Food & Drink

Manhattan and Queens (but not Brooklyn) are the most expensive places for beer

Cheers to cheap drinking in Brooklyn. Photo by Tim Donnelly
Cheers to cheap drinking in Brooklyn. Photo by Tim Donnelly

Have you ever wondered, as you popped a tab on a lukewarm Modelo Especial that set you back at least a buck fifty, whether it’s worth moving cross-country for cheaper beer? Well, the folks over at Nerd Wallet certainly did: they used a cost-of-living calculator to compare prices on six-packs of Heineken, and according to their calculations, at $12.63-a-pack, Manhattan is the worst place to be a beer drinker.

Queens also made a cameo on the most-expensive list, clocking in at $10.57-a-pack. Brooklyn, on the other hand, didn’t crack the top ten on either list, so it sounds like we’re pretty middle-of-the-road. I was once tragically tricked into buying an $8 Amstel Light at a bar in the Meatpacking District, so it’s no surprise that Manhattan tops the most expensive list. But it is strange not to see Brooklyn noted at either end of the spectrum. Do our bodega six-packs get no love? Are our cans any less overpriced than all other cans?

Then again, Nerd Wallet did only calculate the cost of Heineken, and had they been comparing, say, Black Label and whiskey shots at several fine dive bar establishments, perhaps Brooklyn would have had a leg up in one direction or the other. But hey, if Queens and Manhattan want to have all the expensive beer, they’re welcome to it. And if you’re wondering where the cheapest Heineken in America can be had, well, that’s in good old Carlsbad, New Mexico at $7.25 a pack:  peruse these Craigslist listings at your leisure.

[h/t The Atlantic Cities]

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