The Daily Star reports that the price of beer may have ascended to jaw-dropping levels by the time the 2012 London Olympics get under way (article features a not-safe-for-puritanical-workplaces bustalicious barmaid). The projected price: £7.50 a pint, which is $13.25 in current U.S. dollars and triple its price today.
Quoth the Star: “It’s all due to a ‘perfect storm’ of rising costs, disastrous [barley, wheat, and hops] harvests and tough market conditions.”
So, if beer gets that expensive, will we be forced to drink wine?
I think this is the perfect time for brewers to stop going apes**t with the hops. It's getting hard to find a decent mildly hopped beer that isn't some XXXX Hop Suicide Mouth-full-o-Pennies IPA.