Blame PBR, Hipsters For Rising Beer Prices

Oh great, not only are restaurants charging more for wine, Restaurant Sciences says, but cheap beer is also getting harder and harder to find.

New York Daily News reports that beer prices have increased across the board in the past seven months, but the highest jump has been "sub-premium" beer, or cheap beers like Budweiser, Coors Light, Miller Lite, and Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Data shows that while ultra-premium (like craft, we imagine) brews have only jumped 1.8 percent in price, cheap beer prices have jumped 6.8 percent nationwide.

In New York City specifically, New York Daily News says, the beer prices have climbed 9.4 percent in the last seven months. And the culprit? "I believe the single biggest driver in sub-premium beer price increases is indeed specifically PBR," Restaurant Science's Chuck Ellis told NYDN. "It has become quite fashionable."

When demand increases, price does as well, Ellis notes. And since PBR has unofficially become the beer of choice for hipsters and wannabe hipsters, we're slowly seeing a future without $2 PBRs.