It’s the Water

Breweries will sometimes tout their water quality but it appears that Foster’s Lager really likes the H2O, read HERE.

Now adding water is not inherently bad. Bourbon and other spirits have calculations to make to reach certain proof points.

But what I will call the Foster’s Two-Step of lowering ABV while also raising prices is pushing it. It may not seem a shock that they are doing it but the reasoning behind is a bit more complicated than corporations are greedy bastards.

Companies will raise prices for two big reasons. One is cost to make the beer. If it is rising, as it has been, they will cover costs which is only natural. The un-natural bit is that many companies see those rising costs or inflation or a bad mood on a Tuesday as cover to raise prices.

As long as a PR VP can lay the blame elsewhere, a company can add a nickel or dime to the price which gives cover to others to do the same.

Now, if companies paid fairly this would be moot. If Foster’s had a quality or taste profile that makes watering down integral, this would be moot.

In the end, what Foster’s and others will find is that they are antagonizing customers while also putting their prices closer to those of craft beer. And that is not the two-step they want.

Premier Beer

English Football is moving from pre-season to regular season and, as opposed to American stadiums and arenas, the beer prices ain’t bad.

12. Manchester United – £5.10

= West Ham – £5

= Tottenham – £5

11. Brighton – £4.95

10. Leicester – £4.75

9. Aston Villa – £4.60

8. Chelsea – £4.40

7. Arsenal – £4.30

6. Crystal Palace – £4.20

5. Liverpool – £4

= Everton – £4

= Southampton – £4

= Fulham – £4

4. Nottingham Forest – £3.70

= Wolves – £3.70

3. Newcastle – £3.60

= Leeds United – £3.60

2. Brentford – £3.50

1. Manchester City – £3.40

Of course, there are more restrictions to when and where you can drink but a session beer is grand.

Hoops and Beer

ScreenShot2013-03-01at2.49.18PM_original

So this statshot shows the cost of a SMALL draft beer at NBA arenas across the nation.  Now I can see that Miami would charge big because of their status as World Champions but I really expected NY to be at # 1 followed by LA and Washington.  For the life of me though, I don’t know why anyone would buy one during the game and not before and after.  Portland has Upright Brewing ACROSS the Street.  You could get a regular size beer and then some there.

You can read the Bleacher Report analysis right HERE.