So long, Joe Sixpack: beer's going upscale at $1 a sip

Keep in my good beer requires better ingredients, and higher quantities. With commodities already on the rise as a result of the economic downturn, the 'good stuff" (as opposed to additives like rice) production cost for good beer parallels the price shift.

Also, craft beer utilizes hops more extensively. The recent hop shortage has crippled many small breweries.

Finally, state and federal governments are impose excessive excise taxes on beer. Oregon alone (one of the largest craft beer producing states) is facing a 1900% (not a typo!) tax increase.

Read more here:
http://thankheavenforbeer.com/2009/04/14/beer-and-taxes-oregons-1900-hike/

It's a small price to pay for better flavor!

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Ain't gonna drink no Belgian BUD. Ain't gonna swig no South African MILLER or COORS... Maybe PABST is "Top Ramen" and cheap, but it's pure 'Merican!

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In response to number 2...chances are that the ingredients (hops, or barley) are not all from America. Besides that, there are numerous very good craft beers that are 'Merican, too. I would argue that the entrepreneurial spirit of real America is better found in these smaller craft brewers. But some of this is jargon sleight of hand. Are there really that many purely (in the truest sense) American companies out there any more?

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Smoke pot,it's cheaper and the best part is the government does'nt make a fucking dime off of it!

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This government better wise up. I stopped drinking Hornby's hard cider, in 2 years it went from 5.49 a 6 pack to 8.99. A 4pak of Guinness is almost 9.00. Too much money for a cheap commodity that has become trendy, the same as coffee-so the price goes up.
Its not like you buy beer-you only rent it Right?

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Hey Chris AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BROTHA

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The idiots who do this elitist crap are going to screw up beer for everyone. If you're stupid enough to believe that the beer in an $8 dollar bottle with a fancy-assed label tastes better than a $2 dollar Budweiser, then best of luck to you. If you're going to waste your money like that, I have a nice piece of Ocean front property in Wyoming I'd like to sell you. Uber-beer, sheesh!

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I also want to add that people who think Budweiser was good beer are just addicts and drunks because anyone that has any taste buds or knows anything about beer would realize its not true beer and it tastes awful. When I did have a beer once a week, it was always an expensive, well crafted dark brew that had robust flavor. Quantity over quality is for drunks and addicts that just care about alcohol over the beer itself.

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Why don't we all just drink Bud, then? It's cheapest and still beer?

Why should beer require only the cheapest ingredients, labeling, bottling, and marketing?

We do, actually, sometimes, pay for the quality we get.

I hate beer. It smells and tastes exactly like rotting bread smells to me. I also have learned to appreciate wine and worked at a micro brewery. I learned that beer can and does have the same complexities as wine.

I also learned that Americans, like me, have been conditioned to drink ice-cold beer because it dulls the flavor. Really, that ice-cold cheap Bud you drink you love for its lack of flavor.

Beer was all-American cool because it was cheap and easy. Gin came from the same roots. Not incidentally, so did wine, vodka, and what have you.

What effect does it have on you if someone is willing to drink a beer that doesn't need to be served at a temperature low enough to freeze your taste buds?

If you really think it's just snobby to give beer the same gastronomical credit as wine then why would you care how much anyone pays for anything ever?

I still hate beer. I can do a brown, porter, or, preferably, stout simply because the toasted notes overwhelm, for me, the hoppy and rotten-bread flavors; they're less bitter even at room temperature.

But I also really tried to appreciate beer. I learned what hoppy tasted like and worked to understand and appreciate the difference between an IPA and an amber.

You want a communist version of beer: cheap in cost and quality while accusing those who dare to discern in quality and condemning those who would pay more that what you are willing.

Frankly, I've had champagne that goes for $500/bottle. I don't care for white wines enough to discern. I'm just as happy with a $20 bottle.

Amarones, on the other hand, I thought were great at $60/bottle until I tasted something so deliciously much better and will continue to dish out well over $100 for a bottle, a couple times a year, for four glasses, to share with friends (because something that good is best shared), just because it is such a wonderful treat.

