Why is it cheaper to buy beer than to make it yourself from a homebrew kit?

Question

There seems to be a market fallout here. Perhaps it has something to do with VAT being added! How can anyone believe that homebrew beer is a luxury item requiring VAT added! I remember the days when homebrew beer was the cheapest on the market. Not these days.....

Answer 1

It is cheaper to brew your own.

Get yourself a homebrew kit for less than a tenner and you'll make about 40 pints. 25p a pint.

Buy it in the pub and you'll pay about £2.50 a pint

Answer 2

Yes, and have you read the ingredients on the bottles!!!
Try making it from your own ingredients (hops, barley and yeast) then you don't have to buy the commercial homebrew. My husband has banned me from making this beer because it was so strong everyone fell asleep.

Answer 3

It's like asking why a homemade cake costs more than a twinkie.

Quality of ingredients and the cost savings of mass production. Taxes are irrelevet at those quantities.

Answer 4

I've been brewing my own beer for many years. As such I have met a number of other like people and we formed a loose association that allows us to buy in bulk. A typical bottle of beer costs me about .27 cents and is of vastly superior quality.

Answer 5

The same reason you can buy a car cheaper than building one yourself.
Economy of scale.
If you have 100 truckloads of something delivered, you are going to get a MUCH better price per pound than if you are just buying 5 pounds (or 5 gallons).
To get the 5 # package; someone, somewhere bought the truckload, paid someone to repackage it in smaller quantities, paid a salesforce to find stores to sell it, paid someone to ship it, etc.

Answer 6

I don't know what VAT is, but commercial beer is cheaper because Bud, Miller, and Coors brew zillions of gallons of it at a time and therefore it's just an economy of scale.

Answer 7

I think its because when you brew it yourself you then don't have the cost of running the factory too brew it, paying people to operate the factory and then havin the cost of the materials to can it label it then ship it off to wherever it may be going!!!! thats my theory anyway.

Answer 8

Everything done in volume is cheaper. They make beer in huge kegs and you are doing it at a much smaller scale.

Answer 9

Home made beer is time consuming, expensive and gives you the raging squits. Just buy some. Easier, cheaper and so less bother.

Answer 10

Mass production