Beer Prices at Trader Joes Seattle

Beer at Trader Joe’s typically comes as the traditional 6-pack of 12 oz bottles or single 22 oz “Bombers”, though various other sizes show up as well (4 or 6-packs of 11.2, 14.9 or 16.9 oz bottles).  I decided to see how the beers available at Trader Joe’s Ballard and U-District (both in Seattle) ranked in terms of cost effectiveness, either as dollars per volume of liquid, or dollars per volume of alcohol (if that’s what matters more to you).  An interactive plot of the result is shown below.

Some takeways, some of which should extend to other Trader Joe’s locations:

• Aside from a handful of beers (Boatswain, Mission Street, Henry Hotspur Cidar), most bombers are much less cost effective (on a total volume leveL) than bottles/cans. The difference isn’t nearly as pronounced when looking at the volume of alcohol level (see below).

 

• For the TJs loving frat kids: If you care most about drinking the most beer for your buck, Name Tag Lager is the winner.  If you care about drinking the most alcohol (through beer) for your buck, Simpler Times Lager is the winner.
• For “name brand” beers, the New Belgium Trippel and Elysian Space Dust IPA do pretty well for alcohol content.  I’m fairly partial to the former, myself.
• Dang, I don’t think I’ll ever buy any Chimay at TJs.

Most importantly, of course you should BUY WHAT YOU ENJOY DRINKING.  But if you don’t have strong preferences between numerous options, then perhaps some interesting information to keep in mind.