When I mentioned to a grad school friend that the last cheap beer I wrote about on Thirsty Thursday cost me $2.99 for a six-pack, she told me that should have been my entire review: “$2.99 for a six-pack.”
Mission Street India Pale Ale
In retrospect, that approach probably would have been more effective than pillorying the beer for 250 words and praising its can design for another 25. But my friend’s suggestion spurred me to expand my cheap beer horizons. After all, the cost of living here in Beer, New York is something like 62 times the national average. I’ve been known to utter phrases like, “Oh yeah, let’s check out that place. I hear they have $4 Bud pints during happy hour!”
So a six-pack of Mission Street India Pale Ale for $6.99 met my ever-evolving definition of cheap. Granted Mission Street by Paso Robles, California’s Steinhaus Brewing Co. has a price point more than double some of its Thirsty Thursday predecessors. But it not only kicked their collective butts, it became the Platonic ideal of what I think an India Pale Ale should be. It packs a malty sweat first taste with a clean, hoppy finish. In the glass it has a pretty amber hue at its center with blond peaking out at the edge. And at a 6.8 percent alcohol, it’s a great deal when it comes to price-per-proof.
So what do you think Beer, New Yorkers? How much does a cheap beer go for these days?
-Ross
beer, new york 
Your economy of words about beer economics is fantastic.
I’m always fascinated by the bar price/store price breakdown. Would Beer, NY be interested in doing a semi-scientific survey of how much markup a beer typically gets when served in a NYC establishment. I think Bierkraft wins, thus far.
Would we? That sounds like a grand idea. When you say that Bierkraft wins, do you mean they have the highest or lowest mark-up?