An Early Casualty of the Hops Shortage

There's been a lot of talk the past few months about the hop and malt shortages and the impending price increases. I posted on this last month. At the time I wrote "But the effect on price isn't the scary part. The issue is the supply. If the brewers can't get the hops and malts they need, they can't make the beers we love, at any price. Small brewers are going to be affected by this the most." Well, that prediction didn't take long to come true.

The Blue & Gray Brewing web site has this notice:

As you may recall, we noted the impending increase in the price of malt and hops. We anticipated a 30-40% increase. However, the cost of malted barley has risen by 53%. Hops increased 100-400%, depending on the variety. Some hops are so scarce that they can not be found, at any price. This is the case with the hop variety we use in our new specialty beer, the blond Belgian ale. Until further notice, we can not brew any more of the Belgian ale.

The Borman's Belgian Ale was released by Blue & Gray just last month and it appears to be an early casualty of the hops shortage. Hopefully Jeff will be able to acquire the hops he needs soon and resume brewing the latest beer beer from Blue & Gray.

BTW, this past Saturday, I stopped by Kybecca on Plank Road and they still had a few bottles of Borman's in stock. Kybecca is the only place besides the brewery where you can buy this beer, so if you want some, better hurry.