Price vs Strength

[sheffield hatter]

I've brought this forward from another thread:


1/2 Torrside Valour 1917 Imperial Stout 7.7% (£6.90/pint);1/3 Boutilliers/Shakespeares You Have Deaded Me bloody orange IPA 11.7% (£9/pint); 1/3 Beatnikz Republic/Shakespeares Bass Hero quad hopped IPA 6.3% (£4.80/pint); 1/3 Blue Bee/Shakespeares Wheels of Confusion black IPA 6.0% (£6.00/pint). Total £10.05.



Generally speaking, I would regard many of those prices as outrageous even locally.

Now, I enjoy going to pubs (and I hope the government is paying attention, before they close them all down) for many reasons: (luckily too numerous to mention here, but could be the subject of a new thread (http://forums.pubsgalore.co.uk/showthread.php?31121-Reasons-for-going-to-pubs&p=106091#post106091)). One of them is the chance to try new beers that some of our very inventive brewers have been coming up with in the last 10 years or more. My reason for quoting my old friend Aqualung in this context is that I don't think price is relevant when the intention is to try something never experienced before; and/or the price is justified because of the strength of the beer and the time spent in the pub drinking it.

Here's an example: tonight I went to the Devonshire Cat quite late in the evening, knowing that they have had a few special beers on this week (Sheffield Beer week (https://sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk/)). I went for Kirkstall/Yeastie Boys Slow Show barrel aged barley wine 11.5% (a beer I have had before when visiting the Kirkstall brewery tap after a Leeds Rhinos game) and Marble Decadence barrel aged ruby porter 10.5%; 1/3 of each for £7.75; then 1/2 of Beaver Town/Queer Brewing Project Saturn black IPA 6.5% for £3.90. So I spent £11.65 and was in the pub for about 80-90 minutes drinking these delectable beverages (sipping rather than quaffing, as befits their relative strengths).

Totting up the abv's, I reckon I had the equivalent of a pint of Black Sheep Bitter 3.8%, Jennings Bitter 3.5% and Thwaites Dark Mild (Nutty Black) 3.3%. Those could have cost me between £3.50 and £3.90 a pint, depending on where I drank them (obviously not London!), but let's say around £11 for three pints, which would have taken me a similar time to drink (quaffing rather than sipping, as befits their relative strengths).

I think on the whole I had my money's worth from those beers, and I wouldn't have argued with paying the same overall for the three (theoretical) pints in a different pub on a different occasion. Yes, I could have imbibed the same amount of, or even more, alcohol by getting three for £5 from Tesco, or some discounted stuff at Wetherspoons, or even a bottle of wine from Aldi, but this is not about getting a buzz on; it's about the drinking experience in a pub. New tastes, or old. Gentle sipping and thinking about flavours, or necking a pint. I'm not sure that money comes into it.

[Aqualung]

If I go to a pub I tend to try and go through the card (dross like Doom Bore & Bass excluded). As a result price is important. In my view drinking a third or a half is not enough to judge a beer unless it's really rank. If I'd been in the Shakespeare with you I would have wanted to try all those beers but only pints. Halves and thirds are not on the agenda for me.

[Pangolin]

This ties in to the trend in pubs of this type to offer different volumes of beer (variously thirds, halves, two-thirds and pints) possibily according to strength or 'desirability' but mainly price. It balances out the headline price somewhat but you end up with less beer. The only good thing I can say about it is that it is less anti-social if a round is being bought!

[sheffield hatter]

If I go to a pub I tend to try and go through the card (dross like Doom Bore & Bass excluded). As a result price is important. In my view drinking a third or a half is not enough to judge a beer unless it's really rank. If I'd been in the Shakespeare with you I would have wanted to try all those beers but only pints. Halves and thirds are not on the agenda for me.

Are you sure?

I had five beers in Shakespeare's on Friday 13th: four halves (average about 6.5%) and a one-third share of a half of the 20% Taxi Vader. Total units of alcohol 7.3. If you'd been there and upgraded each beer to a pint, that would have been about 22 units, equivalent to nine pints of Bass. You'd have set your kitchen on fire this time!

[sheffield hatter]

This ties in to the trend in pubs of this type to offer different volumes of beer (variously thirds, halves, two-thirds and pints) possibily according to strength or 'desirability' but mainly price. It balances out the headline price somewhat but you end up with less beer. The only good thing I can say about it is that it is less anti-social if a round is being bought!

