Support for the craft brewer, regardless

The worst news I heard all weekend came courtesy of the Wall Street Journal:

Why Price Increases Are Brewing for Craft Beer
By David Kesmodel and Janet Adamy
Published October 5th, print edition

(Ignoring the overused pun in the article's title), the basic story is that the price of hops and barley has been climbing the past couple of months, and there is no end in sight. In fact, some craft brewers may not be able to afford any hops at all if they need to buy from the spot market (versus securing long term supply contracts now). There is even the possibility that some won't be able to find certain specific hop variants needed for a given beer recipe at all (or in enough quantities).

It seems that there are a couple of factors involved, including the weak US dollar, but the the main one is that many farmers have, over the past couple of years, switched over from growing hops to other, more profitable, crops (ethanol, anyone).

Well, I'm still going to be supporting my favorite craft breweries, especially the local ones, but I guess it's good to know where they are coming from if/when we see price increases from them in the coming year. Maybe it's time to start buying by the keg?