Buying Beer on a Budget

Are you a college student who loves to drink lots of beer? Do you want to be able to purchase the maximum amount of drinkable beer possible for your given budget? If your answer is yes to either or both of these questions you are in luck! I have now had three solid years of beer drinking on a minimal budget, and am confident that the following tips will allow you to perform an additional shot gun, play that extra game of pong, and stay hydrated during the final game of Mario Kart without spending anymore money than you normally do.

1. Bigger stores = better prices

Do you really think that your local grocery/liquor store is able to give you the best price on alcohol? Think about it - these stores are not able to purchase alcohol in quantities that are anywhere near the same size as chain stores. Your local store will not get a deal a bulk from the manufacturer, and in turn will not be able to give you as good a price.

Bottom line: Even if the drive is a bit more of a ways, it is almost always worth making that extra effort for the sales at the larger store

2. A little good, a lot of less good

If you insist on buying decent beers for a party, you are arguably missing a very basic fact - after your third or fourth drink you don't really care what you are drinking, as long as its alcoholic. Very often when I am throwing a party, I buy 2-4 decent beers (Sam Adams, Corona, Blue Moon) for each person, and then buy about 6-8 cheaper beers (usually whatever 30's are on sale).

3. 40's and beer balls

My recent money saving discovery has been 40's and beer balls. If you are thinking about buying a cheap 30 rack for a group of friends, first take a look at how much it would cost to buy the equivalent amount of beer in 40's (1 30 rack is equivalent to 9 40's). If you find that purchasing 9 40's is cheaper than the 30 rack (which seems to be the case on occasion), you may want to consider having a 40 party! After all, if you have 40's you can play fun games like Edward 40 hands :)

Beer balls are also great deals for a small party (1 beer ball = 50ish beers). If you are having 10 or so people over, I'd definitely take a look at this option.

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I wish you the best of luck in your beer purchasing endeavors, and I hope that these tips will allow you to keep that party going for longer than you would have been able to otherwise (7 am instead of 4 am :)