Artist Jeff Foye savors the bitter flavor and floral aromas that emanate from a well-crafted beer. Lately, the San Pedro resident has experienced an unexpected sensation when he reaches for a brew -- the unpleasant taste of rising prices.
A worldwide shortage of hops -- a key ingredient for the pale ales Foye likes so much -- and rising prices for malted barley have pushed up the cost of imbibing a tall cold one.
These days, he's paying $9.99 a six-pack, about 40% more than a year ago, for such California-crafted favorites as Union Jack India Pale Ale brewed by Firestone Walker Brewing Co. of Paso Robles and Racer 5 made by Bear Republic Brewing Co. of Cloverdale.
Add beer to the growing list of what many people consider basic foods -- like bread, coffee and pizza -- that are costing more. The cost of groceries has risen at an annual rate of about 5% in each of the last six months, the fastest food inflation since 1990.
"It is a big hit," Foye said as he leaned over a microbrew at the bar of Beachwood BBQ on Main Street in Seal Beach this week. He doesn't drink enough beer to make higher prices a "budget buster," yet Foye still finds it "irksome. . . . It's like gas prices, what are you going to do about it?"
After barely budging for several years, beer prices started to inch up in the second half of last year and are now rising at about a 4% annual rate, according to government statistics.
It's showing up in what brewers and distributors are charging for both domestic and imported beer, said Ken Hollingswood, owner of Hollingswood Delicatessen, a popular hangout for hopheads in Orange. He's had to raise the price of better domestic brews by about 15% and European beer by 20%.
"Those are big increases, and I don't think we have seen the end of it yet," Hollingswood said.
Prices for microbrews are rising faster than the mass-produced beers. That's because they come from small brewers less likely to hedge expenses with advance purchases of barley and hops than Anheuser-Busch and the other giants that control most of the market.
But even the big brewers aren't totally immune.
"Like all brewers, we are experiencing cost increases due to the rising prices of brewing ingredients," said Maureen Roth, spokeswoman for Anheuser-Busch, the nation's largest brewer. She declined to comment on how that was affecting the company's prices, except to say that Busch has "aggressive cost-savings programs in place throughout the company designed to partially offset rising commodity costs."
