[Twilight]

£4 a pint? Most Londoners wouldn't bat an eyelid.

It is all a silly discussion anyway, people are going to make sure they have money for beer whatever it costs. Beer isn't going away. It has made it through every bottleneck (hic) since recorded history began. In fact, we only started recording history when we sat down to start brewing the stuff.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jasonraymondson', 'H')ow about you all do what I do, and don't drink.

I have never understood why everyone feels the need to drink themselves stupid.

[Baldwin]

Everything in moderation my friends.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Baldwin', 'E')verything in moderation my friends.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', 'I') believe they used to drink beer as water in medieval times; it was the cheapest/ only sure way to purify water from germs. That kind of beer held less alcohol though, maybe 2 or 3 percent, or about half of your average beer today.

[strider3700]

Our local news ran a story about this a couple of days ago. The local microbreweries are having serious trouble tracking down enough barley and hops. They where even looking in Europe for a supply. the story was all about the need to pass the costs on to the consumer. It's funny that they never once explained why there is a shortage of barley and hops. Possibly ethanol related?

[Lore]

The price of beer going up is pretty analogues to many of the problems in which we will be facing food shortages in the future.

I’m a home brewer and it was only recently, within the last 20 years that states allowed the fermentation of wine and beer for personal consumption and eased the laws for micro-brewery and brew pubs to exist here in the US.

What has occurred is a worldwide shortage of hops and some barely grains for the production of beer. Hop varieties will be in short supply and others will be unavailable. This takes care of two out of the three major components that comprise the manufacture of beer; so much for diversity among the many craft brews.

A perfect storm:

Barley harvests are down due to climate and malt prices are up.

In order to meet demand 4-5 malting plants will need to be built every year for the next several years. None are now in the works, and in fact their numbers have decreased.

Decreases in acreage among barley growers was another factor as they moved to higher priced agricultural crops such as corn for the production of more high-fructose corn syrup and bio-fuels.

At the same time hop acreage is also being reduced and the unusual weather in Europe caused their 2007 hop crop to fall far below expectations.

Emerging countries like China have a growing taste for beer and cannot meet the current demand, seeking more hops and barley on the open global market.

Unfortunately this crisis among beer producers, commercial, craft and home, will last for many years and will inevitably close a lot of small pubs, craft breweries as well as dry up the supply to home brewers.

You may expect beer prices to be up there with that of wine in the near future. In fact you may expect food prices to be a lot higher in the not too distant future for similar reasons.

[Loki]

Strider, ethanol production may be affecting barley prices, but there's a lot more to the recent rise in beer prices than the evil evil ethanol. This story has the requisite misleading "blame ethanol" headline, but then goes on to say that the prise rise this last year was actually due to increased energy, glass, and steel expenses, NOT ethanol.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')dell said his company's production costs have gone up 10 percent to 15 percent over the last year. Since Odell buys its barley in October for the following year, the jump in its production costs is mostly from increases in the prices of energy and glass, Odell said....

The rising cost of diesel and unleaded gasoline affects production, too, from the farming of barley to the delivery of beer....

The cost of stainless steel for kegs has doubled over the last year, affecting the production cost of draught beer, Odell said.

[Denny]

I think there is a lot of hokum in these excuses for price increases. Fact is, the basic ingredients only account for a small part of the retail price of beer, particularly as sold in a pub. Its fairly commonplace for beer sold at a restaurant or pub to go for 2.5 to three times the wholesale price paid by the establishment.

Even at the wholesale level, the ingredients are dwarfed. There are huge marketing costs and distribution costs involved with beer. Those afternoon football telecasts don't come cheap.

And, then more importantly, there are taxes, which are usual expressed in a flat rate per hectolitre.

The raw ingredients are just penny-ante.

Just like the loaf of bread, when a bushel of wheat doubles, the baking and retail side would like to participate by doubling the end price. Even though there is only about 20 cents worth of wheat in a loaf of bread to begin with.

[wisconsin_cur]

and now, peak champagne


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')A looming shortage of the bubbly French wine, spurred by limits on grape production and rising demand in the U.S., Japan, and the U.K., will push shares of champagne producers higher. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world's largest champagne maker, will advance 21 percent within the next 10 months, according to the median estimate of 9 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Smaller producers may also gain, with Boizel Chanoine Champagne SA estimated by analysts to increase 14 percent and Vranken Pommery-Monopole SA 15 percent.

[mattduke]

The owner of Jude's Barbershops, which had offered a free beer with a cut, is disappointed in a state Attorney General ruling that says he needs a liquor license if he wants to hand out beer.

