Why is beer so expensive

But the craft beer revolution has made many Americans expect more out of their beer than they used to and as a result that has pushed what we pay for it steadily upward. A typical craft beer six-pack can sell for the same price as a pack of an old-fashioned macro-lager like Bud Light. Sure, consumers expect cost to increase with quality, but are those fancy beers really twice as awesome?

Craft beer comes in bottled at about R12 to R So in essence, SAB can sell you Castle LITE, which it produces in huge volumes, at a third of the price of a craft beer and make more margin than the craft brewer. The big beer mainstream brewer makes the saving here. SAB supplements the grain bill with cornstarch in order to make the beer lighter in colour and less intense in flavour so that you can gulp down many more pints. It just so happens that this is even cheaper than malted barley.

Saving and sales go to the mainstream again. On the other hand, BPIPA uses high-quality expensive malts, like German specialities and famous English barley Maris Otter, making their beer more flavoursome and much more costly. It is likely that CL will have an early bitter addition and a late aroma addition, both during the boiling process. As the sweet flavours from the malt in CL are so scarce, the bittering from the hops for balance is only needed in small quantities.

And remember low flavour is key, so not too many hops please. So by the time the BPIPA brewers have included their first addition of hops in a L brew, they have probably used more hops than the entire batch of a CL 33 L brew. Then they take it further. BPIPA has flavour additions toward the middle of the boil, finished off with another addition at the end of the boil. Five days later, after fermentation is complete, they add another massive load of hops to give the beer the amazing aromas of pine and citrus that you have come to love.

Saving goes to the mainstream. So here is the kicker. This game is all about volume and distribution, and at this point CL brings in more units of currency than the three-times-more-expensive BPIPA. Well drop the price a bit of course. Now the craft competition looks even more expensive, making the sales even easier for CL and causing the occassional craft drinker to forego that BPIPA purchase after all — meaning craft brewers have less capital to put into the all-important distribution element which helps them sell more beer and ultimately lower their prices.

So my message to you is this: If you truly love craft beer and are willing to stick with it for the long-run, then come join us! We are having the most fantastic time. I do have an affinity toward craft beer, but I am in no way against a big brewer for being a big brewer.

In 50 years time Jack Back will be big and successful; Ross will be rich, fat and grey; and Jack Black will still be a great craft beer and a forerunner of the SA craft beer movement.

And while many hipsters will have long since moved on, the beer will still be fulfilling its purpose — to be flavoursome and awesome for more on why craft beer is awesome check out my other articles. While both arguments sound feasible, consider the U. An important caveat: those stats are true for the entire range of beers. While the fastest growing segment of the total beer market, craft beer last year accounted for only Last summer, the Craft Beer Co.

Married to a terrific woman who has saved him from errors in writing and in life, he has three sons. At the U-T, Rowe writes profiles and features and is even paid to review beers, which hardly seems fair. Is beer expensive in Australia? How much tax is on beer in Australia? Australia , Beer. Read more about Mark About Man of Many. Food , Lifestyle. Instagram Image. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Do not sell my personal information.

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