Crisis in Beer

Part II: Are we going to have to mash Grape Nuts?

What has not been widely reported through mainstream media is the actual shortage of grain; barley, specifically. Barley is grown for food products, livestock feed, and malt. As mentioned in my previous post, malted barley is one of the four main components in beer. The grains impart flavor, color, and body to the liquid. The opening Grape Nuts reference comes from the fact that the cereal is made from malted barley, and, theoretically, could have fermentable sugars extracted from it.

Whether a mega brewery (A-B, Molson-Coors, SABMiller) or a micro everyone uses malted barley, in one form or another.

What are the culprits behind the shortage? Once, the same storms that sacked the European hops crops, did the same to their barley farms. Second, ethanol. Yes, ethanol - the catch-all alternative-energy savior of the United States.

American farmers are receiving substantial Federal subsidies to grow corn, to support corn-derived ethanol as the fuel of choice. The same applies to farmers in Mexico. Their government is paying them handsomely to cultivate corn; which is hurting the tequila distillers.

Unfortunately, you cannot blame the farmers. If you owned a farm, and were getting paid a king's ransom, you would grow corn too.

So, the US government is willing to pay, pay, pay for corn. And guess what, they don't care what quality of corn you grow, so long as it ferments into ethanol. It has been proven that corn-derived ethanol is grossly less efficient than standard gasoline. Not only that, it requires more energy to produce corn-based ethanol than what is rewarded back to the user. How about using switchgrass or poplar trees which produces approximately 540% more renewable energy that energy consumed in their production?

Instead of forcing the consumer to use a more expensive and inferior product, how about forcing the automobile manufacturers to redesign the internal combustion engine? Give them the subsidies! Or, adopt diesel engines as a viable work horse. Diesel technology has come a very long way in the past 25 years. Companies like Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz have practically perfected the diesel engine. They have also adhered to more strict guidelines for automobile emissions than those of the United States!

So, not only are the barley prices going up for brewers & breweries, but a similar pain is being absorbed by the livestock farmer. They can't afford to feed the herd! If they can't feed the animals, than the price of food in the stores goes up due to dwindling supply. To you this may seem like a bit of stretch, but it makes perfect sense to a lot of us.

I fell that, as Americans, we are going to experience a major impact on beer and foodstuff prices. I can see several fine local establishments going out of business because they have to raise the price of their goods due to the increasing price of the resources they need to survive.

Support your local, if you can afford it.