tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32412760.post4174060666252021916..comments2023-06-16T11:59:53.479-04:00Comments on Hoosier Beer Geek: A Beer Blog for Indiana, from Indianapolis: 2009 State of the Six Pack - Part 1Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17412784462353586629noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32412760.post-58654268218019196652009-01-07T10:11:00.000-05:002009-01-07T10:11:00.000-05:00There are still some hops unavailable. The costs ...There are still some hops unavailable. The costs skyrocketed for those without contracts. Major changes were made to recipes ALL over to accomodate the loss of hop stock. That pretty well sums up the result of the hop shortage -- pretty major and not blown out of proportion in my mind either. But as was stated, brewers are resourceful, and thanks to there being a billion strains of hops, regular beer-drinking folks hardly noticed.<BR/><BR/>And I'll bet there were even some hop varieties in there that were "re-discovered." That, my friends, is the price we pay, and the result in fact isn't so bad.j . j .https://www.blogger.com/profile/09001986729410659816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32412760.post-8584488087656782102009-01-06T23:20:00.000-05:002009-01-06T23:20:00.000-05:00I guess defining how severe the "Hop Shortage" end...I guess defining how severe the "Hop Shortage" ended up being would be relevant to what you heard would happen as a end result. For me more than prices going up (which they obviously did for breweries that weren't already locked into very large contracts), there was quite an initial concern that many brewers would have to seriously alter recipes. Even more worrisome was that some craft brewers would not be able to produce various types of beer because of the lack of certain hops. As far as I'm aware, this really didn't end up happening that much. <BR/><BR/>I also know many of the breweries took hits from the hop prices, but they did as well on the price of barley which has went up substantially over the last few years. And lets face it, some of those costs were and still are getting passed down to the consumers. And yes, home brewers do get the short end of the stick in these situations.Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02506138590620524434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32412760.post-82109508600995404812009-01-06T23:10:00.000-05:002009-01-06T23:10:00.000-05:00I think that the entire industry reacted very well...I think that the entire industry reacted very well to the hop shortage. Brewers changed up their recipes to make use of cheaper, more plentiful hop varieties. More expensive and rare hops were conserved and used where absolutely necessary. As a result, prices didn't spike quite as much as predicted and we were still able to have a ton of huge hoppy beers. Go team?rodneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06280976642258884193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32412760.post-81762600665509772492009-01-06T22:16:00.000-05:002009-01-06T22:16:00.000-05:00the hop shortage was no blown out of proportion. ...the hop shortage was no blown out of proportion. i think a lot of craft brewers took financial hits and only passed part of it on to consumers. i know homebrewers got hit hard. yeah, we are the bottom of the food chain, so we feel it most, but hops skyrocketed to 500 percent in some cases. <BR/><BR/>hopefully everything will settle down in the next two years. the 2008 harvest was pretty robust, and barring any other warehouse fires or weird-ass weather, this years should be decent as well. i'm sure some breweries got roped into some unfavorable hop contracts during the height of the shortage, so that'll take a while to work itself out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32412760.post-77779120124108171722009-01-06T16:50:00.000-05:002009-01-06T16:50:00.000-05:00I have to agree that the "Hop Shortage" was somewh...I have to agree that the "Hop Shortage" was somewhat blown out of proportion. In fact I seemed to notice more Harvest/Wet Hoped ales available this year than the previous. Some hop heavy recipes might have been tweaked, but as far as I'm aware one of the only brews (available in Indiana) that was a casualty of the shortage was Founders Devil Dancer.<BR/><BR/>As for the price increases, I think we've all noticed those over the past year. It sucks even more here in Indiana considering we pay several dollars more for the same beer you can get in Michigan.<BR/><BR/>And regarding craft beer sales, if anything we've seen an increase of new product over the past year. This has to be a good sign. Moylan's and Victory are two out-of-state breweries that have been added for sale, and I believe we're getting a few more additions in '09.Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02506138590620524434noreply@blogger.com