Posted on 11/01/2017 7:16:44 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
First it came for the wine. Now, climate change is set to put a damper on the world's supply of beer.
Small breweries in the Pacific Northwest are struggling with a shortage of hops, a key ingredient in beer. Washington, Oregon and Idaho grow almost all the hops in the country, according to the US Department of Agriculture, and those states have seen increasingly harsher droughts over the past few years.
Two years ago, an unusually warm winter led to widespread drought in Washington's Yakima Valley, a situation that could repeat itself this year. Scientists say these warm winters will likely become standard in another 50 years.
"We are reaching this kind of tipping point," said NASA climate scientist Joshua Fisher. "What we've been used to in terms of how much rain we're going to get and how plants grow is no longer the norm."
Dozens of breweries have signed on to a "Brewery Climate Declaration," agreeing to take steps to limit climate change such as using renewable energy sources in their production process.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
“GMAFB”...hmmm...”General Mather Air Force Base”??
Here in central VA we’re over-run with brew-pubs and they’re all producing over-hopped IPA’s. A balanced IPA is a great drink but stuffing nine times as much hops as you need is crazy.
They could easily cut the hops in these “craft beers” in HALF, and the result would be a better product.
Has anyone besides me noticed that many of these “microbrews” are bitter, hoppy, little potions that bear NO resemblance to real BEER?
Just sayin’.
Budweiser has a bunch of farms growing Hops at the Colorado River on the California side between Needles and the Avi Casino. It is 125 Plus in the Summer and in the 20’s in the Winter.
About changing climate....?
With this IPA fad, they’ve been overhopping beer for the past five years or so. A shortage of hops will hopefully put an end to that.
LOL...thats exactly what I was thinking! I hate hoppy beer.
It’s called weather. It changes. Always has. Always will.
They are just taking the top 100 search items from phones & PCs and trying to connect “climate change” to each and every one...
THIS white person started thinking a few years ago, when “climate change” was deemed responsible for the misery in every black country (both in Africa AND the Caribbean) - and “industrialized” (read: white/Asian) countries should compensate them for it.
It is basically a means to get the food, clothing, and shelter formerly provided by “massa” without actually doing any work...
Thanks! I feel so VALIDATED! :-)
Give me an American Bikers’ Brew over a “Rosehip, Mango, and Barley IPA” any day of the week! LOL! :-)
I know these stories are just BS for post-Christian Americans seeking a cause to give purpose to their lives, while convincing them to accept a lower standard of living. At this point if I watched the sun melt the Earth I wouldn’t believe in “climate change”.
You make that sound like it's a bad thing.
Actually, I believe that advent of aggressive DUI arrest and prosecution, the lowering of legal BAC levels, and harsh penalties has led to the rise of craft breweries. Now, it's pretty clear when you go out, you can only have one or maybe two beers. So, Stalin's maxim "quantity has a quality of its own" no longer applies to beer drinking. If you can only have two beers, they better be good.
So yeah, I have become something of a beer snob now. I cannot drink Bud or Coors as I once did. They are awful. And because you can't get away with drinking five of them now, their marketing theory of "After three, who cares?" is no longer valid.
Having said that, yes, there is a lot of crappy craft beers out there. All the hoppy IPAs are a total beer fad and need to just go away. I like brown and amber beers. Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland makes the best amber and Oktoberfest beers I have ever had. Yes, they are part of the "global warming" fad and strut around about how they are so ecologically friendly. Fine, I don't care as long as the beer is good.
“No mention of the huge increase of micro breweries and the increased demand for WA hops? “
Beer growth is insane. Western NC has over 60 breweries. Asheville with a population of 83,000 has 30 of them.
One of the shows on Medieval England said that the local beer at the time was hopless, with hops eventually being imported from the Netherlands, iirc.
Well, I feel the opposite. I love it! It’s a great time to be alive if you love beer. We’re experiencing an explosion of experimentation which has to be a good thing! Sure there’s some that I wouldn’t have again...but I’d rather see choices. It’s much better than in the past with only having beers that had to be drank while still almost freezing, otherwise they’re undrinkable.
Plus, it's probably hogwash being spewed as an excuse to raise prices on the products. It has been done before...and not all that long ago.
Drought? We had a very wet winter last year, and this year may be similar. The Boise river was above flood stage until late July. Our irrigation water was shut off only a couple weeks ago. This sure doesn’t look like drought to me!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.