The price (ain’t) right

Sally Toms thinks about the price of a pint

Hurrah for the Spring sales! Like any self-respecting shopper I have been out hunting for bargains amongst the sale rails; there is always something out there that catches my eye, and yes I do need it.

However all this price cutting got me thinking about the price of beer, and its perception in the mass market.

To be frank I think beer is selling itself short. For a product that is lovingly handcrafted and nurtured, beer is pretty cheap. Compare it against other such artisan products like wine and whisky. A bottle of whisky can cost anywhere between £8 and £800. It’s the same with wine. Asking the question: how much is a bottle of wine is like asking how long is a piece of string? Whereas a bottle or pint of beer is consistently less than £3.

Now to some this constitutes a bargain, and to be honest I am partial to a bargain myself, but if we are trying to raise the profile of the good stuff we need to be creating a serious premium category, like wine and whisky.

As well as consumer demand, it is the rarety and age of an item than dictates its price. Readers of this magazine know that beer can also be rare, and very old. A treasure trove of bottles has recently been unearthed at the White Shield brewery in Burton-on-Trent, England, some dating back to 1869. What price would you pay for a beer, the like of which no one has drunk for more than a hundred years?

You could argue that people won’t pay more than £3 for a beer, but I’m not so sure. There have been numerous social experiments that prove as soon as you slap a higher price tag on something, it immediately becomes more desirable.

We’re complicated that way. This is why women will pay £300 for a handbag when they can get a perfectly good one on the high street (and yes, we definitely do need the expensive one).

Brewers are usually the first to admit that their product is undervalued. So where does the blame lie? Surely as consumers we can only pay the price on the label (though I’ll admit I’m the first in the queue at supermarkets when bottled beers are on special offer), but I’m sure beer lovers would be willing to pay more for something special. I know I would.

It’s down to the supermarkets then.

People already know they have an economic strangle-hold on brewers (and just about everyone else), but the problem is more widespread. Take your favourite pub or bar for instance. If a mass produced lager in your local costs, I don’t know £2.80-£3 a pint, a local brew is inevitably going to be £1.80-£2.30.

This seems a little unfair when you consider, drop by drop, which is more expensive to produce.

They seem to have struck a balance in America, where a glass of Budweiser/ Coors/Miller can be up to $3, but a micro is at least a dollar more. Why should it be any different in Britain?

Whether it’s the supermarket’s fault, or the wholesaler’s, the pub manager’s or ours... something has definitely gone a bit wonky somewhere.

By Sally Toms

Section : From the Editor

Page number : 5