Portland Beer Price Index: Autumn 2013

Kind of a quiet installment of the Portland Beer Price Index (PBPI).  Prices are all within a nickel of last quarter's prices (after adjusting for a change I made to the stores in the index).  Sale prices were slightly less generous than in the summer, though the shelf-tag price on six-packs went down slightly.  An insider that frequents these posts hints that we are going to see a serious price rise next quarter -- I'm not looking forward to that, but it won't be a big surprise.  You can see from the graph that there was a big jump in Q4 of 2011 that sort of set the level for our current prices.

Here are the Portland Beer Price Index numbers for the autumn quarter of 2013:

• 6-packs: $9.50, down 3 cents
• 22-ounce bombers: $5.22, up 5 cents
• 6-packs (sale price): $8.65, up 2 cents
• 22-ounce bombers (sale price): $4.82, up 2 cents
• 16 oz. draft: $4.52 unchanged
• 16 oz. draft (happy hour): $3.65, unchanged

I made a switch this quarter, and subbed in the Hawthorne Safeway for the Division New Seasons.  Not finding HUB IPA bombers at New Seasons was the final straw for me.  A few years ago their beer selection seemed amazing for a grocery store, but nowadays it is a little sparse.  Still a good selection, for sure, but other stores have expanded their beer space, whereas New Seasons has shrunk theirs a little by trying to add in a bunch of ciders.  The switch was pretty smooth, since I actually gathered the Safeway prices last quarter, so I was able to make an apples-to-apples comparison against the same bucket of data.  If you try to compare the actual numbers reported last time, it looks like the non-sale prices are way up this time, but the sale prices aren't so different.  That may be because New Seasons touts an "Everyday Low Price" on a lot of common beers, instead of pulling the usual grocery store stunt of showing an inflated shelf price that is marked down every day of the year.

If you require more information on the makeup of the PBPI, read the page which describes the composition of the index.  Check back around Christmas to see the final numbers of 2013.

Help Keep the Portland Growler Price Map Up-to-Date!

The Portland Growler Price Map has been touted in the sidebar of It's Pub Night for years. Personally, I haven't been taking home that many growlers recently, so the map is woefully -- ridiculously -- out of date. Therefore, I'm going to ask for your help to start whipping it back into shape, so that it becomes a useful resource again.



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Considering the great upswing in interest in growlers lately, this map really needs a reboot. In the past year we have seen places open up which focus heavily on growlers -- the Tin Bucket, the Imperial Bottleshop -- and even grocery stores like Zupan's and Local Choice are getting in on the act. Heck, one of the best growler deals in town right now is at a convenience store -- the 39th Mini Mart on Cesar Chavez has $10 fills and a fairly interesting selection of 12 taps. As I write this, none of those places have yet been added to the map.  Not even fairly well established breweries like Gigantic or the Commons are on the map.  It's embarrassing.

Here is my plea for your help.  Would your business like its growler offerings to show up on the map?  Email me the details (see below).  Are you a beer fanatic who is always coming home with a growler or two?  Next time you have a growler filled, take some notes and send them to me (see below).  Are you an insanely dedicated growler aficionado, who knows how to update a Google Map, who would like access to the map, so you don't even have to go through me to update it?  Please email me, I'd love to hear from you.

Details

When the map first came out, I would get comments on the blog like "I think Amnesia has growlers for $13 or $14, but I don't remember exactly, can you add that to the map?"  Short answer:  NO.  I need at least the following information before I can add your information to the map:

• Price (range) to fill 64 ounce growler.
• Price to buy the growler itself (if available).
• Whether they'll only fill their own labeled growler.
• Whether they'll fill 2-quart mason jars.
• The date of your information.
• Special sale prices or happy hours (if any).

The growler price map was one of the first cool things that happened on this blog, and it spawned a couple of even better ideas like the Six-Pack Equivalent Calculator and the Portland Beer Price Index.  It's too bad I let it fall into such disrepair.  I hope to recapture some of the glory days with your help.  Thanks in advance!

First Thoughts on OBF 2013

There you go, that's the Beard that made Newport famous.

Rogue's Beard Beer is something you should plunk down a dollar for at the 2013 Oregon Brewers Festival, not because it's good, but so that for the rest of your life you can tell people you drank beer made from some guy's beard.  It reminds me a little of a bread-yeast homebrew someone gave me a few years ago.

On the other hand, there are some beers that you should try just because they are delicious.  These are some beers I really liked from the dozen or so I tried yesterday:

• Stone Delicious IPA: you can taste the hop pollen in this one; huge body and huge tropical-fruit hops
• Boulder Pump up the Jam: a refreshing wheat beer; mild blueberries match well with the wheat
• Speakeasy Tallulah: an Extra Pale Ale, light bodied with lovely flowery hops; around here it would probably get labeled an India Session Ale
• Collaborator Smoked Helles: this year's Oregon Brew Crew/Widmer collaboration is a solid Helles (a little strong at 5.9%) with just the right touch of smoke
• Gigantic & Juice: a "beermosa" (the second I've had this year) with additions of grapefruit, pineapple, and tangerine juice; don't worry, the juice is pretty light, playing a little citrus off the hops
• Mt. Shasta Skip and Go Naked: if you like the Boulder blueberry beer, this strawberry-ginger hefeweizen is along the same lines, refreshing with a nice touch of fruit 

[Update 2013/07/26: Here are some new picks from more "research" on Friday.  I let my IPA lust loose:

• Oakshire OBF 26: floral notes, refreshing for its 7% size, must be hoppier than the listed 26 IBUs
• Heathen Transgression IPA: solid, chewy tongue-scraper with hints of orange (newish Vancouver, WA brewery)
• Ft. George Hop Contract: another citrusy IPA, well done
• Vertigo Key Lime Tropical Blonde: nice thirst quencher, esters and key lime, kind of a coconut flavor in there somewhere

]

Perhaps it's a sign of the times that half of my picks have fruit additions.  Jeff Alworth pointed out that this year there are more fruit beers at OBF than IPAs - surely that has never happened before.  Pretty soon we won't need a special festival just for fruit beers.  Another interesting thing is that there are 3 Dortmunder-style lagers at the festival -- not a super common style.  In my opinion, Occidental's crisp and tasty Dortmunder barely edged out Breakside's slightly richer entry as the best in the lot; you could also try Old Town Brewing's version, but it was not in the same league as the other two.  (Speaking of Old Town, their pizza place at 226 NW Davis is just a short walk from the OBF if you need a break from the crowds; I've been happy with several of their house beers.)

So far I haven't had any beers I would definitely avoid.  Watch this space for updates.  [Update 2013/07/26: After Friday's visit, I have some beers I recommend avoiding.  Fire Mountain Bogart IPA: malt syrupy, not good.  Wild River Kolsch: one friend described the flavor as "spoiled milk".  Hales Double Pale Ale: a sweet mess, none of the flavors go well together.]

Much has been made of the change in glassware this year.  Happily, it's glass for the first time, instead of plastic.  However, the glass only holds 12 ounces as opposed to 14 in years past, and the sample size has gone from 4 ounces down to 3.  There was a lot of hand-wringing before the festival about that small sample, but honestly it was big enough for me to get a good idea of the beer.  The one thing I will say is, given the small size, the pourers could at least make sure they get your pour to the line.  Apparently they've been trained to err on the side of smaller pours, and about half the time I had to ask for a top-up.  Come on, guys, if the liquid is half a finger over the line, it's not going to break the bank.

I'll try to update with more picks and possibly some pans after my foray today.  Meanwhile, NO WOO-OOO-OOO-ing!