The economy is hitting everyone hard – including small brewers who are worried about rising prices on hops. The solution? Grow your own.
As the costs of hops rise – and the supplies drop – small brewers are the ones that suffer. They don’t have the leveraging power of the larger brewers and are often forced to take “leftovers” – which doesn’t necessarily result in quality brew.
Some brewers are looking into producing their own hops instead of relying on hope suppliers. And why not? As we previously reported, hops are not terribly difficult to …read more

I’ve complained about this before, but I have to say, I’m getting really tired of hops.
Ok, so I’m not actually getting tired of hops per se, but I am quite tired of the idea that every beer, of every style, must be hopped to the hilt in order to be of any worth. In fact, I have to admit that I was almost thankful for the hop shortage, hoping it would lead to a somewhat more discriminate use by brewers. As far as I can tell, it hasn’t. In fact, the other day I picked up a variety pack …read more

All summer long, I’ve beaten myself up about not planting hops. I had previously posted a quick primer on hops vines that got me to thinking about planting some in the garden. And I didn’t. I had already planted three clematis vines, only one of which has taken off, leaving my garden with an ugly bare spot. Serves me right, I guess.
Next year? There will be hops.
Hops are pretty vigorous growers and not particularly picky. Today, on twitter, the enjoyable Jeff Louella posted that he had photos of his hops garden on his blog. …read more

Wow, I knew there were a lot of different kinds of hops, but this list really puts it into perspective. Keeping in mind that hops are the spice of beer, knowing the difference between a Saaz and a Cascade is like knowing the difference between sage and oregano. It’s particularly interesting to note how many of these are US varietals.
image from Wikipedia, public domain

I hate it when I read the description of a beer and I don’t know what it means. I figure this is usually the result of one of two things:
1, the person who wrote the description likes confusing me by using words to describe the beer that no one else would actually use because it makes them feel important; or
2, I still have a lot to learn about beer.
Part of the fun in appreciating wine or beer is understanding why drinks look or taste a certain way. Once you’ve figured this out, you can make good choices about …read more

I’ve talked about the shortage of hops and barley a few times now, but it’s probably more interesting to hear about it from someone who knows about it firsthand. This article in Flavorpittsburgh.com tells the tale of a grim future for highly hopped beers if the trend continues. According to the brewer at Pittsburgh’s tiny East End Brewing Co., hop prices have quadrupled and the scarcity of hops may lead to reformulation of Big Hop, that brewery’s most popular brew, before summer’s end. I’m sure the same calculation is going on in a lot of microbreweries across the country.
I suppose …read more

Wow, this is the second time I’ve written a nice thing about Boston Beer Company recently! The first time, I was thrilled to see Jim Koch taking over the old Rolling Rock brewery instead of building anew to expand capacity. Now they’ve decided to make hops available for brewers impacted by the shortage of hops. Information about the program is available on Boston Beer Company’s website. Now maybe they have some barley to spare as well.
image from wikipedia

It’s a little late in the game for a top ten list, but here’s an interesting post from the Brookstone beer bulletin listing some of the top beer stories from last year. As per my earlier post, the biggest news for beer lovers may be the short supply of hops and barley, followed by the loss of Michael Jackson.
In Philadelphia beer news, the possible loss of Yards tied with the opening of Dock Street (which I still haven’t managed to visit, check back next week). Hopefully we’ll keep both.
If you know of another story which deserves to be in …read more

As you may have guessed, I like beer. In fact, I like beer so much that our wedding reception was at the Stoudt’s brewery, and the guests threw hops as we left the church.
Now, UK beer aficionados have what sounds like an even better option. Shepherd Neame, one of the oldest breweries in the UK, now hosts weddings. I’m actually quite surprised that the oldest brewery in the UK only predates Yuengling by a mere 130 years, but the place looks quite nice from the pictures. My wife, the Anglophile in the family, tells me it’s in a nice …read more