The Hop Crisis! Gads. Whatayamean no IPA?!? Huh… These guys are kidding right? Nope. They aren’t. It’s a full on problem caused in part by other countries buying hops of any kind to brew “canoe beer” for their masses. This leaves craft brewers that didn’t have a contract for the hops they used in an empty kettle. For the unfortunate that weren’t able to plan ahead or didn’t actually believe there was a problem Boston Beer Company, the brewers of Sam Adams are offering brewers the chance to buy hops from them.
“For a couple of months now, we’ve all been facing the unprecedented hops shortage and it’s affected all craft brewers in various ways. The impact is even worse on the small craft brewers–openings delayed, recipes changed, astronomical hops prices being paid and brewers who couldn’t make beer.
So we looked at our own hops supplies at Boston Beer and decided we could share some of our hops with other craft brewers who are struggling to get hops this year. We’re offering 20,000 pounds at our cost to brewers who need them. Specifically, we are able to spare 10,000 pounds of East Kent Goldings from Tony Redsell, a top English grower featured by Michael Jackson in Michael Jackson’s Beer Companion (page 75 has a picture) and 10,000 pounds of the German Noble hop Tettnang Tettnanger from small farms in the Tettnang region in Germany. “
Thanks guys! Now, get on the hunt for enough Simcoe to make Mike McDole’s Long Shot entry…
