Beer: the life-juice that is seemingly more essential to any college student’s daily diet than water itself.

However, as college students opting to take on massive amounts of debt without a steady source of income in the pursuit of further knowledge — cash is short. Sometimes, we’re even too broke to go out and buy ourselves a six-pack.

I know. The thought of not having enough money to purchase a beer is almost too much to bear.

Plus, the fact that stores downtown vary widely in their pricing doesn’t help the cause. Too often have I walked into a bottle shop expecting to spend $15 max and leaving wildly disappointed and $30 poorer.

That’s why we checked out five different beer stores downtown and compare the prices of four of their most common, cheapest beers available: Coors Light, Miller Lite, Natty, and Bud Light. All of the beers compared came in 15-packs of cans.

The results of our “study” are as follows:

Sharkies Bar and Thrifty Bottle Shop

Perhaps because Sharkies is really the only game in town on the east side of campus, the store is able to inflate their prices a bit more. Out of all five stores surveyed, Sharkies had the steepest prices.

• Coors Light: $16.00
• Miller Lite: $16.00
• Natty: $13.00
• Bud Light: $16.00

Highlights: Unlike many of the other bottle shops, Sharkies was fully stocked with four-packs of PBR Hard Coffee. Hard coffee is a necessity for any gameday morning, especially with all of these noon kickoffs coming up for Penn State football in the next few weeks.

In addition to the Hard Coffee, Sharkies also had variety packs of Mikes Hard Lemonade — something you don’t see too much of nowadays.

Brewsky’s Bottle Shop

The conveniently located, West Beaver Brewsky’s was one of the more expensive stores in State College. The price of its 15-packs were as follows:

• Coors Light: $15.50
• Miller Lite: $15.50
• Natty: $12.50
• Bud Light: $15.50

Highlights: In comparison to some of the other bottleshops, this store had plenty of White Claws up for grabs. Considering the nationwide White Claw shortage and Brewsky’s location in a college town, it was surprising to find 12-packs of the beverage so easily.

Of course, however, the price for a 12-pack was $22.75, which made purchasing a pack of White Claws a bit outside of my price range.

Sheetz

As an avid lover of Wawa, believe me, it pains me to say this: Sheetz has the best alcohol prices downtown. While the selection may be a bit more limited, the prices can’t be beaten.

• Coors Light: $10.99
• Miller Lite: $10.99
• Natty: $9.79
• Bud Light: $10.99

Highlights: Sheetz has moderately priced beers, which means if you’re looking to ball out a bit and buy something a bit nicer, you’ll want to swing by. Spiked Arnold Palmer six-packs are only $7.19 and six-packs of Shock Top are $8.59. We stan.

McLanahan’s

McLanahan’s had the most consistent pricing across all of the stores we checked out. While the price of Natty might have been a bit steep, all in all, the prices were close to that of Sheetz’s prices.

• Coors Light: $11.99
• Miller Lite: $11.99
• Natty: $11.99
• Bud Light: $11.99

Highlights: Clanny’s’ selection is simply unparalleled. The shop has IPAs on top of IPAs on top of IPAs. Plus, the wine selection is something only dreams are made of. Seriously, take a look for yourself.

Nittany MinitMart

Nittany MinitMart only reopened earlier this week, but it’s already started to make its mark. The store’s prices are much fairer than that of Brewsky’s.

• Coors Light: $13.49
• Miller Lite: $13.49
• Natty: $11.49
• Bud Light: $14.19

Highlights: Nittany MinitMart has Twisted Tea bags for only $19.99. I mean, does it really get any better than that? Plus, the new store downtown features a walk-in beer cave and local beers, including Otto’s Pub’s Apricot Wheat.

Here’s a closer look at how the different places compare: