Time to get brewing!

More sad economic news: Smaller than average crops of both hops and barley will lead to an increase in the price of craft beer from smaller companies, and could lead to outright collapse of some microbreweries. A combination of poor harvests in Europe and the weak dollar have driven up costs of the ingredients, and also aluminum, steel for the kegs, and cardboard. Another contributing factor to the hops and barley shortages appears to be that farms are switching to the more profitable corn crop.

Large hop farms have driven the cost of hops down over the last 20 years, which has made farming hops on a smaller scale barely profitable. Furthermore, large corporations that make an entire line of spectacularly crappy products, such as Anheuser Busch, have contracts with hop and barley farms that lock in a specific price over a period of time, AND gives them first pick of the harvest. Although a beer like Budweiser has significantly less hops and barley than Bell's Oberon, there is much, much more Budweiser produced annually. Bell's recently announced that they were only able to secure about 60% of the Czech Saaz they need for this year's batch of Oberon, so they are experimenting with different varieties.

Even a larger craft brewer like Sam Adams is feeling the pinch, and they expect to charge more per six-pack this year and next. Most articles that I read forecasted a $1-3 increase per six-pack for most craft beers, although some brewers may elect to absorb the cost.

So what does this mean to us, the beer-drinking lobby? Brew your own! When we were in the beer supply the other day, the proprietor apologized for the higher cost of the hops ($4.50/2 oz.). However, I found a grower who will ship vacuum-sealed packs of freshly grown hops for $2 an ounce, so I figure we'll plan our next few batches and place an order. First up: Vagabond Gingered Ale! I think we'll get a brown going fast on the heels of that.

I got my info here, here, and here.