That cold one is going to cost you more

Bob Du Vernois brews beer with detailed consideration to aroma and taste, but it's last call on one of his favorite varieties.

A worldwide shortage of hops has depleted the supplies available to brewers, particularly for some of the specific blends that craft brewers have made their specialties. The shortage is the result of recent drought in Australia and flooding in Europe that destroyed much of their crops, forcing brewers overseas to turn to U.S. hops supplies that already were strained by a movement to plant more profitable crops like corn.

Coupled with rising fuel costs, the shortage has hops prices skyrocketing from $5 per pound to as much as $45. That's sent beermakers raising their prices and breweries altering popular recipes.

The shortage has hit smaller craft brewers -- who often buy hops on the spot market -- particularly hard. Large breweries usually contract hop purchases a few years out, but they too have been forced to boost prices in response to a higher costs for barley, another key ingredient. In April, the federal government reported that the price of beer purchased at retail outlets rose 4.3 percent from a year earlier, slightly higher than the overall rate of inflation.

As head brewer at Great Waters Brewing Co. in downtown St. Paul, Du Vernois used the French Strisselspalt hops variety to make its top-selling beer, Golden Prairie Blond Ale.

"I probably won't be able to get them ever again," Du Vernois said of the French hops he had been using for five years. "It's frustrating to think you may have nailed a beer style that you like" and all of a sudden the hops disappear.

He's been experimenting with other varieties in the hope of mimicking the Strisselspalt's "slight aroma of flower" since the last 2 1/2 pounds were tossed into a boiling vat of a Belgian spring ale last week.

Another one of his favorite hops, East Kent Golding from England, has also become next to impossible to come by.

Hops are the female flower cones of the hop plant, each variety imparting its own unique flavor while also acting as a natural preservative. Some varieties mainly act to balance the sweetness of malt with bitterness. Regardless, they are a beermaker's best friend.

"It's painful," said John Moore, owner and head brewer of Barley John's Brew Pub in New Brighton. "Imagine going down the Mississippi River, looking down there and seeing no water."

Moore used to brew the company's top-selling India Pale Ale with the Kent Golding hops, which have rose tones with slight "grassy notes," he said. He's been unable to get them for months and has labored over five batches of beer trying to replicate the taste with other hops varieties. No dice.

"It's tough, and not only on us, but on the customers who have come to appreciate the flavor profile," Moore said.

So far, consumers have only felt a slight pinch from the financial trickle-down. Great Waters raised the price of its pints by 50 cents, and Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery increased pints 75 cents. Surly Brewing Co. in Brooklyn Center increased the price of its four-packs by $1 and kegs by $15. Some say that trend will continue for all beermakers.

Meanwhile, breweries are looking at producing types of beer that require less hops, infusing them with herbs and spices to add flavor.

"What we might end up doing is limiting how much of a brand we brew," said Omar Ansari, president of Surly Brewing. "Everyone's scrambling."

The situation is so dire that earlier this year the Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams, sold 20,000 pounds of hops at cost to craft breweries across the country as a gesture to help keep the craft brewers going. The company said it didn't profit from the sale.

Brew pubs and small craft breweries like Surly are at a disadvantage, because they often rely on specialty hops and have less buying power than large breweries.

The rebound in the hops supply is likely to take a few years, brewers said, because the plant requires two to three years of growth to reach maximum output. Prices, they added, probably won't ever come back down to what they were last year. That has breweries scrambling to secure contracts with suppliers to provide a fixed amount of hops years into the future instead of buying their inventory annually, which was the custom when the supply and prices were stable.

The risks? Gauging what inventory is needed five years from now is difficult and the supply might not match the contract.

"We're taking a gamble," said Mike Hoops, head brewer at Town Hall.

The situation is worsened by a decrease in the production of barley, another key ingredient in beer, because of the conversion of fields to corn for ethanol. Prices for barley are already climbing, and it's only the start, said Du Vernois, who is also president of the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild.

"We're going to have to increase our prices if we want to continue to make beer for people," he said of the industry.

As for his efforts to replace his top-selling beer, it took two batches to settle on a new formula.

Meanwhile, he's waiting for that Belgian spring ale with the last of his Strisselspalt to finish fermenting.

"I'm really anticipating trying [the Strisselspalt] in this beer," Du Vernois said. "It had sentimental value."

Chao Xiong • 612-673-4391