Now this is getting personal.
Stone XII will not be a hop bomb.
Kind of takes your breath away, doesn’t it? It gets worse. Ballast Point has quit bottling Dorado, one of the style-defining Double (some say Imperial) IPAs. A beer that a beer brewing chemist once described this way: “‘Savage’ flavor but not taste. Hoppy. Hoppy. Hop. Hop.”
Pete Rowe of the San Diego Union-Tribune (who consistently offers some of the best daily newspaper reporting on beer) gets down and dirty with what the hop shortage means in San Diego.
We knew higher beer prices were coming (and in some cases had already arrived). Rowe reports six-packs from Stone Brewing, most of which cost $7.99, will be marked up an additional $1 to $1.50 as of today.
The choice would be to change recipes, and to abandon Stone’s bold hop signature. Co-founder Greg Koch said that won’t be happening.
Koch insisted that the brewery’s regular lineup of beers, including Arrogant Bastard Ale, will remain as aggressively hopped as ever. But the Escondido brewery has been forced to make some changes.
Every summer, Stone issues an anniversary ale (the year marked by Roman numerals), a brew that typically reflects the company’s belief that hops are bitter and more hops are better.
Not this year. “That decision has been made for us,” Koch said. “It won’t be über-hoppy, as anniversary ales have been in the past.”
Rowe’s got more news from San Diego — hmmm . . . Pure Hoppiness — but also asks the elephant-in-the-room-question.
Will drinkers abandon Sierra Nevada, Green Flash, et al. for cheaper, mass-marketed beer?
Koch answers that question with a question.
“Or will they buy less? There are a lot of question marks out there.”
Gawd, I can’t imagine buying less than what I’ve relegated myself too now — I love my beer.
Another question I have, since beer at taverns is usually about 3 times the cost as a retail bottle, I wonder what will happen in bars?
This is distressing and depressing. 🙁
When the hop shortage and price increases started rearing their ugly head, I wondered how long it was going to be before Stone was going to take it in the pants. Hop Bombs are their bread and butter.
I really dig their IPA, so even if the price goes up, I’ll still buy it from time to time. And for as much as the hopped up Anniversary Ales were, I still preferred the Belgian styles they crafted for their Vertical Epic series. I wouldn’t mind seeing them switch gears toward that direction for a while – at least until the hop situation works itself out.
Great article. Thanks for the info.
So we already are feeling the effect of prices on a six-pack; but a couple dollars is not likely going to stop me or most craft drinkers from buying beer. They likely will purchase a little less – which is probably for the best anyway. But it has already affecting my homebrewing where I have brewed significantly less this year (Of course my newborn daughter could also play a role in that). However, I simply can’t afford the $100 a pound hops being sold at Northern Brewer.
Most of these brewers are locked into fair contracts – at least for american hops this year. What happens next year when all the contracts reset and small brewpubs are priced out of the market. Will this equal the downturn of 1996? If demand truly is 10-15% more than availibilty does that translate into 5-10% of the small brewpubs/microbreweries going out of business?
We already know that BMC will get their hops; I guess you can figure the likes of Stone, Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams are much further down that priority list. How far down the list are the likes of Chama River, Pizza Port or the many other excellent craft brewers in the nation? I’m sure most of the established breweries will survive these next couple of years, but I really worry about the new breweries or the ones that were already struggling to remain solvent.
Meanwhile Firestone just bottled Union Jack, with a hopping rate of #4/BBL. Hope is not lost.
Firestone just bottled Union Jack
That would be finally bottled. It’s about time.
Price increases are to be expected, but I hope that savvy on-premise operators will bring back – the glass. So, in addition to the option of a pint, a less expensive pour into an 8-oz. glass could keep those of us who truly live on *beer budgets* going out and about to bars and taverns to try a few new styles.
I remember Max Tavern in Chicago and their 50 cent mini glasses….
🙂
I blame marketing. We’ve had it in kegs for 4 months.
As a non “hop head”, I for one would like to see more craft breweries pinched in the hops. This way, more bears I like! 🙂