What you can learn from Beer
I’m almost always thinking numbers. Yes, even when shopping for beer.
Recently, I was choosing between the Red and Blue Chimay varieties. I have a slight preference for the Blue, but the Red was a couple dollars cheaper and figured I’d give it a try. But I wondered why it was cheaper. Then I noticed the Red’s alcohol content was two whole percentage points lower than Blue. It was here that I crunched the numbers to compare which beer was cheaper per ounce of alcohol. The more expensive Blue variety was slightly cheaper! (see spreadsheet below)
I later crunched some numbers on Anchor Steam and Coors Light just for fun. You can calculate how expensive alcohol is in your favorite beer by changing the highlighted cells (you can get a price from Binny’s and an ABV from BeerAdvocate (free membership required) or by doing a quick google search for “[favorite beer] abv”).
But there is a larger lesson beyond finding the cheapest beer: when dealing with important decisions, check your intuition against the numbers.
Consider the prices at this happy hour as another example. Normally, the more you buy, the cheaper things are on a per unit basis. But in this place, the larger pint size ($1.75) is almost a whole penny more expensive than a 10 oz. glass ($1) on a per ounce basis.
Do you have any stories of the prices you can’t figure out? Another unsolved puzzle to me is why the middle sub size at Quiznos is the “best value” instead of the large.
8 Responses to “What you can learn from Beer”
Over at Bar Louie a “Tall” glass of Paulander Wiess is $7 for 21oz, while the pint is only $5….
But that’s an interesting trick imo, because getting more beer at a time is more convenient (not needing to tip as much / cut down on trips to the bar, etc) so it might make sense to qualify the larger size as a luxury.
By RohoMech on Aug 17, 2007
Good point Rohit. If the bar is busy, people are willing to pay more for immediate beer instead of waiting for a refill.
By Presh on Aug 17, 2007
I agree…especially when you factor in how much your time is worth. That’s why if you see me at the bars, most times I’m double fisting. I’d rather spend more time drinking with my friends than standing in line. I’ll pay the extra penny!
By Joe P on Aug 18, 2007
Y’see, Joe has the right idea. That’s why I go to “Classic” (BIG QUOTES) Beer Night at Thumbs. $1 gets me 12 ounces of Milwaukee’s Best, Old Milwaukee, Schlitz, Old Style, PBR, and Hamm’s. Delicious.
Anyways, economics really shouldn’t be considered too highly when you are going to the bar. You are going to meet your friends, or to meet new people. I will acknowledge that you may consider the alcohol value when perusing Binny’s selection. Chimay (either R or B) is always a safe bet, though.
By Erik on Aug 18, 2007
If you’re drinking to get drunk (and hence worrying about alcohol content per ounce), you shouldn’t be drinking beer in the first place. You should be drinking beer for the taste (Coors-swilling frat boys notwithstanding). Just my two cents — which, coincidentally, is what Jack Daniel’s works out to using your handy-dandy spreadsheet.
By Mike on Aug 19, 2007
@Joe-double fisting is nice, though you are defenseless should a bar fight begin. Unless you are amazingly able use two bottles as weapons by breaking them and creating a sharp edge(my friend can attest how hard it is to do this without cutting both your hands).
@Erik-aren’t economics even more important in bars since your alcohol supply is more scarce than at your home?
@Mike-true. I guess that’s why cheap vodka always infiltrated parties.
By Presh on Aug 19, 2007
A somewhat disturbing post for two reasons:
I can’t believe you put in this much effort (albeit not that much) on beer alcohol content, price, etc.
I pay very little attention to how much I spend for beer. I pretty much buy the beer I want to drink at a given time in the quantity I want.
But um, your perspective is fresh and excellent.
By Joon on Sep 6, 2007
@Joon: I was inspired since I once really did compare Chimay varieties as a mental math exercise. Being a numbers freak, I expanded the field to satisfy my curiosity.
By Presh on Sep 6, 2007