hops

It feels like the price of a case of beer is higher than it has been since the Babylonians first started fermenting barley 6,000 years ago. But what's behind the rising prices? Turns out, the explanation requires a tour across the economic landscape -- and around the world.

The recent upward surge in commodities prices has left no corner of the globe untouched. That includes the bastions of the beer drinkers. Changes in global climate, a decline in hops growers and a recent fire in a hops storage facility have worked in concert to reduce the world supply of that most...

Gas price increases I can live with (reluctantly), but I admit to a bit of panic at news that the price of beer may be on the way up, too. According to the Arizona Republic, a shortage of hops and barley have taken the fizz out of the beer industry, falling especially hard on the micro-breweries...