Beer Prices v. Wine Prices

Originally Posted by NCRadioMan

Yes, he was. Note the smiley.

Critical reading is a lost art Greg,

[captain53]

Originally Posted by Resipsa

So I'm standing in my beer b&m last night eyeballing another sixer of North Coast Old Stock Ale with a little voice in my head whispering......$14.00 is a lot to pay for a six pack of beer.

Operating from the premise that one six pack of beer is the equivalent of one bottle of wine, at least in terms of AB/ABW, etc.

And I'm thinking. Is it? Is it really? If you haven't had the pleasure, Old Stock Ale is 12.5% alcohol ABV , and INCREDIBLY complex. This is one fantastic ale. And at 12.5% alcohol, one beer is the equivalent of 3 regular beers (or regular glasses of wine) , eg. Bud or Miller. And ads notwithstanding, it really does TASTE GREAT

Even if it was a regular alcohol level, I guess I still wouldn't understand. 14.00 bucks for an outstanding beer, one of the best in it's class, vs. 14.00 for wine. what is 14.00 for wine going to get you?

The point I'm trying to make is that you can buy unbelievably fantastic beer for starting around the $9.00 a sixer range and going up, but most people, absent beerophiles, balk at that, yet will willingly spend $25.00 on a low end, middle of the road bottle of wine. I dont' get it. Is it the snobbery? That beer is "low class"? What is it?

I just see it as personal preference, priority, taste and budget not necessarily related to social class or financial well being. Just like Cigars folks tend to buy what they like and drink what they buy....... for whatever reason.

I don't think anything of paying $80 for a bottle of Lagavulin but cringe at the sound of $14/6 beer but that does not mean I don't understand your enjoying the $14 beer.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Darrell

Honestly I think a lot of it is snobbery.

Cheap wine, expensive wine, whatever. I think it's the fact that a bottle of wine is often associated with a higher class beverage, like a nice scotch. If you look at television and movies (I know you're saying to yourself "don't believe everything you see on t.v. dummy Darrell) you will see that wine is always portrayed in the limelight as a beverage for the rich folks, the classy folks, etc.

Beer on the other hand be it Stone, Bear Republic, Rogue, Pabst, Natural Ice, etc. It's portrayed as the blue collar working mans drink. A guy comes home in his grubby clothes and sits down for a beer, to a lot of people beer is just beer, they don't look for the unique flavors that some of us know it has to offer, they just see that dirty guy sitting in his greasy clothes swilling a Budweiser. He's not sitting there in a 3 piece suit with a pocket watch, turning his pinky up.

As I said, a lot of it comes down to snobbery. Society has been led to believe that wine = money and status and beer = dirty working man piss water.

I agree with this post.

Why do people spend $14 on a crap bottle of wine, when they could spend $14 on a great 4pack of craft beer? Well, I do believe snobbery plays a role. Like D said, society sees wine as classy, elegant, while beer not so much. Thats just how it is. People want to have status. But who cares anyway? Also, I believe another answer to your question Vic is simple. Taste and preference. Some people just prefer vino to beer. Just my pennies.

[VirtualSmitty]

Originally Posted by TheRiddick

I'll go and pick out a non-Cohiba to smoke on a deck, its nice outside... And while I am at it, pop open an $18 bottle of wine which I do consider great (friend of mine makes it). To edukat and rephine my pallet...

Good idea, maybe it will help you chill out

[bscottskangum]

Originally Posted by ChicagoWhiteSox

I believe another answer to your question Vic is simple. Taste and preference. Some people just prefer vino to beer. Just my pennies.

I don't buy the $14 wine I do to be a snob, I buy it cause I want to drink it. Who is to say that I can't buy a bottle of $14 wine, that's what I want and what I'm in the mood for. It's not that I don't appreciate a good beer, I love beer AND wine, but do you think I want the same thing all the time?

I think a nice analog to this question is meat.....why would you buy a cheap steak when you could have good chicken? Because that's what i ^&*#en want!

This whole thread to me comes down to the fact that a) some people are snobs, which people can be snobs if they want, that doesn't mean I ever have to associate with them. Or b) people actually like wine.

