The worst crisis to ever hinder mankind!

unclehobart

unclehobart

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Beer drinkers beware: Shortage to boost costs
Undersupply of one key ingredient — hops — could impact flavor too

Terry Butler, brewmaster at Snipes Mountain Microbrewery and Restaurant, pours a beer in Sunnyside, Wash. Small brewers from Australia to Oregon face the daunting prospect of tweaking their recipes or experimenting less with new brews thanks to a worldwide shortage of one key beer ingredient and rising prices for others.

Fans of Snipes Mountain Brewery’s cloudy Hefeweizen relish the subtle wheat flavor of the bright, summery brew, and like beer drinkers everywhere, they know when their favorite brew tastes a little too hoppy or bitter.

Connoisseurs could be in for a surprise this year, and they may not be alone.

Small brewers from Australia to Oregon face the daunting prospect of tweaking their recipes or experimenting less with new brews thanks to a worldwide shortage of one key beer ingredient and rising prices for others.

Oh, and one other thing: Beer prices are likely to climb. How high is anybody’s guess. Craft brewers don’t have the means to hedge against rising prices, like their industrial rivals.

“I’m guessing, at a minimum, at least a 10 percent jump in beer prices for the average consumer before the end of the year,” said Terry Butler, brewmaster at central Washington’s Snipes Mountain.

Sales have been relatively flat in recent years among the country’s big three brewers — Anheuser-Busch Cos., Molson Coors Brewing Co. and SABMiller PLC. unit Miller Brewing Co — while small, independent brewers have experienced tremendous growth. The craft brewing industry experienced a 12 percent increase by volume in 2006, with 6.7 million barrels of beer. Sales among microbreweries, which produce less than 15,000 barrels per year, grew 16 percent in 2006.

Now the bright spot in the brewing industry is facing mounting costs on nearly every front. Fuel, aluminum and glass prices have been going up quickly over a period of several years. Barley and wheat prices have skyrocketed as more farmers plant corn to meet increasing demand for ethanol, while others plant feed crops to replace acres lost to corn.

A decade-long oversupply of hops that had forced farmers to abandon the crop is finally gone and harvests were down this year. In the United States, where one-fourth of the world’s hops are grown, acreage fell 30 percent between 1995 and 2006.

Australia endured its worst drought on record. Hail storms across Europe damaged crops. Extreme heat in the western United States hurt both yields and quality.

Big brewers can hedge against rising prices for raw ingredients and can negotiate better, longer-term contracts for ingredients, while smaller brewers generally are left with whatever is left.

Snipes Mountain saw its barley malt prices grow between 10-15 percent this year, and paid $12.35 per pound for Cascade hops, far beyond the $5.60 per pound allotted last year.

Those rising prices and, in some cases, shortages, may force Butler to rethink his lineup of 13 beers in the months ahead. He’ll also be tinkering with a Hefeweizen recipe that relies on Saaz hops, a mild variety popular with Bohemian pilsners, after severe weather in Europe dinged as much as 40 percent of the crop....[more]
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Fuking bastards! Hike oil if you must!... Censor TV... use the constitution for toilet paper... but LEAVE BEER ALONE!http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21491206/
 
Gato_Solo said:
I saw that. Doesn't bother me in the slightest...until next year, anyway. When I return from the desert, I'll just have to switch to other beverages such as rum, vodka, soju (if I can find it), or tequila. :D
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Dude... ALL grains are going up across the board... so unless you're drinking some kind of liquor based upon fermented fish or beef... then your prices are going up up up.
 
unclehobart said:
Dude... ALL grains are going up across the board... so unless you're drinking some kind of liquor based upon fermented fish or beef... then your prices are going up up up.
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Rum is basically distilled sugar, and is made from sugar cane. Vodka is from the humble potato, and Soju is from the sweet potato. ;)
 
Gato_Solo said:
Rum is basically distilled sugar, and is made from sugar cane. Vodka is from the humble potato, and Soju is from the sweet potato. ;)
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i used to think that too, but most vodka isn't from der potato. in fact potato vodka is often sold at a premium. i think it's almost any grain, that's just distilled as grain-neutral. and then gin is the same shit but with.... juniper berries or something? anyone?
 
2minkey said:
i used to think that too, but most vodka isn't from der potato. in fact potato vodka is often sold at a premium. i think it's almost any grain, that's just distilled as grain-neutral. and then gin is the same shit but with.... juniper berries or something? anyone?
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Yep. Juniper berries. As for Vodka, I thought there had to be tater in it to be called vodka.
 
Vodka can be distilled in a good many ways, from a great many substances, including wheat, rye, beets, corn, potatoes, and sugar cane. (In Russia, the Yukos oil conglomerate recently made headlines for marketing a vodka distilled from hemp seeds.) As a result, each brand has a distinct smell, flavor, aftertaste, and burn. ...from several different afficianado sites.


Personally, I knew that vodka came from non potato sources ever since I was 12. Back then I was watching a James Bond film... I think it was You Only Live Twice... where after a fight with guards in Japan somewhere, he poured a shot of some liquor from the in office bar of some bigwig. He winced, looked at the bottle, and said with disdain 'Siamese vodka?!'. From that point I actually read up on vodka production to see what was wrong with Siamese potatoes. Imagine my shock when I learned that less than 20% of vodka is actually from potatoes. Vodka can apparently be made from anything that will ferment... even old shoes.
 
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