"I'm glad we finally got clarity on the issue," Thomas Martin said today. "Offering a complimentary beer is not something that we created, it's an old-fashioned service that was done years ago. We just brought it back with the other old-fashioned services that we provide."

He said he would work with state legislators to legalize the practice. Police in Kent and Ottawa counties had told him that handing out free beer violated local and state laws. An assistant attorney general, in a five-page ruling, said only licensed businesses may offer beer. link

[Ainan]

This is the kind of thing government feels is important. Welcome to the oil age!

[FreakOil]

America has such a bizarre relationship with alcohol. It's a huge part of our culture; we're one of the biggest per capita consumers of beer in the world. Yet we have the strangest laws regarding it.

I remember a few local laws from when I was living in Boston. All liquor stores had to close by 11 p.m. All night clubs and bars had to close by 2 a.m. All liquor stores were closed on Sunday. This one really bothered me because it's obviously religious.

If you bought alcohol, not only would you have to show I.D. to prove that you were 21, you would often be asked to show a second I.D., just in case the first was a fake.

And who decided that 21 was an appropriate age for drinking rather then, say, 20 or 22?

[dinopello]

Alcohol Laws

I remember the beach trips to North Carolina where you can't buy beer on Sunday until after Noon (so you will be sober in church). It meant you had to plan ahead if you wanted to hit the beach early on Sunday's (or if you wanted to be drunk in church).

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('FreakOil', 'A')merica has such a bizarre relationship with alcohol. It's a huge part of our culture; we're one of the biggest per capita consumers of beer in the world. Yet we have the strangest laws regarding it.

I remember a few local laws from when I was living in Boston. All liquor stores had to close by 11 p.m. All night clubs and bars had to close by 2 a.m. All liquor stores were closed on Sunday. This one really bothered me because it's obviously religious.

If you bought alcohol, not only would you have to show I.D. to prove that you were 21, you would often be asked to show a second I.D., just in case the first was a fake.

And who decided that 21 was an appropriate age for drinking rather then, say, 20 or 22?

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')nd who decided that 21 was an appropriate age for drinking rather then, say, 20 or 22?

[ReverseEngineer]

Just returned from my weekend Beer Run, negotiating through a steady snowfall the treacherous roads for the essential Brew, the only more important liquid on earth than Oil.

To my horror, for the second week in a row my favorite Cheap Beer, Milwaulkee's Best (the cheap Miller product), was not available by the case. Only 12 packs. I had to buy two for preps for the week. Beer is not one of the things I keep a year's supply of in the cabin. LOL.

The Golden Brew is one of the things I am prepared to sacrifice as we devolve back to the Stone Age. Eventually perhaps I'll brew something from Roots, but in the near term I have steeled myself for the day the 6 Pack goes the way of the Dinosaur. Only through many hours of meditation have I made my peace with this outcome of Peak Oil. I am not so sure J6P is as prepared for this, it takes deep soul searching not possible while watching the NFL on ESPN.

Mass Rioting is Imminent. Forget the Popgun duels with .38s in Toy-R-Us, when the Beer coolers go empty the RPGs and Anti-Aircraft Artillery will come out.

At least for the moment, most of the rest of the shelves were well stocked with wines and spirits. If deliveries have slowed down on the fast moving stock though, I would expect to start to see those stocks starting to drop soon also. Do you think we could get the Hosers to build a Beer Pipeline over from a Molson's brewery through the Yukon? It could run parallel to the NG Pipeline, they would save a lot of money by building them both at the same time. A ten year lead time before my next brew is a long time to wait though.

Forget the Dollar tanking, forget the Treasury Bond Auction where nobody shows up to buy as the telltale moment. When the Booze runs out, TSHTF.

Reverse Engineer

Merged with THE Beer Thread (merged).-FL

[Quinny]

Brew your own its cheaper and better!

I hit my own Peak beer this week - Peak prices that is.

Been in Southern Ireland working - 5.50 euros a pint.

Couldn't afford to get drunk!

[Arsenal]

Beer may be harder to come by post peak but I know I will have some sort of booze. Here is what I have brewing now.

Cherry Honey Mead 6 gallons

Orange Mead 6 gallons

Hard apple cider 5 gallons.

Should be ready to bottle in a couple months. All the ingredients are produced on my place except for the orange/cherries.

Honey, water and yeast.

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Quinny', 'B')rew your own its cheaper and better!

I hit my own Peak beer this week - Peak prices that is.

Been in Southern Ireland working - 5.50 euros a pint.

Couldn't afford to get drunk!