Does anyone else thinks that’s a lot of beer for just a dollar? It’s twice the size of a typical 12 ounce can, and if it’s anywhere close to 8% alc./vol. it’s twice again. So it’s the equivalent of four beers, at something like a quarter apiece. Is this normal, or a sign of the rough economy? We also wanted to post this because it’s a rare label that posts the price right on the permanent package. And somehow we think it will not be long until essentially all alcohol beverage labels post the alcohol content, in a clear way, and this does not.
That's A Lot of Beer for a Buck
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Robert C. Lehrman is the principal attorney at Lehrman Beverage Law, PLLC. Robert founded the firm in 2001 after 12 years at the Washington, DC office of a larger firm that specializes in federal and state administrative law. From 1998...... Read Full Bio
Beer Advocate lists OE 800’s ABV at 7.5%. So it’s close enough to 8%.
As to the price, perhaps Miller noticed the popular “dollar menu” trend in fast food restaurants and decided to apply it to beer? Staples seems to think it’s a good idea too.
Yup; and Skilnik makes clear that Olde English ranges from 5.9% abv to 8.00% abv (High Gravity). That is, from 3 to 4 Weight Watcher’s Points, for those so concerned.
This is what you can do if you use the absolute cheapest ingredients possible. No wonder it is one of the worst tasting beers on the market.
But isn’t it mainly water and barley? In what way are these ingredients inferior here?
It’s a higher gravity brew so one can expect a generous addition of cheaper corn syrup to get the biggest bang for the buck at the lowest cost during fermentation.
One man’s worst tasting beer is another man’s bargain. There’s obviously a market for popular-priced, high alcohol brews. As for no alcohol percentages on the labels…brewers are probably still sensitive over charges by some political and religious groups years back that malt liquors target their constituencies with the promise of, well, a lot of beer for a buck. Of course when you target higher income beer drinkers with other positive attributes, that’s called marketing. Go figure.
I can’t ever recall, however, ever seeing the price on a beer label. It does lock in the retailers margin so I wonder how happy they are with this?