Friday Musings

"Price should stop being an element to compare beers"

This comment (followed by "Is there any competition where the price is considered when evaluating the product") could be considered naive, silly, or worse, if it wasn't for a small detail, it was made by Alex Padró, the owner of a brewery. It reminds me a bit to the quote "Life is too short to drink cheap beer that closes the "I'm a Craft Beer Drinker" video, where several people who make a living out of beer can be seen.

Just like I've said several times, I've got no with people like Padró setting the prices they see fit for their product or sevices. In fact, I think it's their inalienable right (especially if we are speaking about a leisure and luxury product like beer). Neither do I have much of a problem with their trying to convince me that the price, however high, is fair and reasonable for those product or services, as long they do it in an honest way, respecting the intelligence of the consumer, which is not the case with either Padró's comment or the quote in the video.

Regardless of the the ball on nonsense some of his comments are, I would never think of considering Padró as an idiot, quite the opposite. And yet, he is telling us that we should forget what we have paid when we are evaluating a beer, that the price/quality ratio should be of no importance.

Is he taking the piss?

The perception of value is something that will vary according to a number of factors, but the price/quality ratio will always carry much of the weight. Even 2D2dspuma, in their great initiative to support local producers takes it into account when they say "With comparable price/quality, better local".

The thing is that there are people who buy all this bollocks. They are the ones who see this fantastic creature called "Craft Beer" in an overly romantic way (have a look at what this person says here, to see an example), almost as if it belonged to a different reality where the natural laws of the market and the economy do not, and should not, apply. These is the people who have invested one part of the industry with an almost religious aura, believing they are part of some movement.

Regardless of whether it is as a result of true conviction or the purest cynicism, the fact is that not few of the people on the other side of the counter have been perpetuating all this mythology for quite some time. An who can blame them? It's a brilliant tale, one that has made their marketing a lot easier and also served as an excuse in more than one occasion. Maybe that is why some will get a bit upset (in SP) when that tale is questioned and its inconsistencies pointed at. Why would it be, I wonder.

Na Zdraví!