Hallertau Crop Damage - Northwestern Europe

This is a message sent to the Brewers Association with some bad news...

Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 7:02 AMSubject: Hallartau Hop Fields Almost Completely Destroyed

Dear friends,

Last Monday night until Tuesday morning massive thunderstorms sweptover 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 ofHallertau Hop fields have been completely wiped away. Staff ofBayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephaner, who live throughout thearea, 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 intheir lives. Storms have caused damage before, but never of thismagnitude. It also seems to be too late to start a second try atgrowing new plants – generally the hop harvest in Hallertau starts midto late August.

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

Bier&Co Amsterdam

Rick Kempen, Export Manager

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

About MyBeer Buzz

Founder, owner, author, graphic designer, CEO, CFO, webmaster, president, mechanic and janitor for mybeerbuzz.com. Producer and Co-host of the WILK Friday BeerBuzz live weekly craft beer radio show. Small craft-brewer of the craft beer news sites and one-man-band with way too many instruments to play........Copyright 2007-2024 mybeerbuzz.com All Rights Reserved: Use of this content on ANY site without written permission is not allowed.