Energy Prices Driving Up (and Out) Price of Beer?

Looks like that way from Scotland:

Small beer under the microscope

"SNAPPING UP Arran Brewery from administrators earlier this month shows that the deep-pocketed Marketing Management Services (MMS) may have faith in the beleaguered microbrewing sector, but the Scots invesment firm is hardly in a majority.

The rocketing cost of raw materials is giving Scotland's boutique brewery sector a king-sized hangover. It now faces its biggest test in the eight years or so since it achieved critical mass."

And also the price of whisky:

Campbeltown set to run dry as price of making whisky gets grim

IN A move that has surprised experts across Scotland, the family-owned company that runs the nation's oldest independent distillery has decided to stop making whisky.

The Springbank and Glengyle distilleries - one of the last three remaining facilities in the once-famous whisky-making area of Campbeltown on the west coast of Scotland - stopped distilling the spirit that is used to make the malt whiskies Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn on Friday.

Owners J and A Mitchell said the rocketing cost of fuel, transport and barley had forced them into calling a halt to distillation of spirit for a period of up to two years, in the hope that the cost of the raw materials used to make whisky will eventually come down and allow the company to start distilling again.

However, Campbell Evans, of the Scottish Whisky Association, branded the decision "unusual", saying it was "at odds" with the industry trend of increasing production to meet the demands of the expanding Indian, Chinese and South American markets.