Now things are getting really serious!

As reported in the Inquirer.

Australian and New Zealand Pubs are going to run out of lager beer as the shortage of malting barley hits!

This is an effect of GW that is going to cause real panic!

Addendum(Junkk Male): I'd been looking for aplace for this: Challenges ahead for brewers' 'green' beer drive

On Budget Day....

.... the genius that is Matt of The Telegraph yet again manages to say it all in a simple cartoon!



It will probably be irrelevant in the chancellor's overall scheme of things but I include a link to an article from back in January that highlights the parlous state of the British Beer industry.

Those of you that do enjoy a pint or two, and even, perhaps, those that don't, probably don't realise that pubs are closing at the rate of 55+ per month; and no, not the big town centre outlets associated with weekend drunk and disorderly behaviour, but the local village pubs, that are often the only local centre of the community, are the ones that are disappearing. And you certainly won't be aware that "Beer sales for pubs are now at their lowest since the Great Depression of the 1930s." and that "In the UK, beer is already the most expensive form of alcohol that money can buy."

"Unlike wine, brewing is a homegrown industry, employing 20,000 people with an annual turnover of £19 billion. Britain’s pubs employ 600,000 people. Current tax policy is encouraging the move to stronger, and often foreign produced, drinks such as wine - and from pubs to supermarkets."

As it would seem that our Gov's intention is to close down all village pubs, my guess is that the chancellor will take not a blind bit of notice.

Addendum:
Post budget: Another 4p a pint!! That will be 6p by the time it reaches the handpulls. And on top of the brewery rises last month, for most averaging 10p per pint. Our chancellor has probably just ordered the boarding up of another 1000+ village pubs!
Cheers! (Extremely sarcastically!)

Like a beer? Get ready for £3 a pint!

Those of you that enjoy a decent pint or two every now and again, get ready to pay more for your favourite tipple. This from Harpers reports on the increasing costs of basic raw materials that has already hit the UK's breweries, with Barley increasing in price by 40% and Hops by 100% this year.

The piece, perhaps rather too pointedly, firmly lays the blame directly at the door of climate change. It seems that you can blame anything on climate change nowadays, but with the cost of diesel also going up by 12p/litre over the last 12 months too, I reckon we could be paying £3 a pint for a decent beer by the start of next year!