Indiana Beer - and Energy Prices

Another draft from last month is this Brewed in Indiana | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star:

"Guild President Ted Miller, who also owns Brugge Brasserie, said the industry has been forced to focus on local customers even more in recent years as the prices of hops and gasoline have risen.

'For our size, for us craft guys, nobody's getting rich,' he said. 'We're in it because we love our craft.'

Miller estimated the current price of hops to be $22 to $28 a pound, compared with $5 a pound this time last year. The rise is caused by bad weather and the fact that many U.S. farmers have switched from hops to corn.

'It's not just that (prices) went up 400 percent,' Miller said. 'There's a lot of breweries that are searching for hops because they're just not available.'"