Nips Pt. 3: It’s The Economy, Genius

Nip and other small bottles do more than just enable more people to get their hands on more of the beers they desire and make big beers available in lower calorie and less alcoholic packages. While one of the best things about buying a bomber or wine bottle of a huge and unique beer is that you get 22 to 25 ounces’ worth, respectively, one of the worst things is that you pay through the nose.  It used to be that if you found a 750 ml bottle of The Lost Abbey’s Brandy-barrel-aged Angel’s Share at a bottle shop, you could expect to pay over $30 for it! But find yourself in a store that carries the 375 ml bottles and that exact same beer will “only” set you back around $16.

It’s understandable that a brewing company would want to sell beer in larger vessels, since it serves to both push larger quantities of beer and bring in more money per sale. If Three Floyd’s Dark Lord only came in 9-litre Salamanazars, devotees would still buy it. On the flipside, when I see Birrificio Le Baladin’s Nora, a spiced beer from Italy I’ve long wanted to try, it’s usually collecting dust since the $25 price tag scares many including myself away. Until now. I just bought some for $7.50, thanks entirely to their nifty new 250 ml package that doubles as a bud vase.

As people wake up to the fact that great beer comes at a higher price, most people still have a “ceiling” that they’re willing to spend to try a heralded beer. By halving (or “thirding”) the size of the bottles, breweries essentially double the audience willing and able to spend the money for such treats.

As stated before, one of the best things you can do with exotic beers is share them with friends. But they’re not always there when you land such a rarity. Instead of expensively polishing off a large bottle alone, tiny-sized beers allow you to share… with yourself.