Beer Dollars and Sense

At a recent Keith Urban concert in Atlanta, I stumbled upon what appears to be a money saving secret. I say secret only because the line in front of the premium beer cart that will mix you a black and tan with the usual suspects of Guinness and Bass, was consistently shorter than the domestic light beer stands. Now, I'm not one of those who aims to slam mass produced brew. I respect what they do and how well they do it. But given the choice between a black and tan or a bud-mill-oors I'm opting for the B&T.

So here's where it gets interesting. I laid down my hard earned $7.50 for a 16oz pour of half and half thinking, man, I must be crazy to pay nearly ten bucks for one beer. As I walked back to my seat a little ashamed to be the sucker paying crazily for my beer, I met up with one of our friends who had come to the show with us. She was double fisting a couple plastic bottles of Miller Lite. She immediately says to me, "So you ditched me for the good beer, huh?" I said timidly, "Yes, but I paid for it that's for sure. How much were yours"? I was shocked to learn that she paid $6.50 a bottle.

Now, I'm no financial genius but there is a cost to flavor factor that comes into play here. I understand that some folks don't care for heavier beer and choose to stick with what they know, but for those of us looking to enhance our beer drinking experience with a more robust and flavorful option, this is a great payoff. For a dollar more you can enjoy a well flavored beer at your favorite concert or sporting event and even though the price is exhorbitant you don't feel like you're the one being taken. As an added bonus, for those of you looking to put a good buzz on, consider the cost to alchohol factor going on in this equation. Guinness and Bass ring in at 4.3% ABV and 5% ABV respectively. Not too bad. Especially if you're on a date looking to losen up inhibitions. I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin'.