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Climate Change Could Change a Beer’s Taste
We’ve reported about the potential impact of climate change on the beer industry. How heat waves and droughts could drive up the costs of beer ingredients such as hops and barley and lead to “dramatic” beer price spikes and supply shortages.
But now Colleen Doherty an associate professor of molecular and structural biochemistry at NC State University is investigating how climate change could also lead to warmer nights and affect the chemical composition of the hop plants themselves.
And that in turn will affect how those hops flavor beers according to Doherty…
“These changes in daily and seasonal temperature patterns – warmer nights, earlier springs – disrupt how plants function, hurts yields, affects the cost of the ingredients, and affect how beer tastes. Understanding how warmer nights affect the plant’s ability to allocate resources to making these compounds informs us how hop flavors will change.”
Words to Drink By
“I’d rather be dead than cool.” Kurt Cobain / Nirvana
Pub Giant Marston’s and Carlsberg Beer Merger Investigated
On May 22, Carlsberg UK and Marston’s, one of the UK’s biggest pub operators, who also run several breweries in the United Kingdom announced plans to combine their brewing arms to form a £780m business called Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company, which will allow the two companies to merge operations and save costs.
Described as a “strategic partnership,” the proposed merger would allow Carlsberg enhanced access to the pub operator’s almost 1400 properties, as well to Marston’s Beer Company’s wide distribution network which services more than 11,000 customers in the UK.
But now, according to the Drinks Business, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has opened an investigation into the joint venture between Carlsberg and Marston’s that will bring brands such as Pedigree, Hobgoblin and Carlsberg’s pilsner under one roof.
Many in the UK brewing industry have opposed the proposed merger. Tom Stainer, chief executive Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has been actively calling for the investigation, which he said will reduce choice for beer drinkers and pub-goers…
