Lion Index: The Price Of Beer In Colombo.

How much does a beer cost in Colombo? This is our survey of 22 places to find out.

The price of a Lion Beer can vary dramatically across Colombo. At the more working class bars its quite cheap, but at the posh ones it can be two to three times the sticker price. We did a survey of 22 places to see how much one of the big bottles (625 ml) would cost you around town. This is the second time we’re doing the survey, see Lion Index 2012.

view image

Note that certain places (marked with a *) do not sell 625 ml bottles, so we’ve scaled the prices for the pitchers/mugs accordingly. The base price of a 625 ml bottle at the supermarket is Rs. 170, but prices at bars range from Rs. 206 (Machang) to Rs. 537 (Gallery Cafe, Cheers) for the same amount of tipple.

Here’s the full table, below. We’ve also calculated what 10% service charge and 12% taxes will do to your bill, which in the latter places on this list can’t really be overlooked. Click on the headers to sort by that column

	Menu Price (Rs.)	Total (++)	Mark-Up	Price/ml
Machang *	208	253	38	0.33
Randoli	220	268	50	0.35
Ex-Servicemen’s	220	268	50	0.35
Station	250	305	80	0.40
Buba	290	353	120	0.46
O! Bars*	290	353	120	0.46
Mintage *	312	380	142	0.50
Park Street Mews	340	415	170	0.54
Manchester	350	427	180	0.56
Fort Cafe *	375	457	205	0.60
Colombo Courtyard	400	488	230	0.64
White Horse	400	488	230	0.64
Barefoot	450	549	280	0.72
Cricket Club	455	555	285	0.73
Harbour Room	465	567	395	0.74
Casa Colombo	470	573	300	0.75
Havelock Bungalow	475	580	315	0.76
In On The Green	475	580	315	0.76
On14 (OZO)	512	624	342	0.82
7 Degrees	520	634	350	0.83
Gallery Cafe	535	653	365	0.86
Cheers	535	653	365	0.86

The Cheap Places

So the table is pretty self explanatory, with the slightly dodgy bars like Randoli and Ex-Servicemen’s at the lower end of the spectrum. What’s awesome though is that Machang offers the cheapest beer out of all these places, and the best part is that it’s also a pretty great place to hang.

The Expensive Ones

On the other end we have the likes of Cheers, Gallery Cafe and 7 Degrees which generally offer more in terms of ambience, but then again you’re quite literally paying more than three times the retail price. If you’re looking to a grab a beer beach side, then you’re options are limited to the likes of Buba and The Station, but we definitely recommend the latter. The newer places like the Manchester and Mintage are also quite affordable.

The Good Deals

If it’s woman friendly places you’re looking for, we’d suggest Park Street Mews (which happens to be surprisingly affordable), Barefoot or Casa Colombo, which has a great one-for-one offer on all alcoholic beverages between 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm throughout the week.

Conclusion

While the retail price of beer has gone up by a bit, the price for a bottle at certain places haven’t scaled so judiciously. In a general sense the dodgier places offer cheaper beer, but

Machang

is an exception, with places like

The Station

and

Casa Colombo

also being decent choices, if you go at the right time.