BeerHops.org

The Tucson Citizen reports on the impact of the 2008 hops shortage on Arizona’s brew pubs.  Part of their analysis includes  a forecast that it may be 3 years before the hop market returns to normal.

Brewers are dealing with a 10 percent to 15 percent shortfall in the worldwide supply of hops, largely caused by farmers cutting back on the crop and recent yields diminished by rain and drought. Prices have jumped as much as 10-fold and created severe shortages of popular varieties such as Cascade, Centennial and Chinook.

The shortages are expected to last through 2008, and some don’t expect the market to return to normal until 2011.

You can read our up-to-date hop pricing and availability index in our archives.