Posted on 01/26/2008 7:52:08 AM PST by DeaconBenjamin
Small brewers line up to pay premium prices for scarce ingredients
Double-whammy shortages of two main ingredients are threatening to send the price of beer significantly higher, just in time for the national drinking holiday known as Super Bowl Sunday.
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In September, Martin paid $4 for a pound for hops. By late October, he said, it was $50 a pound. Likewise, barley prices have almost doubled in the same period.
Just a few weeks ago, George Peterson, owner of Central Coast Brewery in San Luis Obispo, Calif., spent $160 to brew a batch of beer equal to eight kegs. Last week, he was spending a staggering $920 per batch.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
“....In my 50 + years of living in farm country I have yet to know a barley farmer.”
....there are several guys in my area (NC) that grow barley....I know, because I get barley straw from them...I wouldn’t call them barley farmers per se....they just grow it in their normal corn, beans, wheat rotation....if you home brewing guys need to find a farmer with barley, start with your county ag. extension agent....they’ll know all the farms in your area and if anybody might sell you some 50 lb bags full.
Inflation is getting a bit out of control Mr. Bernanke. I guess I’ll have to buy beer on the dips now.
Not volatile, effervescent.
On the other hand, what foodstuffs are more basic than bread and beer?
We need a Beer stimulus package and we need it now! There is no excuse for dragging our feet on this one. It’s a bloodbath over at the BrewThrough.
How do you define inflation?
How do you give rebates for rentals?
I gotta wonder if this story isn’t being milked for the most hyperbole.
There *was* a fire at a large warehouse in Washington state, that destroyed about 3 per cent of the domestic hop production. But my latest Northern Brewer catalog shows dozens and dozens of pelletized hops available for anywhere from $10 to $25 a pound. Not cheap, but obviously the article is using the most expensive, imported example they could find.
Anyone know the shelf life of DME? I did buy quite a bit in anticipation of higher prices. About 50 pounds or so.
Sounds like I’m growing the wrong crops here on the farm.I wonder if hops will thrive in northern Ohio?Barley will be a cinch.
What does Bud plan on doing with hops? I sure can’t hardly taste them in their *beer*. On the other hand, homebrews tend to be *overhopped* I think.
I fell in love with Hefe Weissen when I was stationed “over there”; and was buying them for 8 BUCKS a case of (20) twenty.
I have since bought everything required to brew my own, a 5 gallon propane boil pot, wort chiller, wyeast 3068, wheat malt DME, bottles, all kinds of stuff. I just need to get up the guts to make a few batches.
Inflation is always a monetary phenomenon. Higher prices aren’t necessarily inflation. Supply and demand, etc.
I am sure the big corporate beer producers like Budweiser are happy - the little guy goes out of business such as the brewpubs. I refuse to drink the big brand beer products - taste like crap.
B Knotts wrote:
“Barley prices were unchanged ($.90/lb for 2-row, $1.15/lb for domestic, $1.79/lb for import) at my local brew store. Hops were up a bit, but not all that much.”
Your homebrew store has high prices and you are not seeing reality as a result. Hops and barley are way up on the open market. I buy my grain from North Country Malt Supply - a major dealer - and I have seen a sack of Maris Otter go from $23.00 a bag to $39.43 a bag in only two years. Hops from Freshops have gone up substantially as well (and Freshops buys directly from the growers).
The facts are: Grain and hop prices are way up because more acreage is being devoted to corn (thank you ethanol freaks - let’s burn more of our food), and fuel costs for transport are through the roof.
All of that said, I’m glad I brew my own. Six pack prices are up to $9.00 for premium craft beers. I can still brew ten gallons for less than $20.00. (Unfortunately, that doesn’t count the cost of the system I built - which is now up to around $8-10K. My wife likes to remind me of that).
Grrrrrrr...
I just got my hands on 5 five-gallon buckets of wheat. I’m going to malt it myself and turn it into beer. I’ve also started stockpiling herbs and spices to make my own gruit...forget hops...who needs it. Wild rosemary, heather leaf, heather flower, yarrow, mugwort, sweet gale, spruce, pine, and grand wormwood.
There’s no tax on beer ingredients.
Bud is made from rice, miller is made from corn. I believe coors is also made from corn. They throw in just enough barley and hops to allow them to legally call it beer, otherwise they would be forced to call it “malt liquor”, or something like that. From what I understand, they dont use actual hops, but hop oil instead. It’s made from hops.
Shows how much BLS knows. My Rolling Rock just went from $4.99 to $5.19. Robbery!
I add honey to my beer wort. I think it’s good.
Well, when I get my tax “Rebate” in May, June, July, August,
after I’ve paid my taxes in April, I’m gonna go buy me some beer!
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