Saturday, May 10, 2008
Beer and the weak dollar
In case anybody is so foolish as to argue that a weak dollar does not also contribute to inflation in the prices of domestic manufactures, consider the price of "craft beer." Has anybody else noticed that the price of a six-pack of, say, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (one of my favorites) has risen rapidly this year, almost perfectly in tandem with imports from the Eurozone (such as Becks or Pilsner Urquel)? Presumably craft beers compete with imports more than mass market beers, and have been able to raise their prices as the importers struggle with the strong Euro. My guess is that craft brewers are making a lot more money than they were a couple of years ago, even with the high prices for cereal grains.
5 Comments:
By 
Miss Ladybug, at
Sat May 10, 09:01:00 PM:
Just wait 'til Hillary gets wind of this and demands a windfall profits tax on "craft beers"...
By 
, at
Sun May 11, 08:36:00 AM:
Market forces are at work here. My homebrew ingredients shop is rationing barley and hops because of shortages. There was a string of bad harvests of hops in both Europe and the Pacific Northwest. The shop has decided to protect its regular clientele as many craft brewers try to buy ingredients whereever they can find them.
By GreenmanTim, at
Sun May 11, 09:37:00 AM:
New York State used to be a major producer of hops. Time to get some acres dug. And if the market gets flooded, instant ethanol!
By , at
Tue May 13, 06:49:00 AM:
That leaves the question why the prices of non-craft beer are immune to the upward trend. But presumably there is no real barley or hops in them.
By , at
Wed May 14, 04:58:00 PM:
Sleeper, urine production is unaffected by the price of hops.
