Bottoms Up

Just after I posted the article about the hop shortage, I found this report on apellationbeer.com, a very cool, brainy blog written by Stan Hieronymus, who has written a number of books on beer, including the excellent Brew Like A Monk. The original source is apparently Probrewer.

Here’s a snippet from Stan’s post:

Jim Koch sent a big old hops valentine to smaller breweries on Thursday. Ten tons worth.

He told them that Boston Beer, brewer of the Samuel Adams beers, will sell 20,000 pounds of hops that otherwise would not be available to smaller breweries. The company will sell the hops at its cost, which is considerably less than they would bring on the open (or “spot”) market.

Koch revealed the offer to Brewers Association members Thursday in a forum for association members…

The brewery will sell 10,000 pounds of East Kent Goldings from Great Britain and 10,000 pounds of Tettnang Tettnanger from small farms in the Tettnang region in Germany. Both are so-called aroma hops, horribly under appreciated and the kind being dissed by brewers chasing alpha, but at the same time becoming crazily expensive. READ MORE…