Why beer prices on the rise

[rico567]

In an article dated today:

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/05...?icid=main|htmlws-main-w|dl3|sec3_lnk1|213918

....the reasons for increase in beer prices over the last few years are discussed. The part about hop shortage is familiar to us homebrewers from a while back, and the rest of it could have been written by Ron Obvious or Ric Romero. My suggestion to the author of the article is QCBAHB, "Quit Complaining, Become A Home Brewer."

Not to mention that there's a whole lot more suffering involved in drinking that BudInBev swill than in paying a few cents more for it.

 

[Nateo]

I think more funding for the USDA hop breeding programs would be a good start. I don't see the rise in proprietary hop varietals (Simcoe, Amarillo, etc) to be a good thing for the craft industry. Since they're proprietary, their lineage is unknown, but it's likely they utilize at least some percentage of germplasm developed by the USDA for the public, and it's ridiculous they can patent it and keep all the profits.

More hops in the public domain would help keep the prices competitive.

Acreage of public hops, especially aroma hops, like Cascade and Willamette is falling, and acreage for the proprietary strains is increasing.

 

[theredben]

To point the finger at hops as a driving factor in beer prices, especially looking forward, is misled. With energy prices only going higher over time, breweries need to look at ways of reducing their energy inputs. It is about time that they brougt in reusable bottles industry wide. I mean really, do we need some logo stamped into the glass when there is a bright colorful label to distinguish between brands?

I believe that the rising fuel prices will also help out the local brewpubs with attached retail space. Not having to truck that stuff around is going to save you a few cents per bottle and can help bridge the gap for consumers when deciding whether to purchase a BMC or the local brand.

 

[usfmikeb]

It is about time that they brougt in reusable bottles industry wide. I mean really, do we need some logo stamped into the glass when there is a bright colorful label to distinguish between brands?

Keep in mind that the use of reusable bottles simply adds another cost factor - those bottles need to be pciked up from somewhere, transported to a facility, cleaned and sterilized, etc.

I remember when some brands did use reusable bottles for bars. They got away from it for a reason...

 

[Nateo]

Prices are based on the entire COGS (cost of goods sold) evaluation. Not long ago hops were selling around $25 a pound and drove up the price of long-term hop contracts in general. If one of your ingredients jumps from $8 to $25 (300%+) that's going to have a big impact on your COGS analysis. I'm sure that increase affected brewers more than the general rise in energy prices that year.

As far as rising fuel costs, they're a nuisance now, but I think it'll be a while before they're high enough to really change people's buying habits.

If John Kerry can get his excise tax reform passed, that will make a huge difference in the profitability of small breweries here in the States. It would cut per bbl taxes in half for small brewers, and raise them on the 2m bbl+ producers.

 

[Nightbiker]

reusable bottles aren't cost-effective (not in a large commercial operation) -while I'd certainly welcome it (since I'd get to keep and re-use the glass) its not a wise thing commercially. It costs a lot of money to return the glass, clean it (and remove the labels and sanitize the bottle), inspect it, then go through the original process of actually using it. While it MIGHT be financially feasible in a smaller company, some of the local micro-brews for instance, the costs incurred on the large scale would be tremendous -no savings.
After all, the ONLY reason we have the disposable ones we have, is financial.