October 11, 2006
Liquor Over Beer Makes YOU Richer
Over 21 only article –involves alcohol
Can drinking alcohol increase how much money you get at the end of the month? According to The Journal of Labor Research, drinkers usually earn 10-14% more than non-drinkers. You could read the whole article at CNN Money. A lot of writers on the internet have already thrown in their 2 cents on this new discovery. I am going to hit this subject from a different angle with an experiment of my own.
According to The Journal of Jeremie’s Research lab, people that drink liquor can save even more money than beer drinkers (and they won’t have bad beer breath). This “real” research lab found that if you purchase liquor instead of beer can save you hundreds of dollars by the end of the year. *The only real research that Jeremie has done is take down prices at a few different liquor stores, gas stations, and grocery stores.*
Here’s the data
Legend:
Dirt Cheap= DC
Good Cheap= GC
Premium= P
*Assumptions
12 Pack of Beer
1.75 Liter Bottles of Liquor
| Grocery Store $ | Liquor Store $ | Gas Station $ | Average $ | |
| DC Beer | 7.99 | 7.99 | 6.99 | 7.66 |
| GC Beer | 8.99 | 8.99 | 9.99 | 9.33 |
| P Beer | 12.99 | 11.99 | 13.99 | 13 |
| DC Vodka | Not sold | 6.99 | Not Sold | 6.99 |
| GC Vodka | Not sold | 11.99 | Not sold | 11.99 |
| P Vodka | Not sold | 22.99 | Not sold | 22.99 |
| DC Rum | Not sold | 7.99 | Not sold | 7.99 |
| GC Rum | Not sold | 11.99 | Not sold | 11.99 |
| P Rum | Not sold | 21.99 | Not sold | 21.99 |
| DC Bourbon | Not sold | 18.99 | Not sold | 18.99 |
| GC Bourbon | Not sold | 24.99 | Not sold | 24.99 |
| P Bourbon | Not sold | 34.99 | Not sold | 34.99 |
Now here comes the math.
Most of time you need to purchase mixers such as: Cranberry juice, orange juice, soft drink, ect. Let’s make another assumption and you spend $6.00 for 2 bottles of juice (2 liters).
Assumptions:
Per beer price= Price per 12 pack/number of beers (12)
30 drinks in a 1.75 L
Adding in liquor and mixer cost/30
One beer= one ounce of liquor
Six beers per night = 3 liquor drinks (2 ounces per drink)
| Avg. $ per drink | Avg. $ per night | |
| DC Beer | .63 | 3.78 |
| GC Beer | .78 | 4.68 |
| P Beer | 1.08 | 6.48 |
| DC Vodka | .43 | 1.29 |
| GC Vodka | .60 | 1.80 |
| P Vodka | .97 | 2.91 |
| DC Rum | .47 | 1.41 |
| GC Rum | .60 | 1.80 |
| P Rum | .93 | 2.73 |
| DC Bourbon | .53 | 1.59 |
| GC Bourbon | .83 | 2.50 |
| P Bourbon | 1.03 | 3.09 |
As you can see, even if you purchase premium liquor your price per drink is much less than using dirt cheap beer. So who ever said you can’t have quality and quantity is completely wrong! Remember this only works when you drink at home.
Cheers & Drink Responsively!
Continuation to this article……
Liquor Over Beer Makes YOU Richer…
Over 21 only article ?involves alcohol
Can drinking alcohol increase how much money you get at the end of the month? According to The Journal of Labor Research, drinkers usually earn 10-14% more than non-drinkers. You could read the whole article a…
Twenty-three dollars for a 1.75L of vodka? I don’t consider myself a master connoisseur, but I can’t think of any vodka under $30 as better than “GC” grade, same goes for rum!
Interesting article.
I could name you about 12 premium vodka brands under 25 dollars. I will just give you a few. Polar Ice (canadian), Pinnacle (french), tanqueray (english/american), Blue Ice (american), and by far the best. MUCH MUCH MUCH better than your grey goose and belvi, Tito’s from Texas. I’m so serious. If you want some of the best vodka you will ever taste try Tito’s. It’s incredible.
I like both, but I question your assumptions:
1. It is more like 1.5 ounces of liquor per 1 beer which drastically changes your calculations.
2. You are using different economies of scale by comparing 12 packs (12 drinks) with 1.75 liters (60 drinks). Perhaps you should instead compare prices of cases or 30 packs of beer with 750ml bottles of liquor.
I bet the real numbers would close up quite a bit if you compared pricing for similar package sizing and used the correct comparison of alcohol content.
Liked the article though!
[…] Debt blog presents this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. Although I usually hate math, this post, over at eFipo, uses it to prove that folks who drink (liquor) earn more than teatotalers. […]