Welcome to 2009 everyone! Despite initial appearances, I have a feeling that it’s going to be a better year than most people expect. Certainly better for craft brewers than for the big boys.
Why the optimism, you ask? Simply, the beer drinking public now has the taste for craft beer, and no amount of economic strife short of a calamitous, full scale collapse of the entire western economy is going to change that. Here’s why.
A bottle of Krug Brut Champagne vintage 1996 purchased in the province of Ontario will cost you $399, whereas a bottle of Veuve Clicquot yellow label non-vintage will run you $69.30 and a bottle of Segura Viudas Brut Cava requires a shell out of a mere $14.95. So, by trading down from vintage to non-vintage Champagne, you can save $329.70, and by dropping your expectations to the Cava, you pocket a further $54.35. At either level, that’s a fair chunk of change.
In beer, on the other hand, that margin of savings is much finer. Say you favour one of the more expensive imported brands of lager, such as Pilsner Urquell, for example. Well, a six-pack of that will run you $13.35, whereas the same amount of King Pilsner, craft brewed in Ontario, will cost $12.75 and a six of Labatt Blue chimes in at $9.95. So, by trading down the line, you’ll save 60 cents going from import to domestic craft and a whole $2.80 from craft to domestic major brewery beer. Drop all the way to Laker Lager – think Bright’s President in our sparkling wine comparison above – and you pocket a further $1.55.
End result? Instead of saving tens or even hundreds of dollars by economizing on sparkling wine, a beer drinker can save a maximum of 82 and a half cents per bottle by going from “expensive” import lager to cheap domestic brew. And I dare say there’s no Pilsner Urquell drinker who is going to find that a value-driven trade-off.
Happy 2009! Keep drinking the good stuff!
