This just adds insult to injury. Not only are oil prices near record highs, but the price for what many would go to as a coping mechanism is likely to rise as well.

Those who drink Bud and Miller may not notice, but craft brewers face the need to raise prices to keep pace with the rising cost of hops, one of the key ingredients in brewing beer.

Being a homebrewer myself, I grew a few of my own hops this year. Not enough, off of four vines, to  satisfy the 20 gallons I made. My alternatives are limited.

I usually order hops through Web sites with the rest of my ingredients for $1 to $3 an ounce.  While I won’t quit, I may cut back and experiment instead with other bittering or flavoring ingredients such as wormwood, yarrow, ginger and spruce. Each has its own history in the making of beer which we in the last couple hundred years or more have more narrowly defined to require hops.

If I can step outside of my expectations, this could be fun.