You know how you can usually save a few cents when you buy store-brand coffee creamer or cookies rather than buying the name brand product, and they taste almost as good?

I am going to channel my genetically installed American consumer here and say I love to save money on stuff. It's intoxicating. But beer has always been a different story for me. It's like clothes — you get what you pay for. When it comes to barley pops, I like what I like and am willing to pay for quality. For me, the extra $1 is worth it.

Lately though, my beer-loving colleagues at the Statesman and I have been noticing that certain craft beer brands you can only find at Albertsons (Metolius) and Fred Meyer (Fire Station 5) seem to be suspiciously cheaper than the others. Hmmm.

I smell a story here. Where do these mysterious beers come from, and why do sixers hover around the $6 mark?

A quick Google search and a few phone calls reveal that the Oregon-based contract brewer SB Northwest makes those beers exclusively for Albertsons and Fred Meyer stores.

Federal laws say grocery stores can't create their own brands of beer — that is why there is no Albertsons Larry Johnston Golden Parachute Porter, for instance — but they can buy exclusive brands from contract brewers like SB Northwest through a distributor.

SB Northwest brewer Ron Seid said he got the idea a few years ago to provide exclusive brands to the big grocery chains.

"Quality is very important to me, and our cost to the retailer is a little cheaper compared to other brands, so it's good situation for (the grocery chains)," Seid said last week from Portland, where he contracts with the Portland Brewing Co. (now part of the Pyramid Brewing Co.) to make Metolius and Fire Station 5 beers. "The stores can make a little better (profit) margin than they can on the national brands."

"Say a (national brand) costs the retailer $5.24 a six-pack ... mine costs them about $4.80," Seid said. "If they sell it for the same price, they make a higher margin.

"We ask the stores not to go any lower than $5.99 a six-pack ..." he continued. "Our beers stand up to the other brands ... we are just cheaper because I have low overhead and a smaller sales force."

A recent trip to Albertsons and Fred Meyer revealed that both brands were on sale for $5.99 a sixer — a good price for craft beer, which generally retails closer to the $7-to-$8 range.

After talking to Seid, I decided to give his Metolius and Fire Station 5 beers a try. After all, savings are savings.

I picked up two sixers from each store and spent about $25 total for a case of craft beer, which is a pretty good deal. I passed them around to fellow beer enthusiasts in the Statesman newsroom (with strict orders to drink them at home).

The general consensus was that the beers were pleasant but less tasty alternatives to what they normally drink. Most said they liked the cost savings, but probably not so much that they would abandon their favorites. The Firehouse Number 5 Steam Pumper IPA got the highest marks; it's a decent example of the style, nicely balancing the malt and hop flavors with a pleasant bitterness. Sports scribe Chris Langrill said it's a good beer to drink a few of on a 90-degree Boise summer night, where a stronger version of the style might not go down so well. I agree — it's got quaffability.

I also kind of liked the Metolius Brookie Pale Ale, kind of pleasant and medium bodied classic Pacific Northwest pale ale which went really well with some quesadillas I ate for dinner. Michael Deeds told me that for the price, he also liked the Brookie Pale Ale, although he still wonders why such beer isn't sold for $4.50 a sixer.

I also bought the Fire Station 5 Fire Hydrant Hefeweisen and Metolius Golden Stone Amber Ale, which our newsroom really didn't like so much. Night cops reporter Heath Druzin drank the hefe and said he might as well drink a Budweiser.

Langrill wasn't very enamored with the Golden Stone Amber, but said it might function as a good training brew — one that might set typical American beer drinkers on a "journey to microbrew enlightenment," where they ultimately find a better beer.

I didn't find any of the Metolius or Fire Station 5 beers exceptionally good or bad — they were all pleasant enough that if someone threw any of them to me at a barbecue this summer, I would gladly imbibe a few. I also give the companies credit for a cool idea.

But in general, while the cost savings are nice, I don't drink enough beer anymore for that to be a big issue. I'll keep paying the big prices for big flavor.