I just recieved the following press release regarding a pint of beer that costs £12 in the White Horse in London, The full press release can be seen below but It got me wondering what the most you have paid or would be willing to pay for a pint of beer in a pub is???
I think the average for a standard cask beer round here is about £2.30 although I’ve seen them up to £2.75 per pint in a couple of pubs. Having said that I have paid more in places like the Sheffield Tap and The Fat Cat, not to mention bottles at home, For me there is a limit on how much I am willing to pay but if something is great and it’s a treat then why not pay that little bit more..
The press release also ties in quite well wtih the American Craft Beer Night on Friday the 6th of August wiht some pretty special beers available.
Press release is as follows:
Dan Fox of the white horse
Recent July 4th celebrations at the White Horse on Parsons Green saw five hundred and seventy six half pints of special American ale sold at £6 per half pint.
The black, treacly beer, Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout, sold out within two days. Aged for 18 months in a 36 gallon wooden bourbon cask in its home town of Chicago, it had been shipped by the pub as part of its annual American beer festival.
The White Horse’s general manager, Dan Fox comments:
Last month, another Goose Island beer – Goose Island 312 “ was exchanged by President Obama with Prime Minister Cameron for a bottle of his home town’s Hobgoblin ale. So the President obviously appreciates craft brewed American beers as much as my regulars in London.
Many in the UK still believe that all USA beers are always light in colour and flavour, and big in carbonation and fizz. But there are 1450 craft brewers now in the US, and they are a brave lot. They are reinventing the past to make a really exciting range of flavours for modern palates, and for modern stronger flavoured foods.
They are afraid of nothing. So whereas many in the UK believe that open-vented cask ales are the only way ahead, American brewers have rediscovered the many quality and consistency advantages of the sealed keg. The Watney’s Red Barrel of the 1970’s may be derided now, but it fulfilled a need to have the often ill-kept beers of that time served in a more consistent fashion. Rediscovering the keg allows us to bring in a wide cornucopia of America’s most exotic beers including wheat beers, fruit beers, rich barley wines, smoky porters, toffeeish ESBs (Extra Special bitters) and hop heavy India Pale Ales.
“American lagers and ales are expensive to bring across the Atlantic, and their generally higher alcohol levels attract more duty; but their beautifully defined flavours have allowed us to price them more like wines, served often by the half pint and in special glassware.
Dan Fox of The White Horse, Parsons Green, with Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stock The pricing of our bottled American ales ranges from £4 to £22 a bottle, and our customers are guided more by quality and interest than they are for price. If Champagnes can range from £8-£200 a bottle, it seems illogical that all beers should be priced equally regardless of quality or heritage.
The White Horse holds 8 cask ales, 24 kegged ales and lagers, and 180 bottled beers in stock.
It all depends on the beer. I’ve spent €20 on a bottle of lambic and £16 on a US beer I wanted to try. There’s Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunk Weasel Highland Edition and Port Brewing Older Viscosity for sale in Cambridge at £17 a bottle (by volume the Older Viscosity is more expensive). Will I buy them? Probably, but they will be special purchases, I’m not flush enough to splash on beer like that every week.
I’m sure I’ve paid about £7-8 a half in London. That’s right up there with what I’d be willing to pay for such a small volume. It would have to be something pretty special for that amount.
And £2.30 is average where you are? It’s £3 here!
Bob, i too would love to have the cash to drink fancy stuff all the time, but at the same time i worry that it would soon become boring instead of being a treat…
mark I better get that re mortgage application in before tuesday…
Well I think £12 for a PINT of Goose Island Bourbon County Stout is pretty good value, actually, compared to what it sells for in bottles in the US! I had it for $13 a bottle (330ml) in a newly-opened but totally unpretentious specialist beer bar on Staten Island, and thought that was a fair price I was willing to pay – and when we had the beer (shared between two), I thought it was worth it for a special treat and something we took a fair amount of time over savouring.
So, to have it on draught, on the other side of the Atlantic, and a half-pint (approx 250ml) for £6 – yep, I think that’s fair enough and I’d pay it! I wouldn’t, on the other hand, pay my £12 and have a pint, but that’s a lot more to do with the strength and richness of the beer than any slight on it’s quality 🙂
It’s too rich in both senses. Mind you sharing it wouldn’t turn out so bad if you really felt the need. A half pint of that beer does go a long way. I was lucky enough to be given a (decent sized)taster of it recently in Goose Island where it is brewed. Pretty nice stuff and not a penny in cost. The overall check was higher than nil though!
Paid £6 for this very beer … and it was worth every penny. Outstanding.
I think we split about 3 between six of us. £3 for a third was plenty, and not that terrible value wise when you consider what you’re getting.
I don’t mind paying a bit extra for good/special beer. It’s just when you see stuff unfairly marked up that it pisses me off. Punk IPA for £4 a bottle, when its £1.50 in Tesco … that sort of thing.
As you’ve said, these kind of expensive beers are a treat, it would be too much to be buying and drinking them on a really regular basis. Having said that, some of them are so rare on our shores that you’ve got to go for it if you see it as you never know when you’ll get the chance again. It’s a bit of a tightrope…
Goose Island 312 for Hobgoblin!!!??? There’s a slap in the face for Obama. Is Cameron trying to start a war? =)
£6 for a third of draught Tokyo
I had a few jars in Winchester on Tuesday night.
First pub had beers simply priced by ABV.
Anything 3.5% or under is £3.00. Every 0.5% stronger and you pay another 20p I think.
Last pub of the night:
Landlord – £3.20 a pint
This appears to be average for Winchester.
Back street pubs in Southampton are a little cheaper – £2.70ish for Hobgoblin.