Blog Tracker
04-09-2018, 17:56
Visit The Pub Curmudgeon site (http://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2018/09/how-much-pint.html)
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x9-tqNAb7DQ/W47DagyV6gI/AAAAAAAAGY4/OOz8y0i4sfEWQlYF2wafD4z6GXyOLzzSgCLcBGAs/s200/craaaaft.jpg (https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x9-tqNAb7DQ/W47DagyV6gI/AAAAAAAAGY4/OOz8y0i4sfEWQlYF2wafD4z6GXyOLzzSgCLcBGAs/s1600/craaaaft.jpg)
Last month, CAMRA reported the results of a survey revealing that a majority of people in the UK now considered the price of a pint in the pub to be unaffordable (http://www.camra.org.uk/news/-/asset_publisher/1dUgQCmQMoVC/content/majority-of-britons-find-the-price-of-a-pint-unaffordable). So it’s hardly surprising that eyebrows were raised when it was reported that a London branch of the Craft Beer Co. was selling AleSmith Speedway Stout Hawaiian Special Edition for no less than £22.50 a pint (https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/food-and-drink/pint-of-beer-22-pounds/).
As is often the case, the issue is rather clouded by the question of strength. Unlike wines and spirits, there is a wide variation in strength between different beers. This particular brew is 12% ABV, and thus is not directly comparable with a pint of 4% standard bitter or lager that even in London would sell for no more than £4.50. However, even if you make a strict bangs-per-buck calculation, it still seems pretty poor value.
It’s generally accepted in the fields of wine and spirits that some rare and prized examples will sell for vastly more than the norm – for example a bottle of whisky was recently sold for almost £43,000 (https://stv.tv/news/scotland/1427873-rare-wartime-whisky-sells-for-nearly-43-000-at-auction/). However, beer is much more considered to be a drink for ordinary people, and this wasn’t some scarce vintage brew of which there was a finite supply, it was one brewed for current consumption and sold on draught just like a normal pint of bitter. Of course there’s nothing wrong with some specialist beers selling for eyewatering prices, as after all nobody is forced to buy them. But it’s understandable that it makes headlines.
Inevitably, there was a rather defensive reaction from some quarters saying “why quote a price per pint when it isn’t drunk in pints?” but that’s rather missing the point. Price per pint is a straightforward and generally understood yardstick for comparing the cost of beers. Whether or not it is actually drunk in pints is irrelevant. Fine wines and spirits are generally priced per bottle, but that doesn’t mean that a bottle is the usual measure in which they’re served. And whatever unit was chosen, the relative disparity would be just the same.
In response to this, the Sun newspaper ran a feature in which members of the public were invited to taste a range of expensive craft beers. Fairly predictably, they weren’t particularly impressed (https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/7122251/we-put-hipster-brews-to-the-test-to-see-which-are-worth-your-hard-earned-cash/) - see the image above. Of course there is a tongue-in-cheek aspect to any such piece, but inevitably it touched a few raw nerves and provoked accusations of “reverse snobbery”. However, surely it is the job of the media to prick balloons of pretentiousness and self-importance.
It wasn’t long before the mask slipped, with comments being made that many of the drinkers pictured looked like “gammon”, and one well-known beer journalist who really should have known better tweeting that most of them were probably Brexit voters. He later had second thoughts and deleted it, so I can’t link to it here. So much for an inclusive beer community – obviously that’s the wrong kind of inclusiveness.
I’ll leave the final word to this Twitter commenter:
Can’t decide which puts me off more - the price, or drinking with people happy to pay that for a pint 🤔
— patently (@patently) August 29, 2018 (https://twitter.com/patently/status/1034752616025214976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
More... (http://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2018/09/how-much-pint.html)
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x9-tqNAb7DQ/W47DagyV6gI/AAAAAAAAGY4/OOz8y0i4sfEWQlYF2wafD4z6GXyOLzzSgCLcBGAs/s200/craaaaft.jpg (https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x9-tqNAb7DQ/W47DagyV6gI/AAAAAAAAGY4/OOz8y0i4sfEWQlYF2wafD4z6GXyOLzzSgCLcBGAs/s1600/craaaaft.jpg)
Last month, CAMRA reported the results of a survey revealing that a majority of people in the UK now considered the price of a pint in the pub to be unaffordable (http://www.camra.org.uk/news/-/asset_publisher/1dUgQCmQMoVC/content/majority-of-britons-find-the-price-of-a-pint-unaffordable). So it’s hardly surprising that eyebrows were raised when it was reported that a London branch of the Craft Beer Co. was selling AleSmith Speedway Stout Hawaiian Special Edition for no less than £22.50 a pint (https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/food-and-drink/pint-of-beer-22-pounds/).
As is often the case, the issue is rather clouded by the question of strength. Unlike wines and spirits, there is a wide variation in strength between different beers. This particular brew is 12% ABV, and thus is not directly comparable with a pint of 4% standard bitter or lager that even in London would sell for no more than £4.50. However, even if you make a strict bangs-per-buck calculation, it still seems pretty poor value.
It’s generally accepted in the fields of wine and spirits that some rare and prized examples will sell for vastly more than the norm – for example a bottle of whisky was recently sold for almost £43,000 (https://stv.tv/news/scotland/1427873-rare-wartime-whisky-sells-for-nearly-43-000-at-auction/). However, beer is much more considered to be a drink for ordinary people, and this wasn’t some scarce vintage brew of which there was a finite supply, it was one brewed for current consumption and sold on draught just like a normal pint of bitter. Of course there’s nothing wrong with some specialist beers selling for eyewatering prices, as after all nobody is forced to buy them. But it’s understandable that it makes headlines.
Inevitably, there was a rather defensive reaction from some quarters saying “why quote a price per pint when it isn’t drunk in pints?” but that’s rather missing the point. Price per pint is a straightforward and generally understood yardstick for comparing the cost of beers. Whether or not it is actually drunk in pints is irrelevant. Fine wines and spirits are generally priced per bottle, but that doesn’t mean that a bottle is the usual measure in which they’re served. And whatever unit was chosen, the relative disparity would be just the same.
In response to this, the Sun newspaper ran a feature in which members of the public were invited to taste a range of expensive craft beers. Fairly predictably, they weren’t particularly impressed (https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/7122251/we-put-hipster-brews-to-the-test-to-see-which-are-worth-your-hard-earned-cash/) - see the image above. Of course there is a tongue-in-cheek aspect to any such piece, but inevitably it touched a few raw nerves and provoked accusations of “reverse snobbery”. However, surely it is the job of the media to prick balloons of pretentiousness and self-importance.
It wasn’t long before the mask slipped, with comments being made that many of the drinkers pictured looked like “gammon”, and one well-known beer journalist who really should have known better tweeting that most of them were probably Brexit voters. He later had second thoughts and deleted it, so I can’t link to it here. So much for an inclusive beer community – obviously that’s the wrong kind of inclusiveness.
I’ll leave the final word to this Twitter commenter:
Can’t decide which puts me off more - the price, or drinking with people happy to pay that for a pint 🤔
— patently (@patently) August 29, 2018 (https://twitter.com/patently/status/1034752616025214976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
More... (http://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2018/09/how-much-pint.html)