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Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 12:19 pm
by bpgreen
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 12:23 pm
by RickBeer
The article doesn't even mention BeerLord's freezer...
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 12:30 pm
by Beer-lord
I'm ready for whatever comes my way.
I have heard now on podcasts, for many months, this is coming but they seem to say this every two years or so. I think they know they have a hot item and use this as an excuse to charge more. However, we all know that with the growth of the breweries as well as homebrewers, there is a lot more hops bought now than ever before.
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 1:21 pm
by BigPapaG
USDA 2015 National Hop Report
US production up 11% in 2015 over 2014...
2015 USDA National Hop Report
For your review...
Trying to find a global reference for 2015...
EDIT: Here we go... 2015 International Hop Growers Convention
2015 International Hop Growers Convention
Statistics broken down by hop producing countries...
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 3:38 pm
by bpgreen
Take a look at the total production numbers. Down almost 40%, even though the area went up slightly.
And at the same time, with an increase in craft brew (and especially in IPAs), demand is increasing.
I'm glad I've got a bunch in the freezer. And if my home grown hops continue producing more each year, I should be in good shape (I got a little more than 1.5 lbs last year).
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:11 pm
by BigPapaG
Yup...
And even though total acreage is up, production is down...
Seems to be a combination of poor crop yield and newly planted hop fields which will take a few years to mature...
My guess is we'll be good in two to three years unless disease and poor weather continue to destroy the European hop fields... And /or demand gets much higher...
The US is ok now but demand is about to outstrip supply and NZ is looking good too...
Time to backtrack maybe and experiment with non-traditional high alpha bittering hops as aroma additions maybe?
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 8:49 pm
by The_Professor
bpgreen wrote:Upcoming hop shortage
WOW! Global warming must be having some sort of impact on rabbits.
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:13 pm
by mashani
I blame Beer-Lord.
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:49 pm
by bpgreen
mashani wrote:I blame Beer-Lord.
Ok. That's two references.
How much is in that freezer?
Edited to fix autocorrect.
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 6:17 am
by Beer-lord
I'm low now with about 11 lbs total.
My apologies to all!
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 9:14 am
by ScrewyBrewer
If I were King, my first edict would be to look into the corruption and price gouging that goes on when it comes to hops. It's been known for centuries, predating the use of hops, how ridiculously expensive the prices are for bittering a brewers beer.
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 11:25 am
by The_Professor
ScrewyBrewer wrote:If I were King, my first edict would be to look into the corruption and price gouging that goes on when it comes to hops. It's been known for centuries, predating the use of hops, how ridiculously expensive the prices are for bittering a brewers beer.
Ah, the days of the Gruitrecht.
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 1:21 pm
by mashani
If you were the King, you'd be taxing hops, declaring that if you call it "Beer" it must contain them, and be raking in the dough from all the commercial beers that now had to utilize them. Except for those damn heathens out in the country side who keep bittering their homebrewed old fashioned "Ales" with wormwood or myrtle or other stuff and giving you the finger.
(a little bit of English history there in condensed form LOL).
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 5:46 pm
by Inkleg
^^Inkleg "Likes" the above post^^
Re: Upcoming hop shortage
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 8:00 pm
by Pudge
However, I don't blame hop growers for squeezing every penny out of their product. After all, it is their product.