“The popularity of hopped-up beers has led to a serious hops shortage in the U.S. That shortage drove the average price for all hops to $3.59 a pound in 2013, up from $1.88 in 2004. Craft beer’s market share cracked 5% in 2011, and by 2012 it hit 7.8%. The greater demand for hops has come amid a decline in supply from Oregon, Washington and Idaho, the nation’s top hop-growing states. This was thanks to a global hops glut a few years ago that spurred growers to pull back at what turned out to be exactly the wrong time. Other states could fill this vacuum. New York, for instance, led the U.S. in hop cultivation until a 19th-century blight and Prohibition killed the industry.”
http://online.wsj.com/articles/tom-acitelli-rising-hops-prices-make-craft-brewers-jumpy-1403737009
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