Beer prices rising
Tight supply of hops has Vermont brewers scrambling
|
|
Scott Shirley, head brewer at Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, displays the hops that are added to the brew kettle when making beer. These hops, now in short supply, are in pellet form to keep them fresh all year long, Shirley said. VYTO STARINSKAS / RUTLAND HERALD |
Toolbox
By Gordon Dritschilo Herald Staff - Published: April 4, 2008
Vermont's brewers say hopheads are in for a rough couple of years.
In the face of a global hops shortage, many small breweries are raising prices, refiguring recipes and discontinuing certain hops-intensive products. Many of Vermont's beer-makers said this week that they are in the same boat.
"It's affecting us greatly," said Steve Parkes, head brewer at Otter Creek in Middlebury, who said he was able to get most of what he needed this year at a reasonable, if elevated, price. "We've had to change our tack on a couple beers we normally make."
Otter Creek's spring seasonal has traditionally been an extra special bitter — commonly abbreviated ESB — but this year they could not get the specific English hops called for in the recipe and instead made a German-style Kolsch, a lighter beer.
"It was very much a last-minute, pull-it-out-of-your-hat type of thing," he said. "There were some very old hops lying around at triple the price and we weren't willing to do that."
Ray McNeill, owner of McNeill's Brewery in Brattleboro, told a similar story, saying his Imperial Stout and Imperial India Pale Ale will not be available in bottles until next year.
"If I put the Imperial IPA out there, we'll burn up our hops and not be able to make any more beer," he said. "It would be suicide."
In their place, McNeill said he may produce low-hop lagers, Belgian strong beer and Scottish brown ale.
"These are all beers we've made in the past," he said. "It's a way to put out a premium beer that won't burn up our hop supply."
Harpoon, which brews half its beer in Windsor and the other half in Boston, has also made changes to its planned seasonal line-up, though president and cofounder Dan Kenary would not go into specifics.
"The cost has gone up anywhere from 50 to 500 percent," he said. "The supply for our main products is fine. Our new products — we have to think about if we can get the hops to make them. … Over 20 years, we've never had to think this way. It's not good."
Harpoon produces 116,000 barrels a year and enters into contracts to buy hops three years at a time. Magic Hat brewmaster Todd Haire, said his company locked into a 5-year contract for its hops last year.
"We were buying smaller lots before that," Haire said. "We wanted to get ahead of the curve. It'll be feast or famine for the next few years."
When they have an overflow, Haire said Magic Hat will help out smaller brewers that are running low. Matt Nadeau, owner of Rock Art Brewery in Morrisville and president of the Vermont Brewers Association, expressed a similar willingness.
Nadeau, who makes about 3,500 barrels a year, said this is the first time he has entered into long-term contracts for hops.
"I had to plan out a couple years' worth and get those numbers to our suppliers," he said. "Planning an entire year's worth of hops and then making that commitment, it's kind of nerve-wracking. I'd really prefer to go back to the other way, order what we wanted when we wanted."
This makes it difficult for Nadeau to plan for new beers.
"How do you know what hop varieties you're going to want, how a new beer will be accepted by the public?" he wondered.
Nadeau said he works with 25 varieties of hops, giving him flexibility. He said he has not had to abandon any of his beers, though he did have to adjust the recipes on a couple for a short time. However, he recently had a scare when he thought he was out of a certain variety.
"It adds to the mix, adds a lot of tension and confusion," he said. "One more hurdle for the small brewer."
The long-term contract is far from a cure-all. Nadeau said brewers have had to commit to hops priced 400 percent more than what they were paying.
Nadeau said the shortage exists because of a combination of factors, including bad growing seasons, an earlier glut on hops driving several farmers to switch to more lucrative crops, and a warehouse fire destroying a massive supply.
Nadeau said he sees postings on national brewing message boards where people are asking for any hops they can get because they have run out.
"That's scary," he said. "I wouldn't want to be a start-up brewery right now. I think people without track records are out of luck."
Nadeau said operations like his are particularly affected because craft-brewed beer tends to make more use of hops than mass-produced beer.
"Next year is the scary one," Parkes said. "The amount of acreage they're talking about planting to get us an increased acreage isn't enough."
Parkes said he is expecting a 400 percent price increase, which he called "frankly, terrifying."
"It's going to require reformulation of beer," he said. "It's going to require more pressure on finding efficiencies."
The crops being planted now won't be ready for some time, either, according to Nadeau.
"You don't plant it in May and get a harvest in early September," he said. "You have to nurture it for a three-year period."
Parkes said Otter Creek hopes to cultivate new, stateside organic suppliers, and is working on an agreement with one grower in Oregon.
"That's in line with our mission statement anyway, which is supporting domestic organic farming," he said.
Parkes said the shortage could well be a learning experience for the American craft-brewing industry, which he pointed out is only about 30 years old.
"Two or three years ago, brewers dealt with a poor malt crop for the first time and they became better for it, more skilled," he said.
Parkes also said beer connoisseurs can expect to see the more strongly flavored beers to shoot up in price, while the more balanced beers should be less affected.
According to the Vermont Brewers Association, the state has 18 breweries employing an average of 31 full-time and nine part-time employees each. The group estimates the state produces about 400,000 barrels a year. The breweries range from large regional operations to local brewpubs.
"My wife and I, we have no investors," Nadeau said. "It can be very scary. It makes you relate a bit to brewers when prohibition was enacted."
Contact Gordon Dritschilo at gordon.dritschilo@rutlandherald.com.
36