hard times for the beer belly

I want to talk to guys about something very serious today. What reality!? Well even as drinkers we need to face facts sometimes.
There is a serious problem among the drinking community today. I am talking about the world-wide hops shortage. That is affecting beer drinker’s world wide

I learned about this yesterday when I went into Wilbur’s to get my bi-weekly beer. As of last year erratic weather combined with a rising demand for ethanol has sent the hop down a scary road.

First the weather. Last year Europe one of the world largest (and best) hop buckets took an extremely wet summer; molding most of the crop. At the other side of the spectrum and the world, Australia took a heavy drought which killed off much of its hop crop.

Closer to home many Oregon hop growers are facing a hop-killing diseases that doesn’t show until about two generations in and according to some in the industry is being spread by the harvesters cutting blades according to a home brewer and Wilburs employee.

The second issue is coming from the high demand of corn to produce ethanol. The higher pay-offs and quicker turnaround on crops has led many hop farmers to uproot their crops.

The affected—the brewers and the drinkers. If you have noticed beer prices have risen in the past months and are feared to go up more.

It’s a truly sad time for beer because in recent years brewers have begun to push the traditional boundaries of beer and this hit has hot them hard. The next summer and winter might determine the future of the micro-brewer in America, who doesn’t have the large corporate backing of large American beer giants.