Reader Email - Beer Prices in Indianapolis

From our inbox:

Hoosier Beer Geek,

I was recently transferred to Indianapolis by my company, and I've found an incredible amount of value out of your website. This has been just a tremendous resource for someone from California that knows no one here in the city. I hope you keep up the great work, and I am looking forward to attending one of yours events that I've read about on your website.

Here is my question for you, and maybe you can't answer it. I work for (Name Deleted) and Indianapolis is the seventh city I've lived in in just under ten years, including my college days in Arizona. I've lived in Tampa, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, Tempe, Cleveland, and now Indianapolis. Why is Indianapolis the most expensive city I've ever been in for beer? The price of living here is the lowest I've seen outside of Cleveland, but when I go to the bars the drinks are $6, $7, and $8 dollars for a pint of local beer. The beer prices in the liquor stores are even worse - six packs all over $10 and four packs of pale ale for $12. This is not what I've experienced around the country. In Charlotte it would be downright shocking to see a six pack over $10 dollars. I am certainly not knocking the quality, but the price point is a good 15-30% markup in comparison to the other cities I've recently lived in.

Any ideas?

Thank you again and keep up the fantastic work!

Brad

Do we have any ideas? Well, we're not sure we completely agree with Brad's assessment of local beer prices - in an email conversation Matt noted that on a recent trip to a Chicago liquor store, most beer was priced at 50 cents to $1 more than what we pay in Indianapolis. Gina and I regularly shop in the St. Louis area, and liquor store prices there seem to be generally in line with what they are here, apart from the occasional craft import. As for pub prices? In conversation we thought that perhaps they're a little higher here than elsewhere.

So we'll open it up to our readers. What's your impression of beer prices in Indianapolis versus everywhere else you've been? Leave a comment.

No Matter Where You're Watching Football, You're Probably Being Screwed

Beer and football; two pleasures inextricably linked, but at a time when fans are tightening their belts and trying to cut down on frivolous spending it seems that the evil, money-grabbing football clubs in the Premier League are conducting a booze shakedown.

That's the latest news out of England, where a study by the Liberal Democratic party has found that only three of England's Premier League clubs are charging below the national average of £2.96 ($4.37) for a pint on stadium grounds. In fact, the average pint price in the Premiership is £3.19 (or $4.71).

But wait, it gets worse!

They claimed West Brom could be making a whopping £117,000 each season with Villa making about £60,000 per season - just from the extra profits which come from the high cost of beer.

That's the news from the Birmingham Post.

Profits from beer sales at stadiums? That IS an outrage. No wonder the government is getting involved. Of course if you're reading this in the United States, you're probably wondering what they're complaining about.

Back in 2007, Sports Illustrated put together a survey titled "NFL Fan Value Experience" in which they ranked ticket prices, food and souvenirs, accessibility, team performance, tailgating, stadium atmosphere, and neighborhood. Included in the food and souvenir section of that survey were beer prices.

Not every NFL team serves beer in a convieneint 16 ounce pint, though. So we've got to do a little math to find the average NFL pint price:


No surprises here as the NFL once again offers an amazing value (sarcasm!) - a $5.47 average pint - only 76 cents more than the pints in England. One thing worth looking at is the highest NFL pint price - $7.00 at LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans. The highest pint price in the Premiership? Chelsea FC with a (converted) $5.92 pint.


But are we comparing apples to apples? One way to be sure it to compare the pint price at Old Trafford, Home of Manchester United, and the Edward Jones Dome, home of the St. Louis Rams. Both teams are sure to be pouring Budweiser - as the official beer of Manchester United, no other beer is being poured at their ground. It's also safe to assume that the very same Budweiser recipe is being poured in St. Louis, home of AB. The difference? In the home of AB, that pint will run you $5.33. In Manchester, it's only (converted) $4.44.

Regardless of where you live, you're likely to be ripped off if you're buying a beer at the game. Even at $4.00 (the cheapest price you'll find a pint in both the EPL and NFL), there's a couple hundred percent of markup in your pint price. When was the last time you paid $4.00 for a Budweiser in a bar?

Someone call the government.


Sources:

2007 NFL Fan Value Experience Ratings at SI.com

Liberal Dems Accuse Villa and West Brom of Beer Rip-off

Counting the Cost of a Pint

Currency Calculations completed 12/03/08 at XE.com

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More NFL/Beer reading here.

The link between beer prices and ethanol production

Sounds like a strange correlation doesn't it? According to USA Today, retail prices for beer jumped 3% in May, the biggest increase in two-and-a-half years. Why? Because farmers are growing less barley--a main ingredient in beer--in favor of growing corn, which has become a more lucrative crop due to its high demand for use in fuel ethanol production. As a result, barley has become more expensive.

While this might seem like bad news, it's not so bad for those of us who enjoy microbrews, which haven't been hit as hard by the higher prices for barley because the growing popularity of microbrews has generated increased sales to offset the price hikes for barley. As a result, microbreweries have not had to raise their prices by much.

So, keep on drinking!