Barley & Hop Shortage

There has never been a better time to learn how to brew your own. The hop harvest this year wasn't great and I'm hearing rumblings that barley won't fare much better. Might have something to do with the lack of honeybees, global climate change or aliens making too many goddamn crop circles. Whatever the cause, beer is going to cost 10-15 cents more over the next year. Granted, that's not a huge amount, but it adds up. Beer prices have already gone up quite a bit just in the last 7 years, and now we can expect up to an additional $1.80(USD) per 12 pack.

Mathmatology time:
If the average 12 pack at Shaw's runs about 11 bucks, with no sales tax in beautiful NH, that will mean next year's 12 packs will be close to 13 bucks. Beer is awesome, so I'm willing to part with the extra pocket change to make up the difference. Now what if you were to take up your kettle and wooden spoon and DIY? The average pale malt based extract brew kit costs about 23 bucks and 2 to 3 hours of your time. This yields 5 gallons of delicious beer. If you do it all grain, it can be done for as little as 8 bucks per 5 gallons + 8 hours of time. Depending on how much you value your time and enjoy brewing, your point of diminishing returns will vary.

Let's break it down some more, assuming current, pre-apocalypse grain and hop prices.

5 gallons of beer @ 23.00 = 640 ounces = about 53 bottles @ $0.43/bottle
12 bottles of beer @ 11.00 = $0.92/bottle

Some would argue that you could save money by buying your beer in kegs, but that's hardly practical. Most people buying higher end craft brews prefer variety over slavish dedication to one particular beer.

Still others may cry folly, brewing your own is a false economy because inevitably you will decide either it's too much work after brewing one beer or you will go buck wild and build your own nano brewery in your garage.

So what it really comes down to is an excuse for me to proselytize the virtues of brewing your own under the shadow of looming price increases.