Posted on 10/29/2008 5:15:38 PM PDT by anonsquared
Brewers cleverly conquer shortage of hops just in time to get the season's beers on the shelves
Early this year, brewers and beer drinkers (and beer writers) fretted about a worldwide shortage of hops, a key ingredient in beer.
Prices went up $1 per six-pack – and higher. Brewers talked of experimenting with alternative flavoring products. Some wondered if they would need to eliminate hoppy beers altogether.
But now, shelves are filled with aggressive fall seasonals – ales and marzens and pilsners boasting impressive hoppiness.
What happened?
Community.
Craft brewers are trading hops, letting smaller brewers piggyback on large hops contracts and, sometimes, just helping a fellow brewer out.
“It's a pretty small industry, and just about everybody out there knows each other,” said Brian Dunn, owner of Denver's Great Divide Brewing Co. and maker of Fresh Hop Pale Ale, one of the fall's hottest brews. “A lot of people were put in a jam.”
Hops are pinecone-shaped flowers that give beer their flavor and bitterness. They are especially prominent in robust beers, such as IPAs and porters. But a drought in Australia and excessive rains in Europe dramatically thinned worldwide supply.
The shortage left brewers scrambling. One of the industry's biggest craft brewers, Samuel Adams, set the helpful tone this spring by releasing 20,000 pounds of hops in a sharing program for those small brewers.
At the Great American Beer Festival this month, brewers compared inventories and made hops exchanges, said John Lyda, brewmaster of Asheville's Highland Brewing Co. Lyda found 8,000 pounds of much-needed Chinook hops from an old friend who is now a supplier. He returned the favor by letting a small brewer piggyback on one of Highland's hops contracts.
Said Great Divide's Dunn: “We understand it's good for everybody to have good beer out there.”
“Samuel Adams, set the helpful tone this spring by releasing 20,000 pounds of hops in a sharing program for those small brewers.”
Samuel Adams is sharing the hops.
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
hops ping!
No problem. No problem at all. I’m just happy to be helping out the small brewers because I was once a small brewer myself!
AMEN!
Good God, no! My IPA!!!
Prices went up $1 per six-pack – and higher.
OOPS - I saw "$1 per six-pack," and wondered what planet they were talking about. I've never seen beer priced that low...
;>)
Thanks for pinging knews_hound! I was in the process of going back through my old posts trying to remember who to ping for brew, but you beat me to it. (Note to self: post THEN drink)
Thanks for sharing this inspiring story. Good beer is a sign of a civilized people.
No problem... knews_hound has the Home Brew list. Someone else has the Beer list. Not sure who that is.
Fisher’s beer, when I lived in Calif., sold for 0.79 per
6-pack. I drank it and liked it, a lot.
BEST BEER IN THE WORLD - LONGTRAIL HEFEWEISEN (out of Vermont) It will make your taste buds cry - until you get so drunk you forget why you are crying.
Alcohol, the cause
of and solution to
all of life’s problems.
Homer Simpson
You foam within our glasses,
You lusty golden brew,
Whoever imbibes takes fire from you.
The young and the old sing your praises,
Here’s to beer,
Here’s to cheer,
Here’s to beer!
From the opera, The Bartered Bride by
Bedrich Smetana, 1866
Payday came and with it beer.
Rudyard Kipling
24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case.
Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Stephen Wright
An Irishman is the only man in the world
who will step over the bodies of a dozen
naked women to get to a bottle of stout .
(Unknown)
If boobs produced beer,
the kids would have starved.
Dennis Liechty
Some of my state’s history...
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/WI/WI-idx?type=HTML&rgn=DIV1&byte=255942
many thanks for the good knews ping.
There's nothing like fresh, home grown hops used in beer you've made yourself.
L
When I was a 2nd year law student, a few guys I knew in law school and business school started seriously talking about starting up their own craft brewery in upstate New York. One of the guys was a Seneca Indian, so he qualified for some pretty sweet Federal and tribe business development loans and grants.
Nothing ever came of it, since the business and legal markets were so hot at the time that we were all getting multiple job offers. But, I wonder how it might have ended up for us?
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.