On January 3rd, 2011, SaveOnBrew.Com, LLC officially launched SaveOnBrew.Com (www.SaveOnBrew.com), a site that quickly shows the lowest advertised beer prices across the entire country. It’s simple to use. Go to the site, put in your zip code, and within seconds you’ll find hundreds of discounted beer sales at grocery, liquor, drug and convenience stores.
My way of buying beer is a bit antiquated and haphazard. I rotate amongst stores in my area. Most of the time, I am searching for a specific brew. But sometimes, I am just scanning the shelves for an old favorite or something new.
Now I can do some price checking before I even leave the house, with the Save On Beer website (and soon to follow mobile apps).
All you have to do is type in your zip code. OK, that is not all. You will have to set some filters like distance and more importantly narrow down the choices to craft beer. But the site has two good things going for it from the get-go that allay my fears that this is a industrial water lager for cheap site.
1.“We know people can be picky about their beer,” said Greg Thibodeaux, web-marketer and one of the three principals. “So if finding the lowest price on Bush, Keystone, or Pabst isn’t your thing, filter your results to find your favorite IPA, dark ale, or exotic craft beer on sale in your neighborhood.”
2.“One of the biggest challenges the team faced was finding a way to keep the beer prices both current and accurate. “We’ve had to be really creative about gathering data,” said Mark Davidson, site writer and data wrangler. “If people can’t find what they’re looking for, they’re not going to come back. That means seven days a week, we’re scouring close to fifty thousand vendors across the nation for discounts on beer. That effort generates between one hundred- and three hundred thousand live sales on beer at any given time.”
Until more good craft beer stores sign up, you will be mainly looking at Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada and Widmer as choices. But this site will certainly help you save some cash if those bigger craft names are what you are looking for at the moment. Plus, if big chains see a spike in good beer traffic because of people changing their beer shopping patterns, they might stock more.
The only downside that I see is that most of the beers that I purchase (excluding BevMo) are not the type that will ever be on sale. There will be no price war on the Bruery’s Cuir or Stone’s Belgo Anise RIS.
I will be checking the site over the coming months to see if craftier beers start showing up and to see if my favorite beer stops start popping up too.