New Zealand: April 08, 2008 01:00pm


BEER will be short supply, more expensive and may taste different as climate change affects barley production, a scientist says.

Drought conditions in parts of Australia where malting barley was grown was likely to get worse, according to Jim Salinger of New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

Barley production in the main growing region of Canterbury in New Zealand - where brewing giant Lion Nathan gets about 70 per cent of its malted barley - would also be affected, the New Zealand Press Association said.

"It will mean either there will be pubs without beer or the cost of beer will go up," he said.

Malting barley production in Australia was likely to be hit hard in parts of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and NSW.

The dry areas of Australia would become drier and water shortages would get worse.

"It will provide a lot of challenges for the brewing industry," Dr Salinger said.

He said breweries could be forced to look at new varieties of malt.

Dr Salinger told the Institute of Brewing and Distilling convention in Auckland today that by 2100, the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases - measured in equivalent amounts of carbon dioxide - would be double, and possibly four times pre-industrial levels, leading to further climate warming.

"Most areas in Australia where malting barley is cropped are likely to experience producing declines," he said.


SOURCE

OK, I changed my mind. I now support the fight against global warming. But jeez, Fats, you didn't have to scare the shit out of me to do it.

No anything but beer! It's all I hold sacred.

And the best vineyards will be in British Columbia.

In order to save beer its imperative to legalize and start growing massive amounts of cannabis to combat the green house gasses.

This is the same kind of scare tactic the oil companies use to drive up fuel prices. Not to worry; there will always be beer, just as there will always be whores.

http://tinyurl.com/58y3b4

"Craft beer prices will climb:
Now there’s a shortage of hops and malts

A combination of some bad farming weather paired with a changing market has left the supply of hops, a key beer-brewing ingredient, drastically low. Craft breweries across the United States are starting to suffer from the shortage.

***

The shortage of hops and malts can be attributed to the forces of nature and a growing demand for ethanol. In 2006, Australia endured its worst drought to record, killing a large portion of their hops fields. Europe suffered the opposite problem and watched as their crops were destroyed by excess rain and hail storms.

The market changed as many crop farmers were enticed to abandon their hop crops (which often sold for less than production costs) and began growing corn to meet the large demand for ethanol. There was also more pressure on farmers to use their malt crops as a feed supply for livestock since all the corn was being used for other purposes.

All of these factors have severely reduced the availability of hops and other beer ingredients like malts.

Craft breweries, which depend on varied amounts of unique malts and hops for their brew, have to pay drastically inflated prices (an average of 400 percent more for hops) for their ingredients. As a result, they have to take actions such as using fewer hops in their beers, discontinuing types of beers and raising prices of beers to cover inflation costs."

Budweiser, using only rice and "corn-adjuncts" will remain unaffected...