Drought threatens Britain's beers, claims Molson Coors

According to the brewer this puts at risk over 96,000 hectares of malting barley fields, which could have a detrimental effect on Britain’s Brewing industry.

The research also revealed that two-thirds of Britain’s arable farmers have been affected by less rainfall. Of those farmers that have noticed a change 94% said it had impacted on yields, with 40 per cent saying the impact has been ‘very profound’.

It revealed that last spring's drought had a major impact on the harvest for 32% of barley farmers. With less rain set for 2012, far more farmers are likely to see a reduction in yield and have problems with the nitrogen content, threatening its use in brewing.

Jerry Dyson, raw materials manager at Molson Coors, said: “Weather conditions always play a major role in both the availability and the quality of malting barley and this was brought into sharp focus most recently with the winter malting barley crop of 2011. The very dry spring meant that the winter barley crop had a very high nitrogen level, which significantly reduced its value for brewing.”

Last month, the Publican’s Morning Advertiser, revealed that beer prices could rise by as much as 2p as the drought across the south of England could lead to a shortage of Barley and Hops.