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The Grocery Shrink Ray Attacks the Beer Aisle
By JLP | September 4, 2008
Well, the grocery shrink ray (as made famous by The Consumerist) has now fully reached the beer aisle—and I’m not happy about it!
Recently I have noticed that more and more beer producers are going with 11.2 oz bottles instead of the standard 12 oz. bottles. Earlier this evening I was at Kroger and I noticed that the seven beers were now 11.2 oz bottles.
Here is a list of beers that I refuse to purchase:
My Kroger has a limited selection so if there are other beers that should be on the list, please let me know and I’ll add them.
These size reductions are crazy because the price of beer has already gone up a lot over the last few years. I can remember just a few years ago when $6 was considered expensive for a six-pack of imported beer. Now it’s nothing for a six-pack to be $7.99 or more—that’s a 33% increase!
Of course there is a way for consumers to fight back. It’s very simple, really: DON’T BUY THEIR BEER.
UPDATE: Well, according to the first commenter, it’s a European thing. Crazy, it just seemed like all the sudden all these smaller bottles started popping up all over the place.
Topics: Budgeting |
September 4th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Well, it’s just European beers using their standard 1/3 Liter bottle sizes so that they don’t have to re-tool their production lines just to cater to the one country who insists on sticking with Imperial… (http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/1484295)
September 4th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Josh,
I think it’s more than that. I never noticed 11.2 oz bottles until just recently.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:01 am
I know for a fact Guinness has been using the 11.2 oz bottles for a long time.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:07 am
Hey, you’re in Texas, right? Well, 11.2 ounce beers were not allowed to be sold in Texas until recently (within the past few years - Just found it - looks like it was in June 2006 http://www.beertown.org/craftbrewing/govt_affairs/pdf/Legal_Updates_06.pdf). So that’s why you’re seeing them more now. The brewers that overwhelmingly brew in that size (imports) are now allowed to sell that size in Texas, thus saving them lots of money by not having to retool production lines as often, as Josh B. said.
Texas has some of the most arcane beer laws. It’s ridiculous. I work for a brewery and our compliance manager HATES them. We aren’t allowed to sell one of our brands there because our label says “beer” on it and beer is defined in Texas as have less than 4% alcohol by weight, so to them it is not “beer” it is “ale.” It’s not even in the NAME of the stupid beer, it’s just a quote from a famous person that we used in the design. UGH!
And it’s not our fault we have to raise prices! We’re paying twice what we did last year for malt and 5-10 times what we used to pay for hops! It’s good beer! Drink up!
September 5th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Dangit. I may have lost my comment. Just in case, Texas repealed the law that restricted container sizes sold in the sate in June 2006. So that’s why the 11.2 ounce thing is “recent”.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:50 am
7.99 is not bad for a 6 pack of decent beer. Living in the NW I am used to paying 8 bucks for a six pack, but there are so many microbreweries around here that I just consider that a normal price for something good.
I did recently buy 8 bottles of Westvleteren 12 through a grey market shop in Belgium. With shipping, it cost 200 bucks for 8 beers. Now that is an expensive beer. But it is considered by many to be the best in the world.
If you want to try something similar, check out St. Bernardus 12. It is also a quad trappist style (not a true trappist). Just make sure you take it out of the fridge for about 20 minutes before drinking. Yum!
BTW: I find it odd that they determine an “ale” in Texas by alcohol content. There are only two kinds of beer: Lagers and Ales. The only difference between the two are the type of yeast. Some lagers, such as dunkelbocks, can get up to 8% ABV, but they are cold fermented and are not an ale, while Guinness is an ale, but is only about 4.1 to 4.3 ABV. Note that this is by volume, not weight, so Guinness is actually about 2.7% by weight. Yep, Guinness would qualify as a “Three-two” beer, and has less alcohol than Bud, Coors, or Miller. And Guinness, under this strange Texas law, would be a “beer”, not an “ale”.
Now I am thirsty…
September 5th, 2008 at 7:39 am
(1/3) liter = 11.2713409 US fluid ounces
September 5th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Even crazier are the tiny 8oz bottles that Corona sells. First time I grabbed one out of an ice bucket at a friend’s house…I thought my hands had magically become ginormous. It was intensely confusing until I realized that for some weird reason they make an 8oz bottle of beer.
September 5th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Considering that many imported beers have a lot higher alcohol content in them than most domestics, you still get more alcoholic bang for your buck.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
You have seen nothing! Here in Toronto, Canada the import beer is around $13 per six-pack. Also this is not an European thing. I have lived in 2 European countries and have visited several more and the standard there more or less is half a liter bottle.
September 5th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
This is why I stick to my irish and scotch whisky
September 5th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Jeremy,
But what do you drink during the summer? Whisky is too heavy for a hot summer.
September 6th, 2008 at 8:33 am
As someone who works in the imported beer industry, I can tell you that Kimberley is right. Each state has different laws about what they can / cannot sell, and until recently 11.2 oz bottles were not allowed. Many imported beers, however, are bottled at this size and have been for a long time.
As to Jason’s comment about the mini-Coronas, a few points:
They are called Coronitas, and they are a separate product from regular Corona bottles. Coronitas are actually 7oz bottles, and they were created to reach out to they many people who either A) want to enjoy just a half a beer and B) don’t drink beer very quickly and like their beer to stay cold. I assure you it has nothing to do with “tricking” customers into buying less beer for more… They are priced accordingly to their smaller size.
September 6th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Good beer is priceless. I’m fond of Abita Amber and I’d pay $10 for a six pack. I don’t drink a lot though. Maybe a beer every other night on average. If I drank more frequently I’d drink cheaper beer. But then I’d stop drinking all together if I had to drink really cheap beer like Bud or Miller.
September 7th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
That’s some shrinkage…
11.2oz & isn’t a lot of the beer in certain states 3.2% alcohol content?
What about US pint sizes vs. English pints. Aren’t imperial pints 22oz. vs. the US’s 16oz? Why the differences?
September 8th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Have you noticed the new coffee-flavored energy drinks from companies like Monster?
The standard carbonated energy drinks are a 16 oz can and cost about $2.19. The coffee-flavored drinks come in a similar can but are only 15 oz and cost $2.39 or more.
September 8th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
After doing some online shopping with my bf for a crazy obscure Belgian craft beer (Achel blond), I’m pretty sure that 33cL bottles are the standard European size for bottles and that in some way, the ‘downsizing’ you perceive is merely Americans getting used to the metric way of things that everyone else uses. The price just hasn’t been adjusted down.
I’d save your ire for something else, like a downsized bottle of wine that’s no longer 750mL but 725mL. (Which will probably never happen. Just buy a split instead! aka 375mL)
September 8th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Interesting. I thought Utah was the only state with weird liquor laws. Doesn’t matter to me anyway as I almost always drink American beers.
September 14th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
It has started to hit canned tuna. The standard can has weighed in for decades at six ounces.
Some brands have been shrunken to five ounces.
September 14th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
I flew business class on KLM and the Heineken beer they served (the only kind, go figure) came in 8 oz (about) cans.
That’s like three hearty sips. Depressing.
It took a lot of those little beers to make the movie I was watching somewhat entertaining….