Some good news about Tied House San Jose: Peter Licht, long the head brewer at Coast Range (which sadly closed last year) is now head brewer at Tied House in San Jose. That means the beer quality and range and variety’s going to improve radically. He’s already started putting out a new cask ale every Friday, See you there.

American craft beer prices have shot up sharply in the last few months. Damn shame. The 3.99 22 oz. bottle of great beer has almost disappeared. I never buy wine, except, we stock a red and a white for company. I’d choke and die before I pay $15 for a bottle of wine. Guess that makes me a lowly beer geek. But a happy one.

Derrick’s point of price elasticity is interesting, particularly when applied to bottles in stores. I have been struck by how much the prices for 750ml bottles of beer have crept up in recent years. Perusing the shelves of Healthy Spirits or City Beer Store, it seems as though the average price is over $10. I have definitely found myself thinking, “jeez, should I pay the $12 for that beer, or would I be better off with a $12 bottle of Cab?”

Applying the ideas of elasticity and substitution, I am only willing to go so high, in general, for some beer or wine, let’s say $15 unless it’s extra special. If that’s the case, then I may be willing to substitute wine once the beer price starts getting close to that ceiling, given that there is a perceived differential in value because a bottle of wine will yield more glasses than beer will (in general).

There is the issue of what I want, or am in the mood for, but I can certainly have my mood swung by a perceived differential in value that is too great.

The whole dynamic is very interesting. For me personally, I do end up having an internal hierarchy, where the best value is a six pack, such as a $10 Stone IPA, followed by a $10 Cabernet that tastes like a $15 one, then the well priced larger bottles of beer such as Lagunitas’ Maximus for $4 or RR Damnation at $7 or Le Merle, then the over $10 bottles of beer and over $13 bottles of wine. Of course, I do on occasion consume at all of these levels, but my economic situation at any moment definitely comes into play.

I happen to live a couple of blocks from the Toronado, so my bar drinking choices are highly influenced by their seemingly somewhat quirky pricing. The vast majority of beer seems to be either $4.50 or $9.50 these days. If Pliny were to be priced $6, it would definitely curtail my Pliny intake (as I almost always make my last one a Pliny), but not eliminate it. If all double IPAs were suddenly $6 while IPAs stayed $4.50, I have no idea what I’d do…

I will be happy to pay $10 for for an imperial pint of Pliny at any drinking establishment in Santa Clara County.