Monday, June 9, 2008

Hop shortage is hitting home for this Bells fan

It was reported today that the European hop grower for Bells Brewing is pulling its contract for Saaz hops, and that next year's batches of Oberon could taste completely different because of it.

I like Oberon, but as I've said before it isn't my favorite summertime beer, but this might also change the recipe of one of my very favorite beers: Two-Hearted. I do really like though that Larry Bell has stated that he will tell his consumers what is going on, and will return to original recipes as soon as possible. I am pretty confident though in what Larry Bell and company will come up with, but I just hate to see this happening, and hopefully the recipe change in Two-Heated will somehow make it better.

I should also clarify that the saaz hops won't make a difference in Two-Hearted since it doesn't use any, but the hop shortage may change the recipe for Two-Hearted.


Here is the article.

Cheers!
Matt

5 comments:

Erik Huntoon said...

Unfortunately I think it was only a matter of time before this started affecting some of the well know brands of craft brew. I will be really curious if Bell's has plans to brew Hopslam next year or not. At the rate things are going it would cost $20 / six pack...

Matt said...

Unfortunately $20 bucks might be a steal.

Who knows what will happen, I would say time to start loving bocks and the like right now, but with barely prices at all time highs as well, I don't think that would work.

Matt said...

Bummer! And we were just starting to get Bell's back in Chicago...

Anonymous said...

I think Two-Hearted should be able to weather the storm, so to speak. Oberon may have to suffer, although I welcome any change to that beer. Not that it's horrible, but I think a reworking of the recipe would be a good thing for it.

Erik Huntoon said...

I actually couldn't agree with you more. I just can't get excited about Oberon, outside of the labeling. I think the packaging for it is excellent, but the beer itself is a total let down for me. To be fair though, I am a huge fan of the true German hefeweizens and American wheats just fall short.