Home | Sierra Nevada to shrink Bigfoot barleywine to four-packs from six-packs

Sierra Nevada to shrink Bigfoot barleywine to four-packs from six-packs

By , Herald-Tribune
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In a Beerpulse.com report on Sierra Nevada's plans for the rest of the year, the brewery reveals that it will be downgrading its awesome Bigfoot barleywine from six-packs to four-packs starting in 2013.

This move makes me sad. Bigfoot is one of my all-time favorites and is very affordable at about $10 for six.

I'm currently drinking through a case right now.

Will the four-packs will be priced about the same as six-packs? If so, that means we'll get 33 percent less beer for about the same price.

To play devil's advocate I guess Sierra Nevada was looking at a big price increase and decided a $10 four-pack was more palatable than a $16 six-pack.

What do you think of this change? Use the comment field below to sound off.

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Alan Shaw

Alan Shaw has been a fan of craft beer for more than a decade. He is partial to hops and has been an editor at the Herald-Tribune since 1997. He can be reached at (941) 361-4914, by email or mail at 1741 Main St., Sarasota, FL 34236. Follow him at @alancshaw on Twitter and on Facebook.
Last modified: March 15, 2012
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VIEWING 6 COMMENTS
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Beer Soaked Erik
Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 6:48 pm

I'm hoping Sierra Nevada drops the price along with the move to 4-pks. Even when I'm in a barley wine mood I can't drink though a whole sixer of Bigfoot myself. I'm in favor of the higher alcohol brews like Bigfoot and Hoptimum coming in 4-pks. Craft beer is more about the quality of the beer than the quantity anyway. So if it was $10/6 then $6.67/4 would sound about right. Cheers!

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Alan Shaw
Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 7:40 pm

Erik, if the per-ounce price stays the same I won't complain. I can only handle one per day, anyway.

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Bill Manley
Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 8:22 pm

Hi Guys,
I just wanted to pop on here and explain the rationale of why we are making the move. Bigfoot for years has been under priced, as in, for years we have been making zero, or very close to zero dollars on that beer because as commodities (barley/hops/gas) have gone up in price, we've kept the price of Bigfoot the same.
This year, (2012) sadly, we were forced to increase the price. Believe me, we don't enjoy it either. Doing the math, another price increase was set for next year, and probably the year after too. We have been trying to come up with a way to balance out the costs of these higher gravity products...The option we found the least offensive was to drop the 6 packs into four packs and lower the price-per-carton. Additionally, we will brew MORE Bigfoot to keep up with the ever increasing demand, and make it more available for a longer period of time.

Sierra Nevada has always had a reputation for fair pricing. Our entire lineup of year-round products and seasonal selections are very competitive in the market and that has been something we are very proud of. The higher ABV (ingredients) and higher costs required to make some of these beers truly dictates what our end pricing will be.

We hope you understand our rationale, and we hope you will continue to search for Bigfoot in the coming years.

Cheers!

-Bill Manley

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Alan Shaw
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 5:58 pm

Bill Manley, thanks for the explanation! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my concerns. It’s great news to know that more Bigfoot will be made and that it will be available longer.

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gabe
Sunday, November 18, 2012 at 3:45 am

Where in fresno ca is bigfoot sold? I know of one place and its too far fron my house

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Alan Shaw
Sunday, November 18, 2012 at 4:16 pm

Gabe, I'm in Florida, so I can't answer your question. However, Bigfoot is a seasonal release and probably won't come out until January. Any in stores now was released early this year. Look on the bottle cap, it will have the year it was released.