I had a feature story in today's Austin Chronicle on the global hop shortage. I hope you enjoy it. You should also check out Wes Marshall's roundup of Austin brewpubs, also in today's issue.(Please note: that photograph is copyrighted to The Austin Chronicle and photographer John Anderson. Please do not use it without obtaining John's permission.)
10 comments:
Great story Lee, very informative. Makes me wonder if there is a hop heavy mutual fund I could invest in.
Great story. Nice to see interviews with so many local brewers. The Texas scene is so good right now that I'd choose Texas against Oregon, California and Colorado. So much better than the dark days around 2001.
I really hope this doesn't hurt new brewers like (512). Will he be able to release his touted IPA without Cascade hops? And I will dearly miss Liberation thoughout the year (always wondered, is it the same receipe as guytown IPA since Steve Anderson went to Live Oak?).
I will pay for hopped up beer!
-David S
Thanks for the compliments.
While I'll agree with you that this is the golden age of Texas brewing, I have to disagree that it surpasses Oregon. Have you been to Oregon? My friend Bill in Portland has more quality breweries within a short bicycle ride of his house than we have in the entire state. It's utterly ridiculous there.
(Of course, now that I mention Bill, I see that his latest two posts are on the beer scene here in Austin.)
Lee,
Yes, I've spent a few weeks over the last couple of years in the Portland area. And yes, you can barely throw a rock in Portland without hitting a brewpub or brewery. Fantastic coffee too. My point isn't about quantity or even diversity, bu t that what is being produced here in Central Texas holds up to anywhere else. Fortunately what is being produced here in Texas are the styles I really enjoy!
PS: The Austin coffee scene is in its golden age as well! Great time to live here!
Dave T says...
You see? I'm not a lover of bad beer. I'm just preserving (selflessly) the hops for the rest of you.
good article.
i'd much rather see craft brewers putting out different beers with different names rather than tweaking recipes of known beers,
but labeling costs can be significant,
Good article Lee. But I don't think I said " The ultimate big player is Australia." I was saying Australia is where most of the Asian countries get their hops and grain. If I did say that they are the ultimate big player I misspoke. They are not as big a player as say Germany or the US.
Other then that I liked the article.
Charles: Perhaps I misheard you. I'll review my recording of the conversation. In any case, thanks for helping me understand the facts around this story.
love your story, glad i found your beer-lovin blog (ah, the power of a google search) - i was lookin for info about the hops shortage and found not only yr article but possibly someone who can tell me what decent microbrew is local to DC?
Thanks MamaBird! I'm afraid I don't know too much about DC, but try this website: http://beermapping.com/
When you get there, look for the pull-down menu of "city beer maps" and find the one for DC.
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