It Has Begun: Carlsberg’s $400-a-Bottle Beer
Published by Joel January 29th, 2008 in Beer. Share ThisFrom Bloomberg:
The brewer, Scandinavia’s biggest, introduced a beer today that costs 2,008 Danish kroner ($396.47), the price being based on the year of its introduction. The Vintage No. 1 brew will be sold at three Copenhagen restaurants, including Noma, a holder of two Michelin stars and the world’s 15th-best restaurant in 2007, according to S.Pellegrino.The product, costing 357 times more than Carlsberg’s main Danish lager brand, has been developed to challenge luxury wines in the gourmet restaurant market and capitalize on rising individual wealth.
One of the things I love about beer is that the most exclusive beers tend to be within the reach of the dedicated common man. Some beers will shelf age okay, but it’s not the norm, so most beer is made to be consumed within a year or so of brewing. It inoculated the culture against the ridiculous issues that have plagued wine.
In short: that better a damn fine bottle of beer.
Plenty of breweries already use top quality ingredients and sell beer for a premium price ($20-30). If the only thing keeping beer from seriously competing with wine is the price point, then beer shouldn’t be competing with wine. Inflation doesn’t make beer better, it just makes it more expensive.