Economists often talk about a phenomena known as price elasticity. A commodity that maintains its demand relatively well as price increases, for example, is said to have an inelastic demand. It does not change very much. Gas is a good example; people may complain about the price, but they are unwilling to change their driving habits, and generally consume less of other goods to make up the difference they pay for their gas.

Other products may have an elastic demand, especially if there are substitues available at lower prices. Think of butter. If the price of butter goes up, demand will often go down. Why? It’s easy to substitute margarine at a cheaper price. Now, by this point you might be wondering what any of this has to do with beer in general and Duck Rabbit Marzen in particular, but I assure you I am getting there.

First, a little about the beer. Farmville, North Carolina’s, Duck Rabbit brewery class itself “The Dark Beer Specialists”, though not every beer they make is dark. Their Marzen is a classic Vienna festbier of strength 4.8% by volume. As with all of their beers that I’ve tried, it is true to style and a very nicely made beer indeed. Let’s try a bottle, shall we?

Duck Rabbit Marzen pours to a bright orange amber color with a medium sized creamy head formation and an incredibly appetizing nutty malty nose. Taking a sip, I’m very impressed indeed with this Oktoberfest-Marzen beer. The palate is smooth and clean, delightfully malty with a decided toasty nutty character and a hint of caramel. It’s really an exceptional example of the style and one I could see myself enjoying each fall as September and October approach.

Except that that’s where the economics come in. At a whopping $12.99 a six-pack, the price here is way out of touch with reality, and renders my demand for the beer quite elastic indeed. Let’s be real here: my demand for craft beer is very inelastic. As prices have increased over the years, my beer consumption and purchases have remained steady.

My demand for certain brands of beer, however, is quite elastic indeed. Consider I can get a six-pack of Paulaner Oktoberfest or Spaten Oktoberfest and still have $5 in my pocket for a pint at Taco Mac. Then too, in this case, the substitution is not a trade down, since these are two classic German examples of the style.

So while I might have given Duck Rabbit Marzen 4 ½ stars on its own merits, I’ll have to knock that down to 3 ½ due to the price. Would I re-buy it? Not at this price, no.

Update 11/4/2014: Good news my friends! I picked up a few bottles of the 2014 edition of Duck Rabbit Marzen (best before date notched 12/14). Not only is this nutty malty melanoidin party in your mouth as wonderful as ever, but this year it's available at a much more reasonable $9.99 a six-pack. The toasty nutty aromas in the nose and the palate are simply amazing, laced with a bit of caramel and finished off with a gentle herbal hop aroma.

At this price, I'm giving this a full five stars. magnificent!



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