In Food Delivery Fight, May the Best Brews Win

War is coming, Bay Area denizens.

And, if the tech journal bombast proves true, we’re in for a bare-knuckled showdown of epic proportions. No, we aren’t being invaded or, to the best of my knowledge, on the brink of a zombie apocalypse. The gathering firestorm headed our way is over bread, milk, and eggs.

More specifically, which company will dominate the on-demand delivery of said groceries to our doorsteps. Scrappy local startup Instacart? Or online mercantile titan Amazon.com’s new-to-us AmazonFresh? (I know, when has the #SFProblems hashtag ever been more appropo?)

Plenty of digital ink has already been dedicated to illuminating differences in price and business models between the competitors in this grocery service grudge match. But the scribes of Silicon Valley have ignored the tastiest and most important question of all: Which seller offers better craft beer?

Yes! We can get dozens of varieties of craft beer same-day delivered to our homes here. I’ll give all you Bay Area readers a second to celebrate — and the rest of you a moment to Google San Francisco rents and congratulate yourselves on your practical and sustainable life choices. Everyone finished? Good. Moving on.

To determine which service is more likely to see craft beer drinkers in their virtual checkout line, I did a painstaking and highly scientific comparative analysis of both the AmazonFresh and Instacart websites. (FYI, I consider counting “scientific.”) I reviewed delivery time, the number of beers available, and the varieties of brand, origin, and packaging options on offer. Here’s what I found out:

Delivery times:

AmazonFresh – Two days (in time for the weekend!)

Instacart – Same day/next day (in time for dinner!)

Number of beers:

AmazonFresh – 23

Instacart – 176, plus 25 more the site lists as “frequently out of stock”

Note: Instacart clearly gains from the strength of Whole Foods’ beer program on this one. Where AmazonFresh sources its own groceries, Instacart sends personal shoppers to purchase your order from Whole Foods or two other San Francisco grocery chains.

Brand Variety:

AmazonFresh – 18 brands

Instacart – 94, not counting the sometimes-out-of-stock beers

Beer Origins:

AmazonFresh – 1 NorCal brewer represented, 5 US craft brewers, 12 imports

Instacart – 20 NorCal brewers represented, 28 US craft brewers, 31 imports, 15 big labels

Packaging Options:

AmazonFresh – Bombers only

Instacart – Bombers, 6-packs, 12-packs

So, not a tough call, right? Instacart’s 200+ beers – including some personal faves – to Amazon’s 23? I’d say that’s a decisive victory for Instacart. (Not to mention, the company’s delivery people are really awesome and will carry your groceries into your kitchen for you.)

But you don’t have to be Sun Tzu to realize it’s too early in this fight to count out Amazon, which launched its service in San Francisco about a week ago. Shoppers in Amazon’s hometown of Seattle, where grocery delivery launched five years ago, can choose from 187 different brews. I’ve got to think a selection expansion is in our future.

Either way, it will take a while to determine which company will come out on top. And as the delivery war rages on, the true victors are the Bay Area’s craft beer drinkers.