A storm is brewing over the Hallertau

Sometimes small things are an indication of greater things to come. Last year, during hop harvest in the Hallertau, Anheuser-Busch was filming a commercial for its Michelob internet site which featured Dr Willy Buholzer, Anheuser-Busch’s hop expert and buyer.

The commercial was called “Our man in Munich” and highlighted the virtues of certain hop varieties that Anheuser-Busch was using for its upmarket brand Michelob.

“Our man in Munich” was to join Anheuser-Busch’s “Barley guy” and “Malt man” on the Michelob site. Well, it never came to that. The “Barley guy” and the “Malt man” are still there, but Willy-our-man-from-Munich was taken off or worse, never made it on to the site.

This should have told the Hallertau hop growers a thing or two. In January this year Dr Buholzer, now with Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB-InBev), was obliged to tell the farmers that the new AB-InBev did not need as much Hallertauer Mittelfrüh as Anheuser-Busch used to. Although Dr Buholzer reportedly stressed “not as much” – farmers immediately interpreted this as “nothing no more” and were aghast.

AB-InBev was quick at offering farmers compensation. For every cwt of hop contracted by Anheuser-Busch they were to receive EUR 4 for the full duration of their contract. Usually, contracts these days run for three years. So farmers would have been able to minimise their losses – if we ignore for a minute that they would have got EUR 8 for each cwt of Hallertauer Mittelfrüh delivered.

Never mind that the loss of 10 percent in acreage is worrisome. What really irks the farmers is that they have little time to ponder which hop varieties to plant instead – if any. Newly planted hops require three years at least to yield commercial quantities.

Sad but true: the good times of global under-supply of hop ended too soon.