Would You Pay $24 for 32 Ounces of Beer?

32 ounces of beer to go is often known around Portland as a grumbler or growlette, but whatever you call it, it's half of your standard 64-ounce growler. With that in mind your initial answer to that question might be, "hell no!" Without any context my reply would probably be something similar.

Today my favorite watering hole is holding their Christmas Eve Eve celebration with an amazing 10-tap lineup, with a few more special kegs waiting in the wings. During the course of my Eve Eve drinking I overheard that the bar would be willing to fill grumblers for $24. That's in line with the special beer pricing for the event, $3 per 4 ounce pour.

As good as many of these beers were I'm still not sure I'd pay that price for most of them. But there was one beer that I was severely tempted to lay down that kind of cash for. It's a 9+% barleywine from an East Coast brewery that does not distribute to this market. Besides being delicious, it's a rare find out this way and I'm not even sure what kind of favors had to be called in to get it.

In that same vein was a posting from a Minnesota brewery last week that mentioned they had what I think is probably my favorite beer of all time, a 14% old ale, available once again. While I doubt they were offering it in anything other than a glass, a pint if you're lucky, you can bet that if I could buy a 32-ounce of grumbler of it for $24 I wouldn't give it a second thought.

So what do you think? Is $24 for 32 ounces outrageous? Or are there beer(s) out there you'd be willing to fork out that kind of dough for (whether or not it would actually be possible)?