Climate: Beer troubles looming

[Nutty_ZA]

Wellington, New Zealand -
Climate change in coming decades will put the squeeze on beer supplies by impeding the production of a key grain needed for the brew - especially in Australia, a climate scientist warned on Tuesday.

Jim Salinger, a climate scientist at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, said climate change likely will cause a decline in the production of malting barley in parts of New Zealand and Australia.

Malting barley is a key ingedient of beer.

"It will mean either there will be pubs without beer or the cost of beer will go up," Salinger told the Institute of Brewing and Distilling convention.

Similar effects could be expected worldwide, but Salinger spoke only of the effects on Australia and New Zealand. He said climate change could cause a drop in beer production within 30 years, especially in parts of Australia, as dry areas become drier and water shortages worsen.

Barley growing parts of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales would likely be harder hit than growing areas in New Zealand's South Island.

"Most areas in Australia where malting barley is cropped are likely to experience producing declines," he said.

"It will provide a lot of challenges for the brewing industry," even forcing breweries to look at new varieties of malt barley as a direct result of climate change, Salinger said.

New Zealand and Australian brewer Lion Nathan's corporate affairs director Liz Read said climate change already was forcing the price of malted barley, sugar, aluminium and sugar up.

Read said as well as climate change, barley growers were competing with other forms of land use.
In the past two years pressure on cropping land in New Zealand had increased with the expansion of the dairy industry, fuelled by major international dairy commodity prices rises.


EEEK!!!! This is the first time the prospect of global warming has actually scared me

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Nutty_ZA

Wellington, New Zealand -
Climate change in coming decades will put the squeeze on beer supplies by impeding the production of a key grain needed for the brew - especially in Australia, a climate scientist warned on Tuesday.

Selfish I know but Im in the UK

[Nutty_ZA]

Well, I'll be as well... but it could mean the end of Fosters and Castlemaine XXXX

[fifi2004]

Originally Posted by Mike

Selfish I know but Im in the UK

There is SOOO much that can be said about this subject ! ! When our beer runs out can we drink at your house then Mike?

[Mike]

Originally Posted by fifi2004

There is SOOO much that can be said about this subject ! ! When our beer runs out can we drink at your house then Mike?

Of course

[InLove]

Finally a way to get people to take notice of global warming. Maybe now some people will actually act in fear of loosing their beer

I'm ok. I'm in scotland so we'll always have whisky (I don't like it but then again I don't drink beer anyway)

[Nutty_ZA]

I do drink whiskey as well, but I prefer Irish Whiskey or Bourbon to Scotch...

A bit toungue in cheek really...
I rarely drink Fosters anyway normally drink a Namibian beer, Windhoek Lager

[kazthorn]

Originally Posted by Nutty_ZA

Well, I'll be as well... but it could mean the end of Fosters and Castlemaine XXXX

You may be right about Fosters Nutty. Hardly anyone in Australia drinks it anymore so the likelihood may be that it would be one of the first to be fazed out.

[hellcat]

Originally Posted by Nutty_ZA

I do drink whiskey as well, but I prefer Irish Whiskey or Bourbon to Scotch...

A bit toungue in cheek really...
I rarely drink Fosters anyway normally drink a Namibian beer, Windhoek Lager

Nutty_ZA which is your favourite Irish Whiskey.....


Well here in Dublin, we have the Guinness (Stout) and the Whiskey and when that runs out eh not.....we have the poitin.
Good for all ailments as well as polishing silver and removing stubborn stains including the lining from your stomach......but its good stuff.

When the beer runs out at Mike's.....All welcome here.....

[Nutty_ZA]

Originally Posted by hellcat

Nutty_ZA which is your favourite Irish Whiskey.....

For the Irish, I normally have a drop of Jamesons...
Otherwise, I do enjoy a drop of Jack Daniels as well...
must say, I don't drink Whiskey very often tho... maybe once or twice every month or every second month....

I do enjoy a Guinness myself... I've got 6 chilling in the fridge as we speak... and I know you said Kilkenny was wrong, but I do enjoy a Kilkenny too... actually, if it's beer, I'll drink it

Strangely, the Guiness and Kilkenny I'm buying here at the moment, is brewed in Ireland but is Imported from Canada???? obviously was imported in to canada from Ireland and they sold it on?????

I used to enjoy a Newcastle Brown Ale now and again as well, and that used to be imported from Australia????

The funny thing is, even though South Africa has one of the biggest Breweries in the World (by volume of Beer sold because South African Breweries(SAB) bought out Millers Breweries in the states), I cannot stand SAB beer... full of chemicals and basically they have a monopoly in this country .. there are about 3 or 4 other micro breweries, the rest SAB bought out and then closed down there product lines....