I agree with you that it's hard to see what's going on when looking at a board with beers priced seemingly randomly in thirds, halves, schooners and even pints. However, beers at Shakepeare's are all priced in pints, with conversion to halves, and thirds where the beer is 6% or more. They were not selling the 20% beer in pints.

If you're drinking in rounds, it's crazy to drink a pint of 6% or more while everyone else is drinking 4%. Why not drink a bit less liquid for the same amount of alcohol? Drinking a half of a stronger beer doesn't mean you're a wuss. And even if you're a wuss, isn't that better than doing serious damage to your liver?

Or is it just me?

[Aqualung]

Are you sure?

I had five beers in Shakespeare's on Friday 13th: four halves (average about 6.5%) and a one-third share of a half of the 20% Taxi Vader. Total units of alcohol 7.3. If you'd been there and upgraded each beer to a pint, that would have been about 22 units, equivalent to nine pints of Bass. You'd have set your kitchen on fire this time!

I would have passed on some due to the price and especially the 20% one as I suspect it was probably far too sweet.
I didn't set the kitchen on fire but managed to burn my arm on the oven rack due to my hopeless inability to make sense of a clock!
I also tried (on a different day) a pint of an 18% dark Mikkeler beer. They were both keg and £6.00 a pint over five years ago now.

[Mobyduck]

I've brought this forward from another thread:






Now, I enjoy going to pubs (and I hope the government is paying attention, before they close them all down) for many reasons: (luckily too numerous to mention here, but could be the subject of a new thread (http://forums.pubsgalore.co.uk/showthread.php?31121-Reasons-for-going-to-pubs&p=106091#post106091)). One of them is the chance to try new beers that some of our very inventive brewers have been coming up with in the last 10 years or more. My reason for quoting my old friend Aqualung in this context is that I don't think price is relevant when the intention is to try something never experienced before; and/or the price is justified because of the strength of the beer and the time spent in the pub drinking it.

Here's an example: tonight I went to the Devonshire Cat quite late in the evening, knowing that they have had a few special beers on this week (Sheffield Beer week (https://sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk/)). I went for Kirkstall/Yeastie Boys Slow Show barrel aged barley wine 11.5% (a beer I have had before when visiting the Kirkstall brewery tap after a Leeds Rhinos game) and Marble Decadence barrel aged ruby porter 10.5%; 1/3 of each for £7.75; then 1/2 of Beaver Town/Queer Brewing Project Saturn black IPA 6.5% for £3.90. So I spent £11.65 and was in the pub for about 80-90 minutes drinking these delectable beverages (sipping rather than quaffing, as befits their relative strengths).

Totting up the abv's, I reckon I had the equivalent of a pint of Black Sheep Bitter 3.8%, Jennings Bitter 3.5% and Thwaites Dark Mild (Nutty Black) 3.3%. Those could have cost me between £3.50 and £3.90 a pint, depending on where I drank them (obviously not London!), but let's say around £11 for three pints, which would have taken me a similar time to drink (quaffing rather than sipping, as befits their relative strengths).

I think on the whole I had my money's worth from those beers, and I wouldn't have argued with paying the same overall for the three (theoretical) pints in a different pub on a different occasion. Yes, I could have imbibed the same amount of, or even more, alcohol by getting three for £5 from Tesco, or some discounted stuff at Wetherspoons, or even a bottle of wine from Aldi, but this is not about getting a buzz on; it's about the drinking experience in a pub. New tastes, or old. Gentle sipping and thinking about flavours, or necking a pint. I'm not sure that money comes into it.

Totally agree with all of that, I wouldn't dream of paying say £12.00 a pint whatever the strength but would, and have paid £4.00 for a third of something that took my fancy on several occasions, often turning out to be my beer of the week, I think my days of drinking 12-14 pints volume on a day out are long behind me now. personally I quite like the 2 thirds measure where available for above session strength beers, I know its not cheaper in real terms, just seems like it.

[sheffield hatter]

I would have passed on some due to the price and especially the 20% one as I suspect it was probably far too sweet.

...but you would have been wrong:


The beer is very dark and treacly, with a hint of elderberries on the nose. The mouth feel is almost gloopy, but the surprise is that the beer is hardly sweet at all. The dominant flavour is umami, reminiscent of marmite, presumably because of the yeast, with hints of bonfire toffee. I forgot to ask how much it cost, but in a round of three halves coming to £13.45, I would guess it was around £8 for a half.