Also, can we please stop feeding the troll? If you ignore it, it will not bother you.

[BlackDog]

Originally Posted by TheRiddick

Bud was still a great example, IMO, to show that even when given a CHOICE and (lower) price of competing products, people PREFER to buy Bud, to THEM it is WORLD CLASS.

But how many Bud drinkers have ever actually educated their pallets, tried and given a real honest evaluation to well made craft beer, and consiously decided "nope, I prefer Bud?" I suspect relatively few. I think the comparison of Bud to high production wine or machine made cigars is apt. There are times when smoking a Muniemaker is fitting, as is drinking box wine. But very few educated pallets would insist that either of these are better than, say, AF Hemingways or a Fontodi Colli della Toscana. (Or a Famous Nic 3 or a Columbus Crest Cab, both of which are really a nice values and not a great deal more than the Muniemaker/box wine examples.)

My opinion is not that the Bud lovers really love Bud so much, it's that they don't know any better. In many ways it's no different than the "reverse snobbery" that occurs in the wine community or the cigar community.

[BigCat]

Originally Posted by BlackDog

But how many Bud drinkers have ever actually educated their pallets, tried and given a real honest evaluation to well made craft beer, and consiously decided "nope, I prefer Bud?" I suspect relatively few. I think the comparison of Bud to high production wine or machine made cigars is apt. There are times when smoking a Muniemaker is fitting, as is drinking box wine. But very few educated pallets would insist that either of these are better than, say, AF Hemingways or a Fontodi Colli della Toscana. (Or a Famous Nic 3 or a Columbus Crest Cab, both of which are really a nice values and not a great deal more than the Muniemaker/box wine examples.)

My opinion is not that the Bud lovers really love Bud so much, it's that they don't know any better. In many ways it's no different than the "reverse snobbery" that occurs in the wine community or the cigar community.

I'm an unashamed bud drinker who also appreciates really "good" beer as well. I regularly drink Bells, Goose Island, Founders, Dogfishhead, Guinness, etc. My "regular" beer is Sam Adams (I know its not a craft beer, but its a good mass production beer). For my birthday next week, my wife is taking me to a stout tasting at a local Irish pub because she knows how much I enjoy them. And I always have a few buds on hand. Its partly because I grew up watching my dad and uncles drink it and I have a soft spot for it. But I also find it refreshing from time to time. Its crisp, clean, reliable and affordable. I'm about to throw some steaks on the grill for dinner and this thread has made me thirsty for one. So I'm going to drink it. And I'm going to enjoy it. It won't be legendary, it won't be complex, but it will be satisfying, which is all I'm looking for on this one. So to all you haters.

[SmokinApe]

Originally Posted by Poronico

I see beer and wine the same as I see cigars. Its all relevant to the taster. There are no low class cigars beer or wine because there are always those who possess the pallet of a goat and actually think these things taste good. Gurkha, Miller, and box wine will always hold a place in this world because of these people.

So people who drink Miller have a pallet of a goat? Regardless of anything else they might enjoy? I take it you only enjoy; Kobe beef, Hawaiian sea salt, Alaskan salmon, Dutch cheese, Colombian coffee and Madagascan vanilla... or maybe you are an A-hole who likes to spout off about the special beer you drink because your cool.... I got news for you, whatever you like, someone else thinks your a chump because of it...

It's funny to me that people equate their; coolness, self worth, importance or class to the beer beer they drink... Moreover when it is over hopped, over malted and over priced...

I can tell you as a Miller Lite drinker I get to here crap from the "hop heads" and fruited beer drinkers all the time about the superiority of their beer... With regularity I have spiked their drinks with; mustard, ketchup and anything else on hand to only see them not notice... Amazing that ketchup in "good" beer is undetectable, do it to a Miller and I will know...

Bud and Miller put out consistent products that people buy... I could give a crap about price... $5 for a bottle of Miller vs a free craft beer that smells like an old lady? I will pay for the Miller every time...

Get a lttle help from the mods here and
lock this Miller Lite up? Crystal clear that the question is being missed by most.