Achtung Bier Kosten, Ja?
Peter Suderman, who more-than-capably edited my interview with Anthony Bourdain and my piece on Chicago’s foie gras ban, and who kindly threw a shout out to Crispy, has a great piece at Reason on the green reasons lurking behind spiraling beer prices.
[B]iofuel subsidies… are pushing more farmers to ditch their barley crops—which are necessary to make beer*—in favor of crops that earn them lucrative subsidies from regulators trying to fight global warming. Topping the list of these subsidized crops are rapeseed and corn, ingredient which are used in the creation of biodiesel and ethanol-gasoline fuel blends which supposedly reduce the greenhouse gasses that cause global warming.
Thanks to these crop shifts, the price of barley has doubled in the past two years, an increase that eventually gets passed along to consumers. Some brewers have raised their prices already, and many others are planning on raising them soon. German beer drinkers are already feeling the hit on beers like Erdmann’s Ayinger, which raised its price from 6.10 euros to 6.40 euros over the last year. That’s roughly fifty cents a beer for Germans who consume an average of more than 30 gallons of beer person each year.
I’m working on a piece of my own that explores the issue from a hoppy-beer-fan angle. More from Peter here.
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