[Aqualung]

...but you would have been wrong:
Maybe a pint would have become sweet.
One thing that annoys me is how many places charge the same or very similar prices for something quite weak as something a lot stronger. JDW have abandoned their Premium price scales for guest ales and now charge the same for all guests, although their may be local exceptions. It must be even more annoying for those who won't go near stronger beers. Batham's have got it right having frozen the price at £2.45 of their weak 3.5% mild for several years now. The stronger 4.3% Best has soared to £2.95. There should be a price difference between low and high abvs without pubs just using it as an excuse to ratchet up the price of stronger beers.

[Tris39]

I would have passed on some due to the price and especially the 20% one as I suspect it was probably far too sweet.
I didn't set the kitchen on fire but managed to burn my arm on the oven rack due to my hopeless inability to make sense of a clock!
I also tried (on a different day) a pint of an 18% dark Mikkeler beer. They were both keg and £6.00 a pint over five years ago now.

How about a pint of 4.3% Landlord at The Carpenters Arms (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/66996/) - £6.00 take your fancy?:eek:

[Mobyduck]

How about a pint of 4.3% Landlord at The Carpenters Arms (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/66996/) - £6.00 take your fancy?:eek:

I like the pub, but that's a pisstake.

[london calling]

...but you would have been wrong:

£16.20 a pint according to Scoopgen.

[london calling]

I love places that do thirds.I always find a half of strong beer seems to be a lot harder to drink than the third.I have had some great tasting strong beers but only tried them as I can get a third . Find it a bit worrying that the price of these strong beers doesn't seem to bother the younger drinkers thus leading to ever higher prices.I was in the Weather Station Reading a few weeks ago and the barman showed me the list for an Omipollo tap take over.Most of the beers were £21 or £22 a pint and he told me he had cut his profit margin on some of them. Not paved with gold London but Reading where beer is still affordable.

[sheffield hatter]

How about a pint of 4.3% Landlord at The Carpenters Arms (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/66996/) - £6.00 take your fancy?:eek:

Eek indeed. That's just a rip-off, and belongs in the How much? thread. What I'm inviting here are contributions about whether the price matters when you're faced with a potentially interesting beer that you might never see again.

[london calling]

Eek indeed. That's just a rip-off, and belongs in the How much? thread. What I'm inviting here are contributions about whether the price matters when you're faced with a potentially interesting beer that you might never see again.
Nope price doesn't matter when you can get a monster tick. I have sometimes paid a lot just to try a rare beer.Rarely disappointed apart from the sour beers I have been tempted to try .No more sours for me.

[Pangolin]

JDW have abandoned their Premium price scales for guest ales and now charge the same for all guests, although their may be local exceptions.

Indeed - their pricing seems to be becoming increasingly random where a common price is not used, with things that you would expect to be higher not being and vice versa. And the price for a half is even more variable, having been charged 90p for half of a £2.15 pint this morning!

[Aqualung]

Indeed - their pricing seems to be becoming increasingly random where a common price is not used, with things that you would expect to be higher not being and vice versa. And the price for a half is even more variable, having been charged 90p for half of a £2.15 pint this morning!

Sorry, but I've no sympathy at all for inflated half pint prices but do think it completely wrong that a 5% plus beer should cost the sane as a sub 4% plus beer. If the duty difference isn't enough to make it possible then they should cancel the duty on beers less than 4% or 3.8% or whatever.
The government aren't interested in responsible drinking (whatever that is) as the duty loss would be considerable.

[RealAleRobUK]

And the price for a half is even more variable, having been charged 90p for half of a £2.15 pint this morning!

I find Spoons are always good at not overinflating the price of half a pint and a half is always charged at half the price of a pint (with any half penny being rounded up, of course).

Sometimes they have a discount on real ales so perhaps your £2.15 pint was actually reduced to £1.80 on the day and that's why your half only set you back 90p. They don't usually amend the price on the pump on discount days, so unless the bar staff tell you or you happen to be in the know, you wouldn't necessarily notice.

[sheffield hatter]

...the price for a half is even more variable, having been charged 90p for half of a £2.15 pint this morning!


Sorry, but I've no sympathy at all for inflated half pint prices.

Deflated, in this instance.