# Do American macro-beers cost a premium price outside US because they're "imported"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-macro-beers-cost-a-premium-price-outside-us-because-theyre-imported/566877 "2011-01-08T14:22:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-macro-beers-cost-a-premium-price-outside-us-because-theyre-imported/566877/21 "2011-01-10T16:03:52Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > You think Bud is “dirt cheap?” I think it’s expensive as hell, especially for what it is. > > For less than half the price one can buy a case of PBR, Old Style, or Leinenkugels. While none of those are great, they’re better than Bud hands down. Leinie’s is only cheap in Wisconsin, here in Chicago it carries a premium beer price, as does Schlitz and when you can find it Blatz. > [@DCnDC](#): > > Bud/Coors/Miller are the cheapest beers you can buy, typically selling at $4.99/6-pack, $10.99/12-pack, $21.99/30-pack. Anything else, and I mean anything else, will run you at least $7.99, PBR and Leinenkugel included. You actually want “good” beer it’ll cost you $8.99/6-pack to start. Damn, you guys pay a lot for beer. I can get a 6 pack of PBR tall cans for $4 and a 24 case of Bud/Miller/Coors for $13. I can get a 24 case of PBR for less than $10. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-macro-beers-cost-a-premium-price-outside-us-because-theyre-imported/566877/22 "2011-01-10T16:09:12Z")
I just remembered something I read in a (Swedish) newspaper many years ago. The author had noticed bottles of Budweiser (the real thing) in a store and thought it was great fun that a brewery in communist Czechoslovakia would brew a beer under license from a US company. Somehow I think he didn’t know much about beer. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-macro-beers-cost-a-premium-price-outside-us-because-theyre-imported/566877/23 "2011-01-10T16:34:13Z")
Budweiser is considered a premium beer in China. Only upscale bars will carry it. They sponsor a lot of scantily clad girls to promote it in bars. It is significantly more expensive than the local stuff. Budweiser is what you might order to impress a date or to treat a business contact. I think it is also brewed and bottled by Chinese brewing companies. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-macro-beers-cost-a-premium-price-outside-us-because-theyre-imported/566877/24 "2011-01-10T16:57:49Z")
From what I have been told, [PBR is a super high end brew in China](http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/07/21/pabst-blue-ribbon-is-classy-and-expensive-in-china/). It’s a slightly different recipe than that sold in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-macro-beers-cost-a-premium-price-outside-us-because-theyre-imported/566877/25 "2011-01-10T17:20:53Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > From what I have been told, [PBR is a super high end brew in China](http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/07/21/pabst-blue-ribbon-is-classy-and-expensive-in-china/). It’s a slightly different recipe than that sold in the US. Wow, I lived in China for 2 years(2003-2005) and I saw PBR on the shelf there all the time. It was canned, cost a bit more than Chinese beer, but not as much as Budweiser. Budweiser was more expensive there, but was bottled in Beijing. I think it is because it is American. Expensive there though is still cheaper than cheap here. It wasn’t outrageous or anything. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-macro-beers-cost-a-premium-price-outside-us-because-theyre-imported/566877/26 "2011-01-10T17:24:36Z")
I think it’s a universal geographic phenomenon. Brazilian _cachaça_ is expensive here in the U.S. even for rotgut, while vodka is relatively cheap—and when I’m in Brazil and order a _caipirinha_, the server often asks if I wouldn’t like a _caipiroska_ instead (made with vodka, which is typically more expensive there and thus has more prestige). No, I say—where I live, vodka is cheap and boring, and I want to enjoy cheap _cachaça_ when I have the chance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-macro-beers-cost-a-premium-price-outside-us-because-theyre-imported/566877.md?page=1)