I love that beer has the variation and complexity that wine does. I love the art in it even if I still hate beer.

I still drink relatively cheap wines. I don't drink Gallo.

If you really enjoy the flavor of cheap beer then, by all means, go to. If you like it then why bother spending more just to look like you're as trendy as the next.

But don't pretend like your taste is the only taste or that all beer tastes the same.

Yes, people will pay more just to look cool but some people do pay more just because it is that good and that worth it.

Snobby isn't just saying that something is better because it costs more. Snobby is saying something is better simply because you believe it is (for what ever reason) then condemning others for thinking differently.

You hate expensive beers because they're expensive. I think others trashy and shallow when they snub a restaurant because their wine list doesn't include a $500 bottle, or whatever. Either way you are both judging based on cost and not quality. Neither of you are bothering to learn.

I can name a dozen blended scotches that ghetto rappers exalt for the price then proceed to mix with Sprite, killing the flavor they are cool enough to pay for. I've listened to master brewers extol the beauty of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer for its simplicity.

It is art, pure and simple. It can be inexpensive and easy to get or it can require risking an entire year's crop just to get the right partially dried grapes (read up on your amarones) when you could have made a healthy profit with no risk and only the fresh, juicy grapes.

You're a writer. Should you be paid the same as someone who just vomits out whatever without any concern to the finished product (like, ya know, me) or should you get paid more because you take the time and effort to do what you do well? And where, exactly, should that line be drawn?

At the very least, I'd say, for rarity. And I'll continue to dish out a few thousand a year for a few dozen good wines while I read this common-place proletariat/Marxist sort of rant for free.

But, of course, I'm willing to pay a little more when I, personally, value the quality. I'm also not so concerned that my taste isn't good enough. I still won't pay more than $20 for a bottle of sparkling wine unless it is for a gift to someone who will appreciate that quality.

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Gadorfin,

You are obviously ignorant about beer. You seem to know nothing about the cost and ingredients associated with beer. I'm sure you know even less about the process involved. There are different ingredients, amounts of ingredients, processes involved, hops/hop amounts involved and a plethora of other considerations. Even the amount of water used for more malts plays a factor in the pricing.

Think in your own head. Name some types of beer. Name some ingredients and adjuncts used in various styles. Are they all malt beers or do they have rice hulls and non-malt sugars like some cheaper beers? You probably don't care anyway...seeing as how absolute you are in what you are saying.

I suppose it depends on ones goals. If you drink for inebriation, then cheaper beer is better. If you drink for the taste, then higher prices are demanded. Does spam taste the same as a steak to you, too? I suppose you buy nothing brand name or that claims to be better than something else. A cheap guitar must be the same as a Les Paul or Fender as well.

Lanie, your response is intelligent and balanced. Even though you don't like beer, you realize that more information actually increases the intelligence you have about beer. Thank you for not speaking out of your posterior like this other guy. I've never extolled beer based on price. If it costs too much for the quality of the beer, then it is too much, period! But I have payed a ton for a beer as well. I also liked that you hit on the fact that different people appreciate different qualities, so you will buy one for someone who will. Nice interaction.

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By the way, www.thankheavenforbeer.com is an excellent site. Here are two links. One is a series on Styles of beer and other other is just about the ingredients in beer and what they do.

http://thankheavenforbeer.com/category/styles-of-beer-series/
http://thankheavenforbeer.com/category/beer-ingredients/page/3/
http://thankheavenforbeer.com/category/beer-ingredients/page/2/

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For those who want to do a little more looking into why some beers are more than others, www.thankheavenforbeer.com is an excellent site for Joe Sixpack. Here are a links. One is a series on Styles of beer and other other is just about the ingredients in beer and what they do.

http://thankheavenforbeer.com/category/styles-of-beer-series/

http://thankheavenforbeer.com/category/beer-ingredients/page/3/

http://thankheavenforbeer.com/category/beer-ingredients/page/2/

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Sorry,

I accidently posted that two times. I thought that it didn't go through on the first.

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