FeedsReplying to a comment on Like ethanol? It's making the price of beer go up.
Hops take three years to be fully productive, two to begin to produce. This is going to have a big effect on micro prices--far less on macro. Michael's point in the article was that hops enjoy none of the subsidies that corn does, so the incentive to produce is less. This is a better argument than corn displacing hops, as Dallas (Oregon?) notes.
The corn for barley thing is a real deal. As a greenie, I would be willing to chip in for more on my pint if I thought ethanol wasn't such a boondoggle and sop to Iowa farmers--but it is. And as green technology goes, it sucks, requiring a lot of energy to get the energy out.
Hey Jeff, how about a guide to cheap beer?
Options:
Octane. You pay as much for Inversion IPA (6.8%) as Mirror Pond (5%). The ROI advantage is clear.
Brew it yourself! If you buy all the ingredients, a typical 5-gallon batch (40 pints) will set you back $40. You'll get just over 8 six-packs, which works out to about $5 a pop--cheaper than you can buy it. (It will only take a few years before you can brew it as well as an average micro.)
Under no circumstances should you ever buy national brand beer. Worst-case, buy Henry's--it's brewed in Hood River.
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For more options,
try reading the
wikipedia article or the
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