Bad News

The price of Beer will be going up soon.

They're cutting production and raising prices because demand has dropped off. God forbid they make less profitand tighten their belts like the rest of us have had to do. Good way to get the population sober to whats going on.

Its bad enough not having a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, now we wont have a reason to. Part of the new health plan I suppose. Isnt McCain in with Budwiser or something like that? Just a thought but I dont see a tie in.

My boss brews his own, I may have to have him give me some pointers on where he gets his raw materials abd start brewing my own. I can do the wine thing quite well, but grape juice is nearly the same cost so it isnt worth it.

That's brilliant: When demand goes down, raise prices to lower demand even further!

There's so much about the intricacies of capitalism I don't know...

Yeah,... I never got that too. Overhere people stopped going to bars because they're not allowed to smoke there anymore so what do barowners do??? They raise the prices because they have lesser income

You'd think more people would be drinking.... "In this economy!" GLUG GLUG GLUG

I doubt anyone has changed their habits much. Its called making the best of a good echonomic chrisis. Same way as gas prices were outta control last year. At least they had som Hurricanes to blame it on when 80% of all power went out here in Houston last year. Never did see food prices go back down either when the Diesil went back down. Hum

The reason the 2 big beer companies are raising prices is because commodity prices are going up, not because demand is going down. Check here.

Anyways, so far, it is only Miller/Coors and Anheuser-Busch that have announced beer increases. If you really like beer, there are plenty of other choices for beer from companies that have not announced price increases. Try Sam Adams or Sierra Nevada for some great choices.

Too bad the Obama administration does not also have the idea to tighten belts.

While everyone else is worried about losing their houses and jobs, the Obama administration is busy finding new ways for the government to control and spend all our money. If you think beer prices are high now, wait a few years until the REAL problem with all the government spending hits the economy. It will either be rampant inflation because of the Government printing too much money, or else interest rates will go way up which will kill off jobs and investment. Or worse, it could be both! Do you realize the Chinese government is now hesitant to fund our debt because of all our spending? If even the Chinese won't buy our bonds, then interest rates will have to go up to entice others to fund the debt.

Update: I found this article on CNN that does show that Heineken actually is raising prices due to pullback in consumer demand. So, while the American companies are hiking prices to offset higher commodity prices, it is actually a Euro company that is trying to bolster its profits. However, as noted, they are competing with Corona in some of these markets, and since Corona isn't raising prices right now, Heineken will probably end up losing market share over it. This, of course, is how Capitalism is supposed to work; As long as greedy governments keep their hands off, and there is plenty of competition, the consumer is the winner. Cheers!

http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/25/news/companies/anheuser_busch/index.htm

Not just beer...have you bought a 12-pack of soda, lately?

Coke/Pepsi brands just two years ago could still be had at Walmart, Cosco, etc for around $2.50.

Now they're going for about $4 a 12-pack, and I've seen $5.19 at the local grocery store.

this starts off pretty well - there are 2 beer companies now controlling 80% of the market.

But that one in St. Louis is controlled by Belgium based Anheuser-Busch InBev - the leading global brewer. And that Miller thing is actually MolsonCoors

So here's my suggestion:

your rant should really be about Belgium and the New World Order influencing beer prices through Canadian socialized medicine.

Me, too.

From my uneducated POV it looks like if we were to do things like tax religious institutions (gasp!), legalize and tax weed and/or charge sales tax for interstate sales, we'd be in better shape...but there's apparently a whole bunch that I have yet to learn about economics.

dB

The price of hops has increased quite a bit in the last couple years.

For about three weeks until the maniacs in office wipe it out and create more deficits.

I predict we'll soon see cheap Chinese beer at WalMart.

I popped almost $5 for a pint of Guiness a couple months back. New Castle Ale was almost as high. Good thing I only have about 6 beers a year, might have to cut one back now.

Steve

My wife does most of the shoping. Last time I went It was $100 for about a week or so of groceries, and there was nothing special there just the basics. Guess the economists werer right about the inflation balloon going up. I been through this before back in the 80s and it got really bad. I was younger of course and could sponge off the folks off and on. When they finally lowered taxes companies were hiring like crazy and decent jobs were all over. If this thing lasts for 10 years I'll be near retirement and have very littel retirement pay left. Maybe a house thats paid off.

I used to brew beer....say 20 years ago. Don't drink enough beer to make it worthwhile, but the process isn't that hard...and I think you actually get a decent to superior product (think of the difference between making beef stew at home, buying it in a restaurant and buying it in a can: homemade, microbrews, big company brews.) I think the really good book I used to use was "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" and last I looked you could still get it. Let us know how it turns out if you give it a shot (personally, I am trying to perfect the margarita as that is my gfs favorite drink.)

If you are complaining , just remember that beer in Canada costs 3X the U.S. price because of government taxes.

It isn't a big deal for me though. I drink like Raymar.

Dan

Good point. Another thing I couldn't figure out is how in the hell are beer sales down in a bad economy?

Wouldn't you think people would be drinking more?

I used to joke that the only way people would ever get off their ass in this country and protest is if one day they shut down all the beer factories.

WOW! 3X? Are you sure?