Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

I got this from my brother.  Check out the pictures in the first link.

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Pictures here (scroll down a bit for the hops photos):

http://www.donaukurier.de/bivi/bilder/bilduebersicht/cme137346,0.html


On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 12:27 AM, Gregg Wiggins <greggwiggins@brewingnews.com> wrote:

This was sent to the Brewers Association's e-mail forum for brewers
earlier today. I thought the consumers would want to know the bad news
as well.

Gregg Wiggins

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From: Rick Kempen
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 7:02 AM
Subject: Hallartau Hop Fields Almost Completely Destroyed

Dear friends,

Last Monday night until Tuesday morning massive thunderstorms swept
over North-Western Europe. They were joined by serious hail fall.
These storms caused a lot of damage and threw traffic into turmoil.

But the most sad result of these storms is that it looks like most of
Hallertau Hop fields have been completely wiped away. Staff of
Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephaner, who live throughout the
area, have all reported the complete destruction of hop fields in the
region.

As I soon as I get pictures of the damage done I will send them over,
but eye witnesses say it's worse than what they have ever seen in
their lives. Storms have caused damage before, but never of this
magnitude. It also seems to be too late to start a second try at
growing new plants – generally the hop harvest in Hallertau starts mid
to late August.

What this may mean for your and our industry is pretty clear. Let's
pray the first damage estimates prove pessimistic, and that some of
the harvest and plants could be saved. But for now, the situation
seems serious enough so prepare yourselves brewers.

Bier&Co Amsterdam
Rick Kempen, Export Manager
Amsterdam, The Netherlands