Sam Calagione, owner of Dogfish Head Brewery, has frequently stated that craft beer represents one of today’s great affordable luxuries. What he’s talking about is the relative pricing of craft beer as compared to wine.
In restaurants the world’s best wines will sell for several hundred dollars per bottle. Better wines from California easily command $75-$100 a 750 ml bottle. On the other hand, the top echelon of craft beers typically sell for $10-$16 for a 12 oz. or $20-$30 per cork-finished 750 ml. While there are certainly decent wines that can be placed on a restaurant wine list for $25, most restaurant wine list offerings today go for considerably more than that. Some observers believe that the growth in the cost of fine wine has been a damper on restaurant wine sales.
As Calagione and other beer advocates have pointed out, you can drink incredible, best-of-class beers at a much lower cost than the best wines and attain similar dining satisfaction. The great craft beers are still an affordable luxury that can round out a meal in even the finest restaurants. This is a compelling reason for every fine dining restaurant concerned about its bottom line to offer a nice selection of superior craft beers.
If I’m on a budget (and who isn’t these days) and the choice in a restaurant is drink a very average wines or drink the very best beers in the world, I know what my choice will be.
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