Hop growers deny blame for beer price rises

UK hop growers have hit out at reports that the recent hike in the price of beer can be attributed to the high cost of importing hops.

Peter Davies of the National Hop Association of England, representing all 150 English hop growers, was mystified at the claim made by the BBC Today programme and national newspapers.

"This has all been badly sexed-up, and I don't know whether the government or the BBC is to blame. Perhaps we need a public enquiry?" said Mr Davies. "The real truth is that in every £2.04 pint of mainstream lager the government demands a mighty 64.2p in tax.

"In contrast, the hop grower receives only a derisory 0.16 of a penny. This leaves the brewer with 31.5p and the retailer with 108.3p."

He continued: "Talk of the 10p rise in the cost of a pint being attributable to hops is all froth, designed perhaps to hide other costs in the distribution chain or the high levels of tax charged on our beautiful national drink."

Mr Davies added that if the intention of brewers is to pay the extra 10p a pint for their hops, domestic hop producers will look forward to rapidly raising their acreage from the present 4,000 acres back to whatever is needed to make it unnecessary for brewers to turn to imported hops.

"The English harvest was only just under its normal level last year and flavours and aromas were good, so there seems little need to bring in hops from abroad anyway," he added.

The average usage of hops in Britain is estimated at four ounces per barrel (36 gallons) of beer, the equivalent of 700 grams per 1,000 litres of beer.

The cost of using this main flavour attribute of beer therefore works out at a measly 0.16 of a penny per pint. Ale brewers normally use more hops than lager brewers, and smaller ale brewers generally use more than the larger ones.