Posted on 12/24/2007 11:04:32 AM PST by Zakeet
The average price of a pint of bitter in Britain's pubs could increase from around £2.20 to as much as £4 next year, the industry has warned.
The massive hike, which is also expected to affect cans bought from off licences, is due largely to increased prices of key ingredients barley and hops - in part because farmland is being turned over to environment-friendly biofuels.
But brewers are also suffering from rises in fuel costs and the price of the metals used to produce kegs and cans. Kegs are now so valuable that they have become a target for thieves, who stole 60 million this year to melt down for their metal.
Mark Hastings, director of communications at the British Beer and Pub Association, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Food prices have increased dramatically and that has affected, for us, the price of barley and hops, which have rocketed tremendously.
[Snip]
Mr Hastings said the price hike came against a general decline in British beer sales, with some 14 million fewer pints a day being served in pubs than in the past.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailyexpress.co.uk ...
Bad news. The good news? The energy to get rid of it won't change!
I brew 10 Gallons for 40 bucks.
Even Mega Mart swill costs more than that.
It IS less expensive.
Cheers,
knewshound
First time I went to England in the summer of 76 , a pint was 47p !
Don’t know what it means but bump!
No kidding... Have you priced milk and eggs recently? And as more and more farmland that was being used to grow food and livestock feed crops are switched over to growing crops for fuel, and as they're sent into the pipeline (literally) for fuel, the price of food will continue to rise, as will taxes for the subsidies.
Can someone please explain the insanity of growing crops for fuel, rather than food, and then having the taxpayers subsidise it... In effect, raising both the cost of food, plus taxes in order to make less food available?
Mark
I would LOVE to see this, but I don't think that it's going to happen. There's too much political capital invested in corn and ethanol production. Switchgrass converts quite nicely to butanol, which is far better at producing energy in internal combustion engines that ethanol, but ADM and the farm lobby doesn't really seem to be interested.
Mark
.
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.