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Bitter News For Beer Drinkers: Hops Prices Pushing Up Cost

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 1, 2008

TAMPA - It's Super Bowl weekend, and that means people are out buying beer.

Beer drinkers better enjoy their brews. They'll soon have to pay more for it – especially if they prefer craft beer.

A global shortage of hops, combined with a mark-up on malted barley, is pushing up prices of all beer and threatens the fate of the brewpubs and microbreweries that can't afford to lock in prices on long-term contracts with suppliers.

Besides yeast and water, the traditional components of beer are malted barley and hops, which add the bitter tang. There's a 10- to 15-percent shortfall worldwide of hops, and the cost has gone up by as much 400 percent, said Julia Herz, a spokeswoman for the Brewers Association, a Colorado-based trade group. Malted barley, although easier to find, has doubled in price in the past year.

The shortage and higher prices are expected to last at least through this year and are blamed largely on a shift by farmers to grow corn, which is more profitable now because of the demand for ethanol, Herz said. Compounding the issue, barley farmers in Europe had a bad growing season last year because of inclement weather.

Some local breweries and brew pubs say they're passing some of that cost on to consumers. Though many breweries have not raised prices yet, two local brewers said they are charging more: one's adding 25 cents a pint; the other is charging 10 percent more.

But Super Bowl Sunday isn't actually the biggest day of the year for beer sales. Memorial Day tops the list. Here's a ranking of the holiday or event with the most sales. The information is from ACNielsen and the Beer Institute:

1. Memorial Day

2. July 4

3. Labor Day

4. Christmas

5. Easter

6. Thanksgiving

7. Super Bowl Sunday

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