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Your Favorite Craft Beer May Soon Disappear From Store Shelves -- Here's Why

posted onMay 24, 2017
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Article snippet: Posted at 9:30 pm on May 23, 2017 by Teri Christoph In interest of full disclosure, I am not a beer drinker — I hate the stuff. I’d love to be one of those chicks who swigs beer from the bottle, but I’m not. Because beer is yucky. I do, however, live in a part of the world (Loudoun County, Virginia) where craft brews are HOT. So hot, in fact, that two new craft brew pubs have opened in my town in just the last week. And I know that it’s all about the hops. A local brewer even opened a hops-processing facility to support the local beverage industry. Beers apparently live or die by the hops. Sadly, it sounds like some beers are about to die because they won’t have access to the hops used in their recipes. Anheuser-Busch InBev is the largest beer producer in the world. As such, they have cornered the market on South African hops, and, until now, were willing to sell those hops to any comers. Not anymore. From now on, AB InBev will only make South African hops available to brands it owns. Independent brewers are SOL if they need a specific variety of hops from that part of the world. Yes, you guessed it, people are hoppin’ mad. AB InBev has said their decision was the results of a low crop yields in South Africa. Some beer lovers are calling for a boycott of Anheuser-Busch, others are waiting to see what will happen with their favorite craft beer, and still others are just happily sipping their Natty Lights. Link to the full article to read more

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