10 Beers That Aren’t Cheap but Are Truly Worth the Price

We're living in the golden age of craft beer, with over 9,500 breweries in the United States alone. No matter your tastes, there’s likely a perfect pint for you.

And while you may think that expensive brews don’t have quite the same prestige as liquor or wine, the purveyors on this list may convince you otherwise.

If you need to save money shopping but still want to enjoy a good beverage, the first beer is the least pricey on our list. Here’s a collection of rare and expensive beers worth spending money on.

Editor's note: Prices are subject to change and may vary by retailer.

Price: $40

This selection from Missouri-based Side Project Brewing is not outrageously expensive, but when was the last time you spent $40 on a bottle of beer? 

Oude du Blé — with its classy black label — may have your taste buds thanking you. Made from Missouri wheat saison and aged in French oak for 13 months, this beer has a deep complexity and a nuanced oaky flavor.

Pro tip: If you need to manage your money but still want to enjoy a good beverage, this beer is the least pricey on our list.

Price: $449.99

The appeal of beer isn’t usually the design of its bottle, but this selection from super-popular Massachusetts-American brewery Samuel Adams is one exception. 

Packaged in a beautifully ornate canister, this beer offers 28% ABV and notes of tart Balaton cherries. At just over $200, this highly rated beer is aged up to 28 years in a variety of barrels, giving it a unique composition.

Pro tip: If you’re really wild for Sam Adams, you could invest in their beer stocks, which may be rising in popularity.

Price: $500

Carlsberg is a Danish company renowned for its light beer, which is sold in distinctive light green packaging. In the 2000s, the company tried its hand at the luxury beer market by launching its Jacobsen Vintage line. 

This beer is aged over six months and contains notes of vanilla, caramel, oak, and prunes. It’s exclusive to Denmark and contains 21% alcohol proof. Each bottle is a work of art, containing one-of-a-kind lithographs by Danish article Frans Kannick.

Pro tip: Many expensive tequilas feature decorative bottles with beautiful art, notably Clase Azul Reposado bottles hand-painted by Indigenous artisans from a small Mexican village.

Price: $110

Sapporo is a beloved Japanese beer company, but its Space Barley brew is nothing like anything else. 

Although this one seems like an obvious marketing gimmick, there is no denying that it’s an incredibly cool offering. The barley used to make this beer spent five months aboard the International Space Station.

For a brew to be this outworldly, $110 may seem like a bargain, but it is very hard to get your hands on this cosmic beer. It was only sold in Japan with its proceeds going to charity.

Price: $20,000

Belgian blonde ales are renowned for lending themselves to easy drinking, but there’s nothing easy about this brew’s price tag. 

Then again, most blonde ales aren’t 55% proof either, and that’s exactly the ABV rating of this particular beer choice, which is made from nettles and juniper berries from the Scottish highlands.

This beer isn’t for those with a weak stomach. For one thing, the bottle is made from taxidermied animals, all of which were once roadkill. 

When it was first produced in 2010, this beer was touted as both the world’s strongest and most expensive. Its original run, consisting of only 12 bottles, sold out in only four hours.

The company reissued the beer again in 2016, this time with a much higher price tag of $20,000. You can’t buy it on their website anymore, but it’s worth keeping your eye out for auctions and private sellers (or for another re-issue of this iconic beer).

Price: $850

This San Francisco brew is pretty hard to come across, but you can expect to pay around $1,000 if you do. Its prestige is largely due to its status as a single-run brew, meaning its unique flavor is only available once. 

It’s brewed in the American Wild Ale style and features juicy cherry notes. Notably, it is one of the rare beers to hold the distinctive 100% rating on beer-rating website BeerAdvocate.

Pro tip: If you like American liquors, Coppersea Bonticou Crag Straight Rye Malt Whiskey, made in New York, is on our list of expensive whiskeys worth splurging on.

Price: $750-800

This illusive Belgian brew comes in at 8% ABV and can exclusively be found at a single bar in London called Bierdome. 

Heads up before you buy that plane ticket, though — this beer was only made in very small quantities, so there’s a good chance the bartender might be sold out or has raised the price if there is only a small stock left. 

This dark beer, which contains notes of anise and toffee, is aged for ten years before serving.

Price: $99

From Australia, the Crown Ambassador Reserve is rumored to be the country’s most expensive bottle of beer, and rightfully so, as there is so much to rave about.

This dark 9.6% beer has notes of amber and caramel and offers a fruity, hoppy taste. Its retail price is about $73, but if you’re intent on buying it, you should expect to pay even more.

Price: $100

BrewDog is at it again, this time with their imperial-style Sink the Bismarck. With an alcohol rating of 41%, it makes sense that this quadruple IPA is sold by the bottle. 

According to the brewers, this beer offers a spicy, fruity taste and, interestingly, a “full attack on your taste buds.” If that’s the kind of thing you’re into, you might be able to pick up a bottle of this for around $100.

Price: $4,350

Imagine owning a bottle of beer that has gone on more adventures than you have. That’s likely the case with this particular brew from Allsopp, which famously went on a 19th-century Arctic expedition. 

This beer, brewed in 1875 for a Welsh naval officer, is rumored to taste “sweet” with “hints of tobacco.” It’s hard for us to say ourselves because there is only one bottle out there, and it sold for $3,300 British pounds ($4,350 US dollars) at an auction.

Whether you are imbibing or collecting, beer lovers may also be interested in the producers as an investment avenue. Though sales were slightly down in 2020  the market is worth a staggering $94.1 billion dollars. 

If you’re searching for a smart investment, looking into beer stocks isn’t half a bad idea.