If you’re going to have your apartment invaded and trashed by students you’ve probably never seen this St. Patrick’s Day, at least try to spend the least amount of money as possible.
- Brian Merlos
- Peter Brezezinski, an employee of Village Corner, stands next to the cheapest quarter barrel keg on campus: Busch Light, which costs $32.50. (SAID ALSALAH/Daily)
For interested party hosts, a half-barrel of the ever-classy Heileman’s Old Style beer is sold at the Diag Party Shoppe on State Street near East William Street for the bargain price of $49 – $5 less than Milwaukee’s Best, which, at Village Corner, has the second cheapest price for a keg sold near campus.
Diag Party Shoppe owner Jerome Kamano said he sells between 20 and 30 kegs of Old Style per week. He said that for most students, price is the most important factor when it comes to booze.
“They are students who usually want the more affordable keg,” he said. “Most of them only want it to get drunk and have fun, especially during the football season.”
For students taking it slow with a quarter barrel, inebriation can be achieved for a little more than what it costs to spend a night at the movies.
Village Corner, a grocery store near the corner of South Forest and South University Avenues, sells quarter barrels of Busch Light for $32.50 – about $7 cheaper than most other campus grocery and liquor stores.
A Village Corner employee, who declined to be named because the store’s policy forbids workers from talking to the media, said students who buy kegs are generally looking for value and allow quality to take a backseat to quantity, she said. She said Village Corner managers mark up the prices of kegs only slightly because their main objective is to get students in the door.
“A chain reaction occurs when students come in to buy the kegs – they would tend to get ice and cups too,” the employee said.
LSA freshman Vanessa Nunez said University students’ standards are low when it comes to alcohol. For the most part, all that matters is that it gets the job done.
“From my experience at least, it seems like anything that is cheap, fast and will get you drunk will work for us students,” she said.