Why Are Bottled UK Ales so Expensive?

MediaTank

Anyone know why London Pride, ESB, etc. are so expensive compared to 500ml quality bottled beers from Germany and Belgium for example. €3.99 is not an unusual price to pay for a bottle of ale. Is it the case of a single importer price gouging?

BeerNut

MediaTank wrote: »

Anyone know why London Pride, ESB, etc. are so expensive compared to 500ml quality bottled beers from Germany and Belgium for example. €3.99 is not an unusual price to pay for a bottle of ale. Is it the case of a single importer price gouging?

The base price is going to be higher. Beer in Germany is basically free, while a bottle of Pride will run you about £1.20 in a UK supermarket, and more in an independent shop.

Plus, German beer is much less of a speciality than the UK ones. Erdinger, for instance, is practically mainstream. So it can be brought in in bulk for cheaper. More specialist German beers will cost almost as much as the English ones. More, in some cases.

One of the best deals around is Superquinn's Bishops Finger for €1.75, but it's not on all the time.

dylbert

Superquinn do 5 bottles for the price of 4 on a selection of their beers, I picked up 5 bottles of Hobgoblin for around a tenner, not bad

tippguy

londons pride is a euro cheaper in my local, ur beein ripped off. €2.99 a bottle is all it should be

oblivious

dylbert wrote: »

, I picked up 5 bottles of Hobgoblin for around a tenner, not bad

That's a nice deal

LordSutch

dylbert wrote: »

Superquinn do 5 bottles for the price of 4 on a selection of their beers, I picked up 5 bottles of Hobgoblin for around a tenner, not bad

Talking of which, I must go hunting for a 'Hobgoblin' or Two in my local 'Offy', its been years, so I cant even remember (probably due to its consumption) if its Golden or Dark? can anyone say?

oblivious

Camelot wrote: »

its Golden or Dark? can anyone say?

Brown

IronMan

Tesco sell London Pride for €2.49. With the 25% back on alcohol over the weekend, it worked out at a great price. Picked up a few O'Haras stouts as well.

Blisterman

That's not too bad. It's about £1.60 or so a bottle in London, where it's brewed.

Ham'nd'egger

IronMan wrote: »

Tesco sell London Pride for €2.49. With the 25% back on alcohol over the weekend, it worked out at a great price. Picked up a few O'Haras stouts as well.

€2.65 in Superquinn and as stated, it's on their World Beer line; buy 4 and get on free.

Erdinger, James Boag, Curim, Guinness Foreign Export, Asahi, Sam Adams, Duvel and Coopers are also some of the range included, while Dud weiser, Carlsberg and Heinekin are not

MediaTank

Must check out Superquinn so...

Cardinal

I got some Spitfire at the price of 2 for €5 in Tesco there last week.

Nothingcompares

I bought a bottle of ESB for 2.89 I believe in superquinn swords yesterday.
bishops' finger was 3.99 if iirc but wasn't actually on the shlef (sticker was.)