Beer for Big Bucks

While most companies are slashing prices to stay competitive, one Australian brewery is bucking the trend and defying the recession by selling one very high priced beer.

A boutique Australian brewer is launching a vintage stout at the hefty price of $20 dollars a bottle. If you go all out and buy a 24 bottle case of the high end Moorilla’s Moo brew, that will set you back about $480 U-S dollars.

And most surprisingly, they expect the luxury brew to sell out by next week. Assistant brewer David McGill says the stout is brewed just once a year and then aged in oak barrels. McGill says it’s more like a fine wine than a regular beer, which may help to explain the high price tag. McGill says unlike most beers this one just gets better with age and can be stored for up to three years.

But get your order in now. There are only about 1,500 bottles available and 900 bottles have already been sold. McGill isn’t worried about selling the rest because he says “beer will be the last thing to go as far as luxury is concerned”. McGill says beer is becoming the new wine and despite the economy people like to splurge on extraordinary products. I figure that out to be about a buck a sip, so not good to chug.

All this reminds me of that often quoted saying about “caviar dreams on a beer budget”. Looks like that caviar might just be a bit cheaper.

(Brian Banmiller is a national Business Correspondent for CBS News Radio, free lance writer and public speaker. The former television business news anchor in San Francisco can be reached at brian@banmilleronbusiness.com .)