Hops Shortage Hits Home

Well, the upcoming hops shortage has finally hit home. I was going to make a batch of beer over this past weekend and needed to buy some hops.

So, I hopped in the car and headed to my local brew shop. Walked back to where the hops are and to my horror, there were none. Now, just how in the heck can you make beer without hops? I was soon informed that a shipment of hops might be coming in, but the store's supplier was out and did not know when they would be getting anymore in.

I did find some online, but the price has really skyrocketed. What used to go for $16 - 20 per pound is now closer to about $80. So much for the liberal use of hops.

Where does that leave the homebrewer? Being at the end of the food chain, it looks like we are going to have to make some major changes in our brewing habits. What I am looking for are recipes that use something other than hops. If anyone has any, please e-mail me the recipe and I'll post for everyone to try.

For more on the hops crisis, check out these articles.

The Bitter End: The Great 2008 Hop Shortage

On the Coming Hops Crisis

Hop Crisis