Shopping for the Super Bowl: Beer prices are up

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - Several staples for your Super Bowl party have gone down in price this year, but there is one basic that’s up: Beer.

“Super Bowl Sunday is huge for us. It is a big beer drinking holiday,” said Barbara Sweeney, the general manager at Doldo Brothers Inc.

If beer is on your Super Bowl shopping list, expect to pay more. Local beer distributers are watching how consumers spend.

“They might buy a little differently. They may not buy as high as they have in the past, but they’re still grabbing those 30 packs off the shelves,” said Dave Missert, general manager of AJ Missert Inc.

Across the country, the average price of beer has jumped by nearly 8%. At Doldo Brothers, Sweeney said they haven’t seen the hike put a sack on their sales.

“Like everything, everything goes up and so we pretty much have an increase every year. I don’t feel like we’ve gotten any backlash on it. I don’t really feel like it’s affected us at all,” she said.

What’s causing the increase? Ingredients to make beer, like malted barley, cost more. After a drop in December suds sales, Missert hopes Sunday’s game will bring a boost in business.

“People in the last couple years they stayed home, so you had that lift in your stores. I think maybe more so this year they’ll start to venture out to the bars and restaurants,” Missert said.

If people do head out to celebrate with football, food, and a cold one, the message remains that people drink responsibly and safely.

“A lot of the brewers have contracts or cross promotions with Lyft and Uber to promote safe rides home,” Missert said.

Nearly $1.3 billion dollars is spent on beer in the lead up to Super Bowl Sunday, with around 325 million gallons consumed across the country on game day.

Copyright 2023 WWNY. All rights reserved.