D'oh!

Shortage of ingredients may mean higher beer prices.

Comments

[barry]

I think craft brewers will start discovering the meaning of price elasticity of demand if we get into $10 6 packs.

[Joe]

Today's Michael Bauer column talked about breaking the $10 cocktail barrier. One person opined that cocktails were riding the coattails of higher wine prices. Perhaps beer will slide in there too, and we'll be left with just drinking water and soda pop.

[peetoteeto]

Barry - could be. or some brewers may experiment with lower-hopped "session" ales to keep the cost of goods down.

And are you claiming that there's a substitution effect for beer? That $10 a sixer might get you to buy, er, wine? I mean, I've read some crazy things on blogs before, but this one takes the cake.

Okay, in all seriousness...breweries that buy off the spot market or are in long-term hop and malt contracts are in good shape. It's the new guys and the more isolated, smaller breweries who are having a hard time obtaining raw materials. Some are SOL right now. Thankfully, the locals all seem to be in good shape, including Triangle, who has plenty of supply of the particular hops they rely on.

[Joe]

Well, I'm glad to know the locals are ok. If brewers want to conserve hops, maybe we'll see a rash of Scottish-style ales, which IMO wouldn't be so bad. :)

[barry]

i think that the market for "high end" beers is very discretionary. if i have a choice between Yuengling black and tan on sale for 8 bucks a twelve pack, or the new flavor of the month chocloate stout at $10.50 a six pack, and my ARM is getting ready to reset 2 1/2 points higher, i may very well say that the Yuengling is a good deal.

What bothers me the most right now is that i made a conscious decision not to brew until the drought is over. With all the cleaning and sanitizing and boiling, i figure 5 gallons of homebrew uses about 20 - 25 gallons of water. So just when beer prices go up, i'm gonna be short of the good stuff.

Maybe i'll break down and brew one batch of a particularly high gravity winter ale in the next two weeks. Let's hope for some rain.

[Joe]

Crap: I hadn't thought of the water situation locally being another shortage WRT beer. But you're right. When I used to homebrew, I'm sure we used an insane amount of water. It seemed like I was in the kitchen all day over the sink, cleaning and cleaning.