so much room in the car. Now, getting Heady is no issue. Its always in stock at all the liquor stores, and there are no lines at the Alchemist. Lawsons distributes in several states, contract brews out at 2-Roads. Everyone and their mother now makes a decent double IPA, no need to drive up to VT. I think that the market is pretty saturated with good beer. Great if you're the consumer, no so good if you're a brewer.
 
Captain Brainstorm said:
I think that craft brews, the entire micro-brew thing that's been happening over the last 10yrs is a bubble ready to burst, even before COVID. Between shifting trends and competition, I think that times will get tough for a lot of brewers. Used to be that barrel aged stouts and porters were the biggest thing. You had to be at the liquor store when the truck delivered the KBS to get some, and there was always a 1-2 bottle limit. Now I know of a few places where they've had the cases out on the floor for a couple of months. Same with double/triple IPAs. Used to be a time when you had to follow the Heady Topper truck up in VT, on Fridays when it was delivered, to get a 4-pack. There was always a limit, so you had to hit a few different spots and get lucky. When they opened the bigger facility in Stowe, people used to drive hundreds of miles with their coolers, camp outside, wait on-line to get their allocation. Repeat the next day. People used to beg me to Smurf them cases of the stuff, but I only had so much room in the car. Now, getting Heady is no issue. Its always in stock at all the liquor stores, and there are no lines at the Alchemist. Lawsons distributes in several states, contract brews out at 2-Roads. Everyone and their mother now makes a decent double IPA, no need to drive up to VT. I think that the market is pretty saturated with good beer. Great if you're the consumer, no so good if you're a brewer.
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I was just wondering about this at the beer store yesterday - there are so many brands with cans/bottles that now look similar how do all these small brewers stay afloat?
 
rick81721 said:
I was just wondering about this at the beer store yesterday - there are so many brands with cans/bottles that now look similar how do all these small brewers stay afloat?
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I think that it takes a few years to commission a brewery, run some pilot batches, dial in your recipes/process, and then make a name for yourself. I think that a lot of these places started up when the IPA thing was boom'in, everyone else was doing the same thing, and here we are, flush with beer. I'm personally IPA'd out.
 
rick81721 said:
I was just wondering about this at the beer store yesterday - there are so many brands with cans/bottles that now look similar how do all these small brewers stay afloat?
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Is it really any different than with wine which seems to have sustained lots of brands for a while?
 
i'm still picking up beer that doesn't have a distro -
conclave, high rail, flounder -
gotta say, the beer isn't as good, and the prices are the same as the seriously dialed-in brews
from magnify, bolero snort, kane. the equilibrium i had was fantastic - but $24/4pack.
then i think to myself, and i say "self" cause that is what i call myself.......

we blow through $20 bottles of wine - .75L = 26oz,
math helps me justify my stupidity.
i'm not sure how @jmanic affords himself 😉
 
Patrick said:
i'm still picking up beer that doesn't have a distro -
conclave, high rail, flounder -
gotta say, the beer isn't as good, and the prices are the same as the seriously dialed-in brews
from magnify, bolero snort, kane. the equilibrium i had was fantastic - but $24/4pack.
then i think to myself, and i say "self" cause that is what i call myself.......

we blow through $20 bottles of wine - .75L = 26oz,
math helps me justify my stupidity.
i'm not sure how @jmanic affords himself 😉
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The prices for some of these IPA's are just stupid, considering that IPA is one of the easier beers to brew. Higher prices for barrel aged stuff I can understand, its a significant extra step and the batches are smaller.
 
rick81721 said:
I was just wondering about this at the beer store yesterday - there are so many brands with cans/bottles that now look similar how do all these small brewers stay afloat?
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It's starting to blow apart. There's too many homebrewers trying to turn pro that just make subpar beer that are weeding themselves out. The cream is rising to the top and will survive (Kane, Carton, Icarus etc) or the brewers who stay small and sustainable. The one's who overextend themselves with no backup plan (such as contract brewing like Cypress does) will be selling off their equipment or space entirely...we've seen it already with Demented, 2nd Act, Tomfoolery etc.

I worked in the industry for the better part of a decade. The goldrush appears to be over and brewery openings are starting to flatten out a bit. NJ still near the bottom of the breweries per capita marker so who knows where it's heading. Problem is so much of the state can just go to NYC and get world class beer there that doesn't need to be distributed here.

1TrackMind said:
Is it really any different than with wine which seems to have sustained lots of brands for a while?
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Major difference in shelf life. A wine can sit for years without going bad. Some of these IPA's are cooked in months if not weeks. Plus wine shelf space is typically higher than beer in stores due to higher margins and private labels for stores.
 
Being able to brew, but not serve or prepare food has to hurt some of these sub-par breweries. I know there's a few brewpubs around like Iron Hill. But with town issued liquor licenses being so expensive, the state issued brewing license is easier to pay for. Now if a town is dry, like 3 breweries (#4, #9 and #10) on this list by county where I live, it may help.
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Four on the list have pretty large operations and distribution (#5, #7, #8 and #12), however I've never had anything from #7. #12 is getting larger quickly.
 
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