And even though in my blog I credited Mr. Brewer’s report in the Pi Press, I should have credited MNBeer.com — because you’re in my RSS reader, and that’s where I first saw the Pi Press story. So thanks for the tip! (and the great work. I dig the site)
Im scared! “at Surly, they are over the top with hops, so this is really going to hurt them”.
Will it even help if everyone goes out and buys a bunch of Surly, FE or Summit when it sounds like it isnt so much the price that is the problem, but the availability of the hops?
Trav: Surly told me they have their hops contracted for the next year, so they will not be out of supply. They still don’t have the exact price locked in, is my understanding.
Surly’s current problem is that demand outpaces supply. So they can probably get away with a price hike without much pain. Other brewers aren’t in that spot.
Great report on a less than desirable situation. Does anyone know if there’s a remedy for the shortage? Or should we expect our favorite beers to increase in price and decrease in hops content for the next 3-4 years?
Being in the position of starting a new brew pub it is certainly scary. I have hops for this coming year, but beyond that is keeping me up at night. Price increase?-yes, not sure about a decrease in hop usage. I’m definately rethinking my ideas for huge hop beers.
Could be one of those points in history when new styles are born.
Ahhhhh, two people I would like to talk to MNBeer and WCCO……. I live and die by my RSS feeds, but rarely do I get notification IN the RSS feed that the feed address has changed. It is only after unusual lengths of inactivity do I search out the NEW RSS address…… i got burned today by wcco, and within the last few by mn beer 🙁
anyway, thanks for the report Jason. and thanks for the great site mnbeer.
RSSyabuddy: Yep, wcco relaunched our site, and changed ONE RSS feed, and that messed me up too. The old “top stories” feed is now a “local news” feed. http://wcco.com/local/resources_rss.xml
My blog feed got messed up too. It’s here for now but it’ll be moving in a couple weeks. We’re going to send out a message on the old feed this time, to warn people.
Is there a remedy to the shortage? Well, we can hope that mother nature is a bit more forgiving next year. One thing that everyone is failing to report is that hops in the US have been drastically underpriced for the past 10 years. When you could buy a pound of Cascades for $1.80 a pound 3 years ago, what exactly did you assume the farmers who were going broke growing them would do? In Germany, they were already paying $15-$20 a pound for hops. They aren’t even aware of a price increase.
The situation will most likely right itself; just don’t expect to see cheap hops anymore–just like you don’t expect to see gas under $2 a gallon. It’s just not going to happen.
Decrease in hop content? Well, you can’t really taste any difference above 60 IBU. As an industry, brewers will have to get smarter about how they use hops. The malt issue is way more serious looking into the future.
And even though in my blog I credited Mr. Brewer’s report in the Pi Press, I should have credited MNBeer.com — because you’re in my RSS reader, and that’s where I first saw the Pi Press story. So thanks for the tip! (and the great work. I dig the site)
Great reporting, Jason. Thanks for spreading the word (and for the “Omar Ansari is furious” in-joke).
Support your local brewers. Let’s keep Surly and Flat Earth in business!
Im scared! “at Surly, they are over the top with hops, so this is really going to hurt them”.
Will it even help if everyone goes out and buys a bunch of Surly, FE or Summit when it sounds like it isnt so much the price that is the problem, but the availability of the hops?
Just wait, the new Surly Gruit is coming….
Trav: Surly told me they have their hops contracted for the next year, so they will not be out of supply. They still don’t have the exact price locked in, is my understanding.
Surly’s current problem is that demand outpaces supply. So they can probably get away with a price hike without much pain. Other brewers aren’t in that spot.
Great report on a less than desirable situation. Does anyone know if there’s a remedy for the shortage? Or should we expect our favorite beers to increase in price and decrease in hops content for the next 3-4 years?
This would be a great time for some usuals like Dave or Todd to jump in…
Being in the position of starting a new brew pub it is certainly scary. I have hops for this coming year, but beyond that is keeping me up at night. Price increase?-yes, not sure about a decrease in hop usage. I’m definately rethinking my ideas for huge hop beers.
Could be one of those points in history when new styles are born.
Ahhhhh, two people I would like to talk to MNBeer and WCCO……. I live and die by my RSS feeds, but rarely do I get notification IN the RSS feed that the feed address has changed. It is only after unusual lengths of inactivity do I search out the NEW RSS address…… i got burned today by wcco, and within the last few by mn beer 🙁
anyway, thanks for the report Jason. and thanks for the great site mnbeer.
Aw crap. Sorry. I’ve been having some issues with the permalinks, a WP plug-in and double posts… didn’t even think that it might be affecting things.
RSSyabuddy: Yep, wcco relaunched our site, and changed ONE RSS feed, and that messed me up too. The old “top stories” feed is now a “local news” feed. http://wcco.com/local/resources_rss.xml
My blog feed got messed up too. It’s here for now but it’ll be moving in a couple weeks. We’re going to send out a message on the old feed this time, to warn people.
There is also a news story about brew over on Kare 11. Its getting lots of coveage anyway!
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=269543
Is there a remedy to the shortage? Well, we can hope that mother nature is a bit more forgiving next year. One thing that everyone is failing to report is that hops in the US have been drastically underpriced for the past 10 years. When you could buy a pound of Cascades for $1.80 a pound 3 years ago, what exactly did you assume the farmers who were going broke growing them would do? In Germany, they were already paying $15-$20 a pound for hops. They aren’t even aware of a price increase.
The situation will most likely right itself; just don’t expect to see cheap hops anymore–just like you don’t expect to see gas under $2 a gallon. It’s just not going to happen.
Decrease in hop content? Well, you can’t really taste any difference above 60 IBU. As an industry, brewers will have to get smarter about how they use hops. The malt issue is way more serious looking